Villanova is heading back to the Final Four. The Wildcats earned a 50-44 win over 5-seed Houston Saturday night in a true rock fight, making just enough plays to edge the game Cougars.

Offense was hard to come by for both teams, but the ‘Cats grinded things out and earned the victory. Despite the offensive struggles and the fact that the game remained relatively close throughout, Villanova controlled things virtually the entire time, never trailing.

“I was proud of our guys,” Jay Wright said. “Having experienced guys playing in that environment like a true road game, them making a run, a really, really good team that you know can get on runs, and for them to keep their composure and get a couple stops, hit big shots like Collin did, having veteran players is the key to that, guys that have been in that moment before.”

Jermaine Samuels opened the scoring with a 3 and the ‘Cats got out to an early 5-2 lead. Houston would suffer through a five-minute drought, allowing ‘Nova to push the lead to 14-6 at the U12 timeout in the first half. Houston had four early turnovers and Villanova was holding its own on the glass. Combined with a slight edge from beyond the arc, Villanova was able to build the lead. The advantage got as big as 11 at the 6:01 mark, but Villanova would suffer through a 1-10 stretch that allowed Houston to cut the advantage to 27-20 at the break.

The Cougars started getting the ball into the paint late in the first half, something that helped them cut into the ‘Nova lead. The ‘Cats shot just 28% in the half, but Houston wasn’t much better at 31% and the Cougars were 0-8 from 3 while ‘Nova was 3-12. The ‘Cats also had a six-point advantage from the free throw line, hitting a perfect 10-10.

Caleb Daniels opened the second half scoring with a 3 to push the ‘Nova lead to 10. But Houston would pull down offensive rebounds on each of its first two possessions in the half, a sign of things to come, helping it to stay within striking distance. The Cougars were up to five offensive rebounds through the first six minutes of the half and six through the first eight minutes, but they struggled to put the ball in the basket and ‘Nova was able to keep the lead at seven. In fact, despite the extra opportunities for Houston, the ‘Cats matched their largest lead of the game at 11 with 10:47 to play.

However, the Cougars would rip off an 11-2 run to pull within two with 5:25 left, setting the stage for a tense final few minutes. ‘Nova answered with four straight on a Collin Gillespie jumper and a pair of free throws from Justin Moore to push the advantage back to six with just over three minutes left. After trading baskets, a pair of Houston free throws cut the lead to four with 59 seconds to go. But that would be the last of the scoring for Houston, while Gillespie would add a pair of free throws to give Villanova its final margin of six.

Houston shot just 30% overall and 5% from 3 (1-20). ‘Nova struggled as well, hitting 29% overall and 24% from 3, but the ‘Cats were a +12 from beyond the arc and hit a perfect 15-15 from the line (+6). ‘Nova held its own on the glass (39-38 Houston) and on the offensive glass (15-12 Houston), but the Cougars built a sizeable 14-2 advantage in second-chance points. They also had a 26-14 lead in points in the paint. Villanova’s 3-point shooting and free throw shooting were enough to overcome those numbers, especially when combined with the strong defensive effort overall.

“I would just say it's just us being connected defensively,” Daniels said. “We're not going to be perfect defensively, but we're together. I think that's the beautiful part about our program and what we do.”

“Obviously, it wasn't perfect,” Daniels continued. “We kind of messed up our coverages a little bit, but we stepped up for one another. We were defending and rebounding hard for 40 minutes, and that's all we can ask for.”

Samuels led the way once again with another double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Daniels was the only other double-figure scorer for ‘Nova, chipping in 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Gillespie had just a single field goal, but it was a big one, stopping a 6-0 Houston run that was a part of the Cougars’ bigger 11-2 push, to extend the ‘Nova lead back to four with 5:02 left. He finished with six points and five rebounds. Wright praised his fifth-year guard for the way he handled a Houston defense that was clearly striving to limit Gillespie offensively.

“I hope part of our culture is humility, and at the end of the game, I think Mike was asking Collin, we realized that they were taking him out of it,” Wright said. “They just weren't going to let him score. So, he didn't have to prove that he could make the big shots. He could get shots for his teammates, and that comes with humility. If you're arrogant and you feel like you've got to show what you can do, then maybe you don't make good decisions. Then some intelligence. We try to teach them how to be intelligent players and make the right decisions at the end of games. But I think the humility has got to come first.”

Winning games in the NCAA Tournament is hard, and Villanova found a way to get it done against a very tough opponent. The result is a third Final Four trip in the last six NCAA Tournaments and a fourth under Jay Wright.

The ‘Cats will play the winner of Sunday’s Kansas-Miami game next Saturday for a spot in the national championship game.