Villanova Wildcats: Donte DiVincenzo comes up big in first half of championship game

Thanks to Donte DiVincenzo, the Villanova Wildcats are hanging on to a 37-28 lead over the Michigan Wolverines after the first half.

Heading into Monday’s national championship game, the Villanova Wildcats knew they would be in for a tough battle against the Michigan Wolverines, especially when it came to going up against their stiff defense. Even though the beginning was a little rough to deal with, Villanova was able to work their way back into the ball game before eventually entering the half with a 37-28 lead, mainly due to the impressive play by Donte DiVincenzo off the bench.

In a way, DiVincenzo provides the Wildcats with an extra advantage when compared to a majority of teams in college basketball since despite coming off the bench, he tends to play minutes like a starter. Over the last few weeks, DiVincenzo has put together some clutch performances for Villanova, but the argument  can be made that nothing was bigger than what he was able to accomplish in the first half against Michigan.

During a half in which the Wildcats were ice cold for the most part from beyond the arc, it was DiVincenzo that finally got things going for Villanova from 3-point range by connecting on 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc. Believe it or not, for a team with a reputation of living or dying by the 3-point shot, the fact that Jalen Brunson was the only other member of the Wildcats to connect from downtown, which came a little before halftime, shows how much Jay Wright‘s team was struggling for the most part.

By scoring 18 points off the bench, it’s tough to imagine Villanova even being in this game if it wasn’t for this strong performance in the first half by DiVincenzo, and hopefully sophomore guard can keep this trend going in the second half. The Wildcats knew winning their second championship in three years wasn’t going to be an easy task when seeing how well the Wolverines have been on defense all season, but luckily DiVincenzo was there to help pick up some of the slack on both sides of the floor.

Next: NFL Mock Draft: Eagles land Evans following free agency wave

Villanova’s path to the championship may have been a smoother ride compared to other teams in the tournament when considering they won every game by double-digits, but this game against Michigan seems like it’s going to go right down to the wire. With that being said, if DiVincenzo continues to play on this level, the Wildcats may end up cutting those nets down after all, so it will be interesting to see how the final 20 minutes play out.