“Listen, that kid, he was on fire.”
Donte DiVencenzo’s performance in the 2018 NCAA title game didn’t just push Villanova to its second national championship in three seasons — it also earned the praise of one of basketball’s biggest stars.
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James took notice of the redshirt sophomore guard, who set a career high with 31 points in the biggest game of his life.
“Listen, that kid, he was on fire,” James said Tuesday morning. “But he did it in an all (around way). First of all, he made himself a lot of money. That’s the first thing I thought. Obviously, I’m not with the whole college thing so I don’t care about that. He made himself a lot of money last night and not because of the way he was shooting, but he was doing it all.”
DiVencenzo’s 31 points came on an uber-efficient 15 shots, earning him the championship game’s Most Outstanding Player award. While he may have boosted his NBA stock, it seems unlikely he’d declare for the 2018 Draft. ESPN draft scribe Jonathan Givony rated him as only the 63rd-best prospect in this year’s potential class before the NCAA tournament, and another year with the Wildcats — this time as a starter — could be even more beneficial to his credentials than his massive game against Michigan.
Monday’s explosion was a surprising performance from the Wildcats’ sixth man, but not an entirely unexpected one. He’d scored 30 points in an 86-75 Villanova win over Butler back in February.
But that game didn’t make a four-time NBA MVP a fan. This one did.
“He was getting into the lane, and-1s. Backdoors. Lobs,” James continued. “Verticality with Matthews at the peak, showing his athleticism. And then when the game started to kind of get (close) when Michigan cut it to 12, boom, he hits another backbreaker. Michigan kind of gets it to 10, boom, he shows up again. Man, listen, at the end of the day, Villanova was the best team in college basketball this year and when the National Player of the Year is on the sideline with four fouls for the majority of the second half and you’re still winning? That lets you know how great of a team you are. So, Donte, obviously he was great.”
Of course, the Ohio native James wasn’t about to drop the subject without taking a brief parting shot at Michigan.
“The best team won and I’m actually happy they won a little bit because we don’t really speak that other team’s name around here. But I do feel, I feel for the kids though.”
