Villanova Wildcats seem determined for deep tournament run after win over Radford

In their opening game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the Villanova Wildcats had little trouble getting by the Radford Highlanders.

Never in the history of the NCAA Tournament has a No. 16 seed been able to pull off the epic upset by defeating the No. 1 seed, and the Villanova Wildcats wanted to make sure that streak continued in their opening round matchup against the Radford Highlanders. After a thrilling win on Tuesday against the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, the Highlanders were hoping to carry that momentum over into Thursday against the Wildcats, even if it seemed like an absolute long shot.

Even though it wasn’t the best of starts, Villanova would quickly get their act together to pull through for an easy 87-61 win over Radford to setup a second-round matchup with the winner of the game between Virginia Tech and Alabama. In what shouldn’t come as a surprise to any fan that’s followed the Wildcats this season, Jay Wright‘s team once again proved just how dangerous they can be from beyond the arc against the Highlanders after connecting on 14-of-27 shots from 3-point range.

The popular phrase of “live or die by the three” certainly came into play during this contest, as Radford had absolutely zero answers to stop Villanova throughout the game. And no matter which team they end up facing in the second round, there’s a good chance the Wildcats will be able to escape with the win since Thursday’s game showed signs of a team on a mission to make a deep run for a trip to San Antonio to potentially earn their second NCAA Tournament title in three years.

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Throughout the season, Villanova was always considered one of the top favorites to win the whole thing, and while there will be a ton of pressure on Jalen Brunson to lead the way, the fact that Wright saw six of his players score double-digits in the first round against the Highlanders shows just how much talent this team truly has. As long as the Wildcats continue to play with this high level of confidence over the next couple of weeks, there’s every reason to believe this team will be cutting down the nets in San Antonio when the time comes. But first, Villanova needs to make sure they earn a trip to the Sweet 16 with a win on Saturday.