SAN ANTONIO, Tex. – Jermaine Samuels led a gritty Villanova effort Thursday night as the Wildcats downed the University of Michigan 63-55 in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at the AT&T Center. The Graduate Student from Franklin, Mass., connected on 8-of-13 field goal attempts for 22 points and seven rebounds to help Nova move on to the NCAA Elite Eight for the fifth time since 2006 and 15th all-time.
 
Junior Justin Moore added 15 points and Collin Gillespie 12 points. Gillespie was involved in a nasty collision that left him limping, but head coach Jay Wright later reported that the Archbishop Wood graduate emerged unscathed. Caleb Daniels added a critical eight points and nine rebounds, giving Villanova (29-7 overall) a huge second half lift.

The No. 2 seed Wildcats advanced to meet No. 5 seed Houston, which knocked off Arizona 72-60 in Thursday's second game. Saturday's game will tip at 6:09 p.m. and air on TBS and the Villanova IHeart Radio Network.
 
Samuels led a team defensive effort in limiting Michigan's versatile 7-0 leader, Hunter Dickinson, to 6-of-16 shooting on the evening (15 points).
 
"He's a phenomenal player," stated Samuels. "He's going to get great looks. But I knew I had my teammates behind me and that gave me all the confidence in the world.
 
"I was just trying to be as solid as possible. He's going to get the ball at times and once he did I was just trying to be as solid as I could be. We tried to make him take contested shots."
 
Said Wright of Samuels' effort: "It was awesome. I was really proud of his effort on the defensive end. We asked a lot of him. We can say we've got to move Dickinson around and it sounds good – unless you're the guy that's got to do it. You're running around, setting screens to make him follow you at the offensive end.
 
"It was a balance. Eric Dixon did some of it but a lot of it was Jermaine. It was a really gutty performance."
 
Michigan scored five of the game's first six points before Moore's 3-pointer and six straight points from Samuels gave Villanova a 10-9 lead at the first official timeout after 6:02 of action. The Wildcats extended their lead to 18-11 midway through the period when Collin Gillespie and Moore dropped in 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.
 
Dickinson, who had been on the bench during Villanova's mini-spurt, returned to the floor and promptly scored six straight points to help shave the lead to 20-17 after 15 minutes of the period were in the book. Five consecutive points from DeVante Jones, the last a 3-pointer from the right wing, gave the Wolverines the lead back at 22-20.
 
Meanwhile, the 'Cats battled to find an offensive groove, misfiring on seven consecutive shots after opening the game 7-of-13 from the field. A drive and pump fake by Samuels broke the scoring drought and also resulted in Dickinson being whistled for his second foul. Samuels sank the subsequent free throw and Nova was back on top 23-22. Gillespie followed with a 3-pointer from the wing to push the edge to 26-22 as the clock dipped below the three minute mark in the first half.
 
"They're a very well-coached team," said Wright. "They have great timing offensively. Hunter Dickinson is used to getting the ball in certain spots at specific times on his cut. We were able to get enough ball pressure on the passer to throw his timing off a little bit. If he did catch his spot, we were trying to hold our ground so instead of taking a five foot jump hook, it was an eight or ten foot jump hook."
 
The final minutes of the period featured a flurry of scoring that ended with Nova ahead of the Wolverines 31-28 at intermission. Samuels (11 points), Moore (10 points) and Gillespie (nine points) combined for 30 of the Wildcats' 30 first half points.
 
Both teams used sturdy defense to keep the other in check over the first 4:24 of the second half. The Wildcats scored three points in that span, a 3-pointer banked in off the glass by Samuels while the Wolverines also produced three points. The Wildcats missed their other eight field goal attempts while Michigan cashed in on just 1-of-4 attempts.
 
Villanova was able to stretch its lead to 40-31 after Dixon dropped in a 3-pointer. Eli Brooks dropped in a pair of 3-pointers to close the gap to 43-37 before Samuels grabbed an offensive rebound and muscled it into the bucket to push the advantage to 45-37. It was a 47-39 Nova lead with 8:32 left in the second half.
 
The Wildcats got a scoring burst from Daniels and Moore to craft a 54-45 lead before Brooks dropped in another 3-pointer off a post feed from Dickinson. There was 3:32 left in regulation at that point in the contest.
 
Michigan closed the gap to 54-50 but another Wildcats' flurry locked down the win. Despite connecting on just .373 of their field goal attempts, Villanova advanced thanks to a defensive effort that limited the Wolverines to .344 shooting, including .265 after halftime. The Wildcats also held their own in the paint, being outscored just 28-26 near the basket.