No. 2 Villanova's domination of No. 7 Iowa in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament on Sunday hardly seemed all that fair.
NCAA bracket 2016: Villanova blasts Iowa to make first Sweet Sixteen since 2009
The Wildcats pounced on the Hawkeyes and never fully let up.
The Wildcats broke open a game that was tied at 13 with a 26-8 run in the first half, led by 25 at halftime, extended that lead to 34 in the second half and almost throttled down to win by “just” 19, 86-67.
But that’s just how the most dominant team in this NCAA Tournament has operated so far.
Villanova shot just under 60 percent from the field and banged home 10 of 19 threes while holding the Hawkeyes to 45 percent shooting from the field and under 30 percent from three, shutting down all hopes of a magical comeback. All five Wildcats starters made more than half of their buckets and scored at least six points, and four of the five scored in double figures, led by Josh Hart’s 19.
Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff led the Hawkeyes with 16 points.
For Villanova, the rout earned a ticket to the Sweet Sixteen, where the Wildcats will face off with No. 3 Miami in Louisville. And it’s been a long time coming: the last time Villanova made the Sweet Sixteen was in 2009.
Of course, in that NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats’ road didn’t end until the Final Four.
Sunday’s final scores:
No. 2 Villanova 86, No. 7 Iowa 67
Still to come:
No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 14 Stephen F. Austin, 2:40 p.m., CBS
No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 10 VCU, 5:15 p.m., CBS
No. 10 Syracuse vs. No. 15 Middle Tennessee State, 6:10 p.m., TNT
No. 5 Maryland vs. No. 13 Hawai’i, 7:10 p.m., TBS
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Northern Iowa, 7:40 p.m., truTV
No. 2 Xavier vs. No. 7 Wisconsin, 8:40 p.m., TNT
No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Saint Joseph’s, 9:40 p.m., TBS
* * *
Watch No. 11 Northern Iowa stun No. 6 Texas with this amazing buzzer beater from half court
Be sure to subscribe to SB Nation’s YouTube channel for highlight videos, features, analysis and more
See More:
