NEW ORLEANS — Lounging in a golf cart just outside the Caesars Superdome interview room, moments before hitching a ride to the Kansas Jayhawks’ locker room, Ochai Agbaji on Saturday night discussed the fulfillment of a dream.
“The Final Four is cool. Playing for the national title is even better. It’s wild because we always talk about it. This is what you want in the summer. Everyone is kind of ‘national championship, national championship.’ Every player at every school can say ‘national championship’ in the summer. To actually be in the game and be in this moment is surreal now,” said Agbaji, KU’s 6-foot-5 senior guard out of Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Mo.
He was speaking after scoring 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting — 6-of-7 shooting from 3-point range — in KU’s 81-65 victory over Villanova in a men’s Final Four semifinal in the Big Easy.
“This is wild,” said Agbaji, whose four 3s in as many tries staked KU to a 19-8 lead. “We’ve got one more to go. This is my final game here at Kansas. I wouldn’t want to close another way.”
Agbaji scored 12 points and David McCormack 13 of his game-high 25 points the first half as KU blazed to a 40-29 halftime lead. The convincing victory moves KU into Monday’s national title game against either Duke or North Carolina.
“I was looking at the score early in the game,” Agbaji said of margins of 19-8, 26-11, 28-13, 33-16, 36-18 and 38-19, “and I was like, ‘This is kind of reversed from the 2018 year.’ Obviously it was unbelievable shooting by Villanova that year. This year was like a little bit of revenge but it wasn’t.”
Villanova raced to a 22-4 lead in its 95-79 Final Four semifinal victory over KU on March 31, 2018 in San Antonio.
“We got up early today. Everything was singing,” Agbaji said. “The offense was moving. Everyone was moving. Obviously the shots were falling tonight: ‘If you find me I’m going to knock it down.’ It was one of those nights.”
Agbaji dropped his shoulders right in front of the Villanova bench after connecting on his fourth three. He was trying to make a statement … well, sort of, he said.
“I dropped my shoulders and I wasn’t going to say it then because it was too early. I dropped my shoulders and I’m like, I want everybody to see me there and be like, ‘That’s the national player of the year,’ instead of me not winning it. ‘This is what I do. This is me,’ ” Agbaji said.
Agbaji stressed he was not upset Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe was named Associated Press national men’s player of the year.
“Oscar (is) player of the year. That’s phenomenal for him. He is a great player,” Agbaji said. “I’d rather have a national championship over that accolade.”
KU had a plethora of heroes Saturday. In addition to Agbaji and McCormack: Jalen Wilson scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds; Christian Braun had 10 points and five assists — he made two big threes in the final half as Villanova was making a comeback.
Dajuan Harris hit three 3s and scored nine points with four assists. Remy Martin had five boards and three points with two assists in 21 minutes and Mitch Lightfoot four boards and two points with a block.
“Dave and our starting five … we all are going to be aggressive and see what happens. We’ll throw our cards, place our cards in that moment,” Agbaji said. “This is what I play for. This is what we work for, to be here and performing in the moment.”
Agbaji said a key to his performance and the team’s was the fact the Jayhawks were relaxed Saturday.
“In warmups and everything, having all the shootarounds, everything leading up to the game, (I) just felt relaxed,” he said. “Everyone on the team did, relaxed but still confident and ready to attack the game.”
Now it’s on to the title game at 8:20 p.m. Central time Monday.
“Like we always say, we come to Kansas for games like this and games like Monday,” Agbaji said. “So just a great career here. I couldn’t ask for better.”
