The buzzer-beating 3 that Villanova’s Kris Jenkins poured in on top of that was the result of months, even years, of practice making ideal. Jenkins buried the shot as time expired, and West’s calmness quickly turned to elation.
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While spending your Monday watching Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer (and Marcus Paige’s shot before it) over and over, the question is worth considering: where does this incredible shot stack up against the best finishes in NCAA Tournament title game history? “As bad as you want anything in your life, you don’t know how much our team wanted this game”.
If there was indeed a debate about whether the long ball had replaced its high-flying cousin, the dunk, as the highlight of choice for many a millennial, Jenkins might have just ended it.
It was Villanova’s first title since 1985, and the second for the men’s basketball program in the school’s history.
In the hard-fought battle between the heavily favored Tar Heels and the tenacious Cinderella squad from a Catholic university on Philadelphia’s leafy Main Line, it would all boil down to what happened in those few seconds.
Nate Britt and Jenkins hugged after the game and Britt congratulated him.
HOUSTON, TEXAS-The 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship was one for the ages. “I knew exactly where I had to set the screen”, Ochefu said.
“I’m just so happy that another Villanova team can experience the same feeling we had 31 years ago”, McClain said.
However, senior guard Arcidiacono raced down the court and shoveled a pass to an open Jenkins, who pulled the trigger on a classic game-winner that sent ecstatic Villanova (35-5) players into a heap on the floor as confetti rained down. “We got 4.7 seconds to play defense and this game is ours”.
Before Villanova started their season in November, books had the Wildcats around +2500 to win March Madness. Kris Jenkins should send Roy Williams a thank-you card. The guy hit a championship-winning buzzer-beater.
“I think because the game was on so late… and everything in Sanford closes at 9 p.m., we close at 10 p.m.”, he said.
Page stole the show once more with one of the biggest shots of the entire tournament to tie the game at 74-74 with just four seconds left.
“I’m so proud to be a Wildcat”, said West. “Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat”.
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North Carolina got within 3 after a pair of free throws by Kennedy Meeks with about seven minutes left, but Ryan Arcidiacono scored the first five points of a 7-0 spurt that made it 67-57 with 5 1/2 left.
