The Kansas Jayhawks’ fourth NCAA basketball championship ended with a thrilling 72-69 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Jayhawks had to erase a 16-point first-half deficit to come from behind for the win. It was the largest comeback in national championship history, surpassing the 1963 title game when Loyola-Chicago overcame a 15-point deficit to beat Cincinnati at the buzzer, 60-58.
Monday marked the tenth appearance in the championship game for Kansas and the third under Hall of Fame head coach Bill Self, who secured his second title with the win. His first came in 2008.
“Tonight, we obviously labored in the first half,” said Self, who is now 4-0 against North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. “But the kids competed.”
Kansas (34-6) trailed by 15 points at halftime, which also set the record for the most significant halftime deficit overcome in a men’s title game (previously set at 10 by Kentucky against Utah in 1998).
Kansas jumped up to a quick 7-0 lead at the start of the game, but North Carolina dug in and tied the score at 22 with 5:50 remaining in the first half. The Tar Heels then exploded with a 16-0 run over 3 minutes for a 40-25 lead at the break.
The Jayhawks quickly responded after halftime before the game got even more out of hand. Kansas scored 20 points over the first 7 minutes of the second half to trim the Tar Heels’ lead to one point. They continued pouring it on and overall went on a 31-10 run over the first 10 minutes of the half to take a six-point lead.
“When we saw our own blood, we didn’t panic, and we came out the second half coming in hot,” Self said. “I was thinking at the 14-minute mark, ‘There’s no way these guys can play for 20 minutes defense like this,’ but they did.”
A back-and-forth battle ensued and tied the score 65-65 with 3 minutes remaining to set up a fantastic finish. The teams continued to battle, and the Tar Heels found themselves up 69-68 with 1:41 remaining in the game.
Kansas needed a basket, and center David McCormack gave it to them, scoring the go-ahead bucket from close range with 1:21 left.
North Carolina guard Caleb Love then drove to the basket, but his shot got blocked. The Tar Heels grabbed the offensive rebound and got the ball to their center, Armando Bacot, but he lost footing as he drove to the basket and turned it over. Bacot limped off the court and could not return for the rest of the game.
“I thought I really got the angle that I wanted, and then I just rolled my ankle,” Bacot said.
Bacot finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds to become the first player to record double-doubles in all six tournament games. He ended the season with 31 double-doubles.
With North Carolina’s big man Bacot out, Kansas again called on McCormack, who scored another close-range shot with 22 seconds remaining to put the Jayhawks ahead by three.
“When we had to have a basket, we went to Big Dave, and he delivered,” said Self.
“We just locked in as a family, as a team, and that’s what we do,” said McCormack after making the last two baskets of the game. “We overcome the odds. We overcome adversity. We’re just built for this.”
McCormack and Jalen Wilson led the Jayhawks with 15 points each. Christian Braun scored 10 of his 12 points after halftime, and transfer Remy Martin had 11 of his 14 in the second half as well.
Kansas outscored North Carolina 47-29 in the second half. The Tar Heels made only 11-of-40 shot attempts after halftime and went scoreless, missing their final four shots over the final 1:41. That included a desperation three-pointer from Love at the buzzer.
“They were penetrating and doing whatever they wanted,” Love said of the Jayhawks’ dominant second half.
The eighth-seeded Tar Heels tried to match the 1985 Villanova championship team as the lowest seed to win March Madness. Instead, North Carolina (29-10) fell one win short of completing their magical run with a championship win. The Tar Heels dropped to 6-6 all-time in title games.
“I can’t remember a time in my life where I should be disappointed,” said first-year North Carolina coach Hubert Davis, who was trying to become the first person to lead a team to a title in their first year as head coach. “But I am filled with so much pride.”
Meanwhile, Coach Self became the first-ever coach in Kansas’ storied college basketball history to win two titles for the school.
“These don’t fall off trees; they’re hard to get,” said Self. “I think this team can play with any team that Kansas has put on the court.”
The Jayhawks’ Ochai Agbaji was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. He finished with 12 points.
“This is a special group of guys,” Agbaji said. “We’re going down in history.”
