Josh Hart, a junior, scored 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and the team shot 71 percent overall in the 95-51 drubbing of the Sooners – the largest margin of victory in Final Four history.
Advertisement
North Carolina forward Brice Johnson (11) shoots against Syracuse during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Saturday, April 2, 2016, in Houston.
Hield and his Oklahoma team were eliminated in the national semifinals on Saturday by Villanova.
The biggest issue after the 83-66 win against Syracuse, in fact, was waiting for head coach Roy Williams to get to the locker room before the Tar Heels could really celebrate.
Villanova, with its pressure defense and unbelievable shooting, versus North Carolina, which has been unstoppable inside the paint and is also playing some pretty strong defense.
The Wildcats had to contain All-American Buddy Hield while not allowing the other Sooners to start scoring in his stead. They did that by having everybody on the roster take a run at covering him.
Villanova coach Jay Wright said his team just had “one of those nights” when everything clicked. I don’t think the way we do it would fit at other schools.
Wright had it figured out. “We’re all about making a good play”. Daniel Ochefu, Villanova’s underrated 6-11 senior center, will have his hands full stopping them. We did it so different guys were chasing him, moving off the ball, we were giving him different looks. “When you get to play this many games, when you have your 40th time you’ve prepared for somebody, that you’ve made a gameplan, you’ve executed, you can get better and better”. We were able to stay fresh. The Wildcats made 9-of-10 shots in the crucial stretch of the second half when they took complete control. “When he lost against Middle Tennessee, and then everybody’s against him, he didn’t show up on the biggest stage and they thought Michigan State was going to win it all”. “We had to learn a lot to get over ourselves and get out of our own way”.
Hield, who came into the game shooting 46.5 percent from 3-point range, finished 1 for 8 from behind the arc and had nine points, 16 below his average. “We’ve just got to go out there and play” .
Dillon said many students simply wanted the Wildcats to reach the Sweet Sixteen, a feat they had not accomplished since 2009. “I just tried to do everything that he does to the best of my ability to make sure these guys are ready for Saturday” .
Arcidiacono has been perhaps the Wildcats’ best player during their run to the title, scoring double-digit points in every tournament game. “We just can’t get complacent with those two wins that we had” .
Marcus Paige, North Carolina’s senior guard who gave a moving speech on senior night that had Williams in tears, knows his coach well.
“Just turned up the defensive intensity”. “We made a decision to lock down on defense”.
And with the North Carolina-Villanova in the National Championship game on TBS, TNT and truTV tonight, Turner should see some very good numbers and potentially become the most-viewed college basketball game on cable TV.
“Obviously we love when we can hit shots”, Hart said.
Advertisement
“‘We’re going to be good, ‘ we keep telling them, and I think they believed that”. North Carolina has defeated Syracuse twice this season, winning 84-73 at Syracuse on January 9 and 75-70 at home on February 29. “But that game kind of represents us” .”We were dialed in” .
