There’s no denying that this has been one exciting bout of March Madness, and we are now at the final stage of seeing which team will rise to the occasion of being crowned champion as the Michigan Wolverines and Villanova Wildcats face off Monday night in the men's tournament.
This postseason, the 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago squad made a Cinderella run for the ages. The story was cut short, however, Saturday night after the Ramblers suffered defeat at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines. It was a final score of 69-57 that sent Loyola home packing and Michigan one step closer toward the title of National Champion.
Impressively, Moritz “Moe” Wagner led his squad to a victory, racking up 24 points and 15 rebounds. By the end of the first half, Wagner already laid claim to 11 points and 11 rebounds, finishing all 24 of his points on 10-of-16 shots. "I kept looking possession by possession, we had trouble scoring the first half," Wagner noted. "We scored 22 points and that was kind of the only way we found our way to the basket, grab offensive rebounds and get second-shot opportunities. And I honestly just tried to do my job. The shots were falling the second half. It's a lot more fun when the ball goes [in] the net."
As for Villanova, a victory of 95-76 over the Kansas Jayhawks sealed the deal as the Wildcats made history by sinking 18 three-pointers, the most ever recorded in Final Four history. Four of those three-pointers came from Eric Paschall, who dropped 24 points on 10-for-11 shooting.
Both teams will head to San Antonio for the tournament's final game.