NEW ORLEANS — North Carolina.
New Orleans Superdome.
National championship.
That was the formula for two of the Tar Heels national titles in 1982 and 1993, but on Monday night Kansas seemed to pull some kind of voodoo in the Bayou. The Heels squandered a 15-point halftime lead to fall to the Jayhawks 72-69.
Carolina missed two 3-point attempts to tie the game when Caleb Love and Puff Johnson each misfired in the final 15 seconds. KU was expecting to be fouled on the ensuing in-bounds play, but DaJuan Harris stepped out of bounds fielding a pass to give Carolina another chance with 4.3 seconds left.
The play looked as if it could have been designed to get Brady Manek open in the corner. But he stumbled fighting through a pick eliminating himself as an option. Caleb Love, who made the heroic 3-pointer to clinch Saturday's win over Duke, attempted a shot over Christian Braun, but it was short as the clock hit zero. The Heels finished 5-for-23 shooting from 3-point range.
It was a deflating end to an improbable run to the title game for the Tar Heels. Hubert Davis was only the third coach in NCAA history to reach the title game in his first season. He was attempting to become the first to win it all in his first full season.
UNC just couldn't muster enough offense in the second half.
Carolina (29-10) looked like it was going to run away with a win when it closed the half on an 18-3 run to take a 40-25 lead into halftime. But just as the Jayhawks did to Miami trailing by six in the Elite Eight, they started the second half with a furious rally.
The Heels made just four of their first 18 shot attempts, as KU came all the way back, tying the game at 50 on a Ochai Agbaji three-point play with 10:53 left.
The Jayhawks used that momentum to overtake UNC for the lead and go ahead 56-50.
R.J. Davis finally ended Carolina's scoring drought, scoring consecutive baskets when they got a boost from an unlikely source.
Sophomore forward Johnson was only in the game because senior Leaky Black picked up his fourth foul with 13:52 left in the game. Johnson had only scored in double figures twice this season. The last time was when he had 11 points against Marquette in the NCAA Tournament's first round.
Johnson made a 3-pointer in the left corner off a Davis assist, took a charge on Agbaji, and scored seven straight points for the Heels to pull them within 60-59. Johnson had 11 points, but had to come out of the game when he doubled over on the court and threw up after possibly being struck in the stomach during a loose ball scramble.
Carolina had several plays where it looked like its players were injured. Manek took a wild arm to the face in the first half. Love was limping when either his knee or ankle buckled in the second half. And Armando Bacot had to be helped off the floor with 48 seconds left after he fell while driving to the basket.
Bacot secured his 31st double-double of the season by halftime scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds. In tying Navy's David Robinson for the NCAA record, he set a new one for the NCAA Tournament with a double-double in six games.
But it wasn't the stat sheet that made his performance so special. The junior from Richmond, Va., clearly didn't have the same bounce. Bacot sprained his right ankle in Saturday's semifinal win over Duke when he rolled his foot on Leaky Black.
What Bacot lacked in athleticism, he made up for with positioning, keeping Kansas defenders David McCormack, Mitch Lightfoot and K.J. Adams Jr. guessing which way he would pivot and what angles he'd use to get his shot off. When Bacot couldn't secure a rebound himself, he'd tip the ball to a teammate or simply to keep it live.
Bacot finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
