NEW ORLEANS — North Carolina became so comfortable with making big shots in big moments in its race to the NCAA men's basketball national title game on Monday that surely it felt like one more was in store with 4.3 seconds left and trailing 72-69 against Kansas.
For a brief moment, it was easy to see Caleb Love rising to make a 3-pointer, shaking off his 1-for-7 start to that point. Love was 1 for 8 from 3 in the first half against UCLA too, before he erupted for five 3s and 27 points in the second half.
For a split second, it was reasonable to envision Brady Manek showing off his quick release that had already accounted for three of Carolina's five 3-pointers in the game, splashing the nets and sending it into overtime.
