With the sports world grinding to a halt and college basketball fans left lamenting the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, we’re doing what we can to make the best of the situation. With that in mind, we’re going to spend the next few weeks revisiting some important moments in Villanova history, and with the Wildcats’ recent success there will be plenty for us to enjoy.

March 26, 2016 Villanova 64 Kansas 59

Saturday, March 26, 2016, marked the biggest night for Villanova basketball since 2009. The two-seed Wildcats would take on one-seed Kansas with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Villanova had cruised through the first three rounds of the tournament, beating UNC Asheville, Iowa, and Miami by an average of 24 points per game and playing absolutely beautiful basketball in the process.

But this was different. This was blue-blooded Kansas. This was the Jayhawks, with their history and their pedigree, their Big 12 dominance and their national prominence. And this was a game that programs like that expect to, and often do, win. Ultimately, it was the basketball machine that is Kansas against plucky Villanova, the little private school that has its share of tradition, that had finally gotten the first weekend monkey off its back, looking to take its place among the big boys.

So that was the stage that was set when the ball was tossed in the air at 8:49 Eastern Time.

The first few minutes set the tone for the type of game it was going to be. The Jayhawks got off to an early three-point lead, not enough to do any damage to the psyche of Villanova, as the teams traded blows. Villanova would take it’s first lead at the 14:31 mark on a Daniel Ochefu basket.

Kansas would respond to retake a four-point lead, but the ‘Cats came right back with a 13-0 push to take a nine-point advantage heading into the under four timeout, sending a message that the stage wasn’t too big and that the ‘Cats had little concern about the Kansas mystique.

The teams continued trading jabs for the final four minutes of the half, and when the dust had settled the Wildcats held a 32-25 lead.

Kansas scored the first four points of the second half to get to within three before the ‘Cats steadied themselves. However, the Jayhawks kept coming and retook the lead with 13:24 to play. After a miss from Josh Hart on the ensuing possession, Devonte’ Graham hit a three to push the lead to four, and the nervous energy built. Villanova had gone toe-to-toe with the Jayhawks and remained within striking distance, but there was some concern that Kansas might have been preparing to deliver the knockout blow.

A pair of Ryan Arcidiacono free throws restored some calm, but Kansas would continue to play with a two-to-five point lead for the next few minutes, still threatening to pull away but with the ‘Cats hanging on tight.

A 10-0 spurt by the ‘Cats from the 10:32 mark to the 7:59 mark flipped the script, and now it was Villanova who was playing with a two-to-five-point lead as we turned into the stretch run. Suddenly it was Kansas that was trying to hold and Villanova who was keeping them at arm's length.

Wayne Seldon Jr. cut the margin to two with 2:17 to play. The teams traded empty possessions, with Josh Hart missing twice and Kansas missing a three and turning it over courtesy of a Mikal Bridges steal with 34 seconds left. Arcidiacono was fouled and calmly hit a pair of free throws to push the margin back to four, but Frank Mason III connected on a three to pull Kansas back within one with just 27 seconds to go. Free throws from Arcidiacono and Kris Jenkins were sandwiched around a Mason layup, leaving the Villanova margin at three with 14 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Bridges came up with a steal off an Arcidiacono deflection and produced perhaps my favorite image from that tournament run, Bridges lying on the floor cradling the ball and looking at the clock with a look of anticipation and emerging joy on his face.

Jalen Brunson would hit a pair of free throws to ice the game and Villanova was heading to the Final Four.

The rest of the 2016 run (understandably) overshadowed this game a bit, but there remains something incredibly special about it. The opponents and the stakes certainly play a role in that, as does the fact that it served a springboard for the things that happened after it, but there’s also an almost indescribable sentiment when thinking about this game.

Neither team played particularly great offense on that night in 2016. Villanova shot just 40.4 percent overall and connected on just four three-pointers at a 22.2 percent clip. Kansas wasn’t much better, hitting 46 percent overall and 27.3 percent from three. The Jayhawks earned a six-point edge from beyond the arc. Villanova’s assist rate was also uncharacteristically low as the ‘Cats assisted on just seven of 21 made baskets. Much like the 2018 Elite 8 game against Texas Tech that we looked at yesterday, this game was won at the free-throw line.

Villanova earned 19 trips to the charity stripe, hitting 18 of them (94.7 percent). Kansas, meanwhile, got to the line just 11 times and hit just seven of those attempts.

Jenkins, Hart, and Arcidiacono had 13 points each. Jenkins added four rebounds and three assists and was 6-of-6 from the line, Arch added three rebounds while going 6-of-7 from the charity stripe, and Hart chipped in four rebounds and two steals.

Daniel Ochefu added 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block and Jalen Brunson had seven points. Mikal Bridges had six points off the bench, adding an incredible five steals, three rebounds and an assist. Darryl Reynolds chipped in two points, four rebounds, a steal and a block.

Plenty of games from the 2016 and 2018 runs hold an incredible amount of importance. The Iowa win in 2016 to finally get out of the first weekend, the two games that would follow this Kansas win, and obviously the run in 2018, especially the last two games, but this win over Kansas continues to have a special feel about it even four years later.

Part of the reason for that is certainly what happened next, when Villanova would take on Oklahoma in the national semifinals.