PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It's a game Villanova controlled, withstood a late run and finished it down the stretch to move on to the Sweet 16, a 71-61 win over Ohio State.
Villanova was rolling shooting 52 percent from the floor until the Buckeyes cut the lead to two with 5:39 left in the second half. OSU wouldn't get another field goal until 58 seconds remaining. Wildcats got a key three from Eric Dixon with 1:38 left to push the lead back to eight and Ohio State would get no closer than six.
"Eric has got guts, man," said Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright. "That's a big-time shot he hit."
"I've shot thousands of threes this year in practice and by myself in the gym," Dixon said. "My teammates expect me to make the shot when I shoot it. I just raised up and shot it."
"When you are playing great teams in big-time atmospheres like this," Wright said. "There is a lot of pressure. When that team makes the run, if you haven't been there before and know you can withstand that. That this is what happens when you play great teams. It's happened to you before and you can fight through it. If you haven't done it, it can be hard. You can panic."
"All of these guys have been there."
"Credit to Villanova, they are a really good team," said Ohio State's EJ Liddell. "They have a lot of older players, they were composed. Have to take care of the ball a little bit more. Credit to them, they play really hard."
It's a second straight trip to the Sweet 16, the Wildcats won the national championship in 2016-17. Villanova is 32-13 in the NCAA Tournament in the 21st century.
OSU Short again
Ohio State hasn't reached a Sweet 16 since 2015 and never have in the five years Chris Holtmann has been head coach.
"Got to keep getting here, keep growing," Holtmann said. "You keep getting here, you get here enough and consistently. It will happen."
"It's hard to win in this tournament. We just haven't been able to push through to that second round. I believe in what we are doing. I'm more than confident it's going to happen. I think if you go back, it's a number of years I've been a head coach. The number of tournament wins, it's pretty good."
Holtmann has reached the NCAA tournament seven straight seasons (the 2019-20 season there was no tournament due to COVID). The first three with Butler, reaching and losing in the Sweet 16 once. He was 4-3 with the Bulldogs in the NCAAs. Holtmann is 3-4 at Ohio State in March Madness.
Holtmann succeeded Thad Matta who was 18-8 in the NCAA Tournament reaching a pair of Final Four's and the national championship game.
Up Next
Villanova faces the Buckeyes rival, Michigan, in the Sweet 16 in San Antonio.
