N.C.A.A. Men’s Tournament: Villanova Tops Michigan, Despite Poor Shooting

Collin Gillespie, Villanova’s sharpshooting graduate student guard, will enter the upcoming draft after leading the Wildcats with nearly 16 points per game this season and stationing himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in men’s college basketball. Gillespie hit four of 10 3-point attempts against Michigan, playing all but one minute and finishing with 12 points.

Villanova, as a team, didn’t shoot the ball well from beyond the arc. Of 30 3-point attempts, Villanova made nine, while the Wolverines were 6 of 18 from deep.

Michigan surprised many by reaching this round of the tournament, given the Wolverines’ up-and-down season, which included Coach Juwan Howard’s five-game suspension after a postgame skirmish with a Wisconsin coach. But the Wolverines had the size advantage they needed to be successful against the smaller Wildcats. Michigan went down low to its leading scorer and big man, Hunter Dickinson, early, and he found success there, finishing with 15 points and 15 rebounds despite being in foul trouble. Villanova inserted a smaller lineup and drew two quick fouls on Dickinson in the first half, and he finished with four fouls.

“We didn’t run into anybody anywhere like Hunter Dickinson,” Wright said after the game. “Man, this dude is a handful. He’s got size, girth, strength, skill, intelligence, competitiveness. We run into some good ones in the middle, but I think he’s the best we’ve run into this year.”

But on a mediocre shooting night for both teams, Michigan missed too many of the shots that mattered, including, uncharacteristically, the ones around the rim and half of its free throws.

“We got good looks,” said Eli Brooks, Michigan’s graduate student guard. “We just didn’t capitalize. I think we got the looks that we wanted. We just didn’t make the shots.”

— Alanis Thames