North Carolina won 71-65.
Advertisement
This game was only good if you viewed it through a Carolina blue lens. Then with six and a half minutes remaining, Hicks beat the shot-clock buzzer with a short jumper from the left baseline to put the Tar Heels ahead by four.
North Carolina made up for last year’s title-decider heartbreak by putting together a late run to overhaul Gonzaga 71-65 in the final of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament on Monday.
“I nearly got emotional”, he said of just thinking about that possibility. You still have to officiate the game of basketball, and that’s what they did. I told him, ‘We’re about to take this thing. They called all manner of touch fouls and off-the-ball fouls and generally killed any attempt by either side to go on a run.
“Isaiah, my boy has been struggling like a dog but tonight he looked like a greyhound there a couple of times at the end”, coach Roy Williams said. He took two quick dribbles and threw a hard pass to Justin Jackson, who ran ahead of everyone toward the basket. Williams-Goss tried to lead the Zags back despite spraining his right ankle late in the game, but couldn’t get the lift he needed to get off a shot with 16 second left.
“I listened to him”, Williams said. “I don’t think either team got into a real good flow”.
The Tar Heels did previously say on Friday that he didn’t know if the team would even get invited, reports Sports Illustrated. Plagued by foul trouble in both games, Maye had only two points the entire Final Four – both on free throws against Oregon.
“It was an ugly game”, Williams said.
Tony Bradley, a freshman big man, is averaging 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in the tournament while guard Nate Britt averages 5.2 points and is tied for second in assists with 10. But replays showed the officials missed a crucial call down the stretch, too. But as Karnowski was flailing after the ball, he inadvertently grabbed Berry around the neck. After a long delay, the refs called Karnowski for a flagrant foul of his own.
“I mean Bruh! Smh” no less an expert than LeBron James said on Twitter, echoing the sentiments of pretty much everyone, everywhere.
He might have wanted further review on the scrum with 50 seconds left.
Instead, North Carolina got the ball (remember, due to the jump-ball call and the possession arrow being in their favor) up a point with 49 seconds to play.
Gonzaga, on the other hand, coughed the ball up 14 times and posted a turnover rate that hovered around 19 percent.
“That was probably on me”, Few said.
But, still, that missed out-of-bounds call really hurt. “So that’s tough. It’s tough to hear”.
The tiny Jesuit school from Spokane proved all the doubters wrong over the past three weeks, advancing to its first Final Four and coming within two minutes of downing a college hoops blueblood for the national championship.
Thus the Tar Heels adopted this year’s game mantra as getting revenge for last year’s loss.
Advertisement
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – The 2016-17 season is over, with North Carolina holding off Gonzaga to win the national championship for the program’s sixth NCAA title. You gotta play. And his toughness, I think, everybody on our club picked up on that.
