A decade ago, Villanova won its second basketball national title and pushed its name into the spotlight

Villanova’s 2015-16 season was defined by 4.7 seconds.

In the final seconds of the national championship on April 4, 2016, Villanova was tied with North Carolina at 74, after Tar Heels guard Marcus Paige hit an off-balance three-pointer.

Then, Ryan Arcidiacono brought the ball up the court and, without hesitation, pitched the ball to Kris Jenkins. After a quick two-step, Jenkins nailed a buzzer-beater three-pointer — now known as “The Shot” — to win Villanova a national championship.

It’s been 10 years since Villanova won its second national title since 1985. While many remember Jenkins’ historical buzzer-beater from that season, the buildup to the confetti falling in Houston, Texas, was not easy.

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“We had a losing season [in 2011-12], and as a staff, we were committed to just getting back to our core values of Villanova basketball,” former coach Jay Wright told The Inquirer. “We were happy about where we were because we were playing that way. And at the same time, we had lost two years in a row in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. So there was kind of pressure from the outside that we got to get past the second round.”

Before the 2015-16 season, Villanova was a No. 1 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a 32-2 regular season record, and a No. 2 seed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament with a 28-4 record. After losing in the second round of the tournament in both seasons, the media and college basketball fans began to question if Wright was a championship-caliber coach.

“It felt good to get [Wright] over the hump after he had been criticized and crushed for not being able to get over the hump, not being able to coach in these big games, being known as a choker and things of that nature,” Jenkins said to The Inquirer. “And then, so it was, it felt good to get that monkey off his back, because despite what anybody may say, as a competitor, that type of stuff, definitely annoys you.”

Villanova strung together a seven-game win streak with ease to open the 2015-16 season, with its smallest margin of victory being 14 points.

Then the program traveled the farthest it would that season — 6,108 miles — to Bloch Arena on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii, to play then-ranked No. 7 Oklahoma in the Pearl Harbor Classic.

That is when Villanova suffered its first loss of the season, being handily defeated by Oklahoma, 78-55. It was Villanova’s second-worst shooting performance of the season, connecting on just 20 of 63 field goal attempts (31.7%).

“When we lost in Hawaii against Oklahoma, that was probably about as bleak as I kind of thought it could be that year,” Wright said. “It wasn’t just that we got beaten. We got manhandled. And I was shocked that we could play like that. It turned out they were a Final Four team, but you didn’t know that at the time. So that loss was kind of devastating and really humbling. We came out of that game knowing we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

In hindsight, Villanova eventually crushed Oklahoma in the Final Four, 95-51. The 44-point win marked the largest margin in Final Four history.

Villanova returned to the NCAA Tournament that season for the fourth consecutive year and 14th time in the last 15 seasons.

The Wildcats dominated their first three opponentst, winning each game by double digits. They took care of Miami in the Sweet 16, 92-69, with 21-point performances from Arcidiacono and Jenkins.

Jenkins was a rebound shy of a double-double and shot 5-for-6 (83%) on three-pointers. It was his best three-point shooting performance of the season.

“We played some great teams on that run,” Wright said. “Miami was a great team. I remember Kris Jenkins pulling up from like 35 feet and just thinking, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ And he was drilling shots in that game. It was really, it was ridiculous.”

Villanova had to defeat three teams in a row who were all ranked No. 1 on the Associated Press Poll at some point during the season, starting with Kansas, then Oklahoma and North Carolina.

The back-and-forth battle against Kansas ended in Villanova’s favor with a 64-59 win.

Oklahoma was next. Villanova facedthe Sooners earlier in the season, and it was ugly. It was Villanova’s largest margin of defeat all season.

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At this point in the season, Villanova was ready for anyone. That was until freshman Donte DiVincenzo, who just recovered from a broken foot, threw that confidence off in practice.

“Going into the game against Oklahoma, we had Donte DiVincenzo simulate Buddy Hield in practice for Oklahoma,” Wright said. “Hield lit us up when we played him early in the year. And we couldn’t stop Donte DiVincenzo. So we went into that Oklahoma game thinking like, ‘Wow, we can’t stop Donte DiVincenzo, man.’ We were really concerned going into that game, but I think it gave us a real healthy fear that made us play at another level.”

Villanova beat Oklahoma in almost every statistical category and outscored the Sooners by 30 points in the second half.

Villanova entered the national title game against North Carolina as the underdog.

While Villanova kept it close, the Tar Heels pulled away toward the end of the first half. North Carolina led by seven points and was going for nine until Josh Hart blocked Justin Jackson. Phil Booth then made a difficult mid-range jump shot to cut Villanova’s deficit to five as the first half clock expired.

Booth ended the game with a season-high 20 points, shooting 6-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-2 in three-pointers.

With five minutes remaining in the game, Villanova led by 10 points, and North Carolina quickly erased its lead. It all came down to the final seconds.

Daniel Ochefu almost stole the ball from Paige, but Paige got around him. He went to take the three-pointer and was met with a hand from Arcidiacono. Paige seemingly floated in midair, swung the ball around, and made the shot to tie the game.

After Paige’s shot, every Villanova player went into the huddle knowing what the final play of the game was: “Nova.”

Wright ran the play several times that season in practice, with different scenarios, defensive sets, and score margins.

The play wasn’t for Jenkins. It was for Arcidiacono to bring the ball up court, have Ochefu set a screen, and either shoot or pass the ball to the corner.

However, Jenkins yelled “Arch, Arch, Arch!” in a loud NRG Stadium, and Arcidiacono heard and saw him. He pitched it off to Jenkins to shoot the championship-winning shot.

“Never in practice did he ever run behind me and get in my line of vision for me to pass him the ball,” Arcidiacono said of Jenkins. “But for him to have the wherewithal, thinking back of all the times he ran in practice, and he noticed that he might have a chance to get in my line of vision to give me another option. It’s just so smart of him.”

Jenkins thought of it coming out of the huddle and mentioned to Arcidiacono that he might be open.

“My whole thought process was get the ball in, no turnovers, and then get in Arch’s line of vision so that I could give him another option,” Jenkins said. “Because it’s time to win the game. This isn’t the end of the half-type of situation. This is to get a good quality shot at the end of the national championship. So I just wanted to be another option. And thankfully, I did.”

The shot is a symbol of the Wright era. It represents the payoff from years of gunning for a championship and falling short. It changed how Villanova is viewed on a national level, not just in basketball, but as a university.

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“When the shot went in, there was kind of a relief that was a weight on my shoulders that I never knew was there,” Wright said. “I never really felt it, but after winning it, it was just kind of a relief. I was so happy for everybody at Villanova to experience that again.

“We all did in 1985, and I always thought that was the greatest thing that ever happened to Villanova. And I honestly didn’t even think about it happening again. I was just trying to make us the best program we could be.”