PITTSBURGH, Pa. – In the very first NCAA Tournament Final Four, Villanova met Ohio State.
 
The year was 1939 and an opening round win in an eight-team field set the stage for the meeting at the Palestra. The Buckeyes prevailed that day 53-36.
 
The second post-season matchup between the two programs comes Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena here at approximately 2:40 p.m. as the second half of an NCAA Tournament Round of 32 doubleheader. No. 4 seed Illinois faces No. 5 seed Houston at 12:10 p.m.
 
Saturday's game will air on CBS with Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner and Reggie Miller describing the action courtside. Dana Jacobson reports from the sidelines. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will have the Nova Nation radio call on 1480 AM in Philadelphia and the Villanova IHeart Radio Network.
 
Ohio State, seeded seventh, knocked off Loyola 54-41 on Friday afternoon. Villanova followed that with an 80-60 win over No. 15 seed Delaware.
 
This is the fifth all-time meeting between the schools. Ohio State holds a 3-1 edge in the series and delivered a decisive 76-51 victory in Columbus as part of the 2019 Gavitt Games. The Buckeyes are coached by former Butler head coach, Chris Holtmann.
 
"Chris teams do a lot of things well," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "They are very disciplined, very intelligent offensively and defensively and very physical."
 
Ohio State brings a 20-11 overall record into this matchup. It was 12-8 in the BIG Ten.
 
"I look at this Ohio State team and they were playing really well for a while," said Wright. "Then they got some injuries to (Kyle) Young, to (Zed) Key. Now they've gotten those guys back and they look like a big-time team again."
 
The Wildcats are 7-5 in NCAA Second Round games since 2005, downing North Texas 84-61 in the Round of 32 last season in Indianapolis. But Wright isn't sure there is a pattern in any of that history worth noting.
 
"When you get to this point in the NCAA Tournament, you run into really good teams," said Wright. "Last year, North Texas was an upset winner over Purdue and we faced them. So that was a little different, right?
 
"This team (Ohio State) had been healthy, it would have been a two or three seed. So we just happen to run into a really good team again. When you're in the NCAA Tournament, if you get to the second round, you're playing a great team."

Wright said Friday he does not expect freshman guard Jordan Longino to be available Sunday (left knee injury).
 
Sunday's winner advances to the NCAA South Regional semifinal on Thursday in San Antonio.