Villanova didn't quite put together another perfect game like the one that earned the Wildcats their lone NCAA tournament championship in 1985. But it was close. And it counted.
The Wildcats shot 71.4 percent to dominate Oklahoma 95-51 for the right to return to the title game on Monday for the first time since that legendary championship over Georgetown more than 30 years ago that still resonates as one of the best college upsets.
Villanova will play either top-seeded North Carolina or 10th-seeded Syracuse, which played later in the second Final Four semifinal on Saturday at NRG Stadium.
The game marked the largest Final Four margin of victory ever and the shooting percentage was second in national semifinal history only to the '85 team.
"It was just one of those nights for us," said senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who scored 15 points. "Anyone took a shot, it just seemed like it was going in for us."
Villanova wasn't exactly an underdog in Houston, but Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield, the national player of the year, was dominating headlines beforehand and reporters were asking the Wildcats how impossible it would be to stop him.
Hield, a charismatic senior known as Buddy Buckets for his long-range shooting accuracy, was mostly invisible. He had been averaging 29.3 points in the tournament, but he managed only nine points on 4 of 12 shooting, including 1 of 8 on 3-pointers against the Wildcats.
"We had to stop Oklahoma as a team," said guard Josh Hart, who led the Wildcats with 23 points and helped guard Hield. "It wasn't one guy on him. We threw a lot of guys on him. We were just so dialed in."
The Wildcats were as explosive on offense as they were dominant on defense.
Villanova shot 77.3 percent and scored 53 points in the second half. (The Wildcats were 9 of 10 in the second half against the Hoyas in 1985). Guard Josh Hart scored 23 points, driving to the basket with ease to outscore Oklahoma 38-20 in the paint.
The second-seeded Sooners had beaten Villanova by 23 points on Dec. 7 in Hawaii during non-conference play. And the Sooners closed to within nine points in the second half, before the Wildcats stormed back.
Villanova will be making its third trip to the final after beating Georgetown and losing to UCLA in 1971.
The Wildcats last appearance in the Final Four came in 2009 when they lost to North Carolina. Coach Jay Wright had been preaching since the Wildcats advanced that he wanted them to be more focused than the '09 group and to be the most locked-in team on the court.
On Saturday, they were.
Arcidiacono shrugged when told about some of the statistical feats the Wildcats accomplished. The Wildcats were collected in the locker room.
"No one was freaking out," Arcidiacono said. "We came here to win a national championship."
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