The championship game of the NCAA Tournament in Glendale had a familiar feel to the one last year as the Tar Heels of North Carolina were paired up against a team from a Catholic university. UNC this time around found redemption in the Valley of the Sun as they cut down the nets this year beating Gonzaga 71-65 after losing the championship to Villanova at the buzzer last year in Houston.
Gonzaga led by three at the half at 35-32. The Tar Heels then outscored the Bulldogs 39-30 in the second half to head coach Roy Williams his third national championship. Joel Berry, II, paved the way for his team with 22-points and six assists for the win.
North Carolina trailed in three point percentage going four-for-27 compared to eight-of-19 and trailed in free throws making 15-of-26 baskets from the foul line to 17-of-26 from Gonzaga. But the team from Chapel Hill led in scoring percentage outshooting the kids from Spokane 36-percent to 34-percent.
"You know, on game night, kids gotta play. That's the bottom line," Williams told the Associated Press before the game. "I've never won a game from the bench. I may have lost some, but I know I've never won one. We've gotta go out and play and do the best we can."
Williams' team is led by junior forward Justin Jackson, who averaged 18.3 points per game in his 39 games played on the season going into the game Monday. The 6-8/210-pound native of Tomball, Texas, is shooting at a 44.7 percent clip from the field and 38.2 percent from beyond the arc. He is also the owner of a 74.6 shooting percentage from the free throw line.
Berry was behind Jackson and averages 14.5 points per game. He is shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 38.7 percent in three-pointers. From the free throw line, he is 102-for-129 at 79.1 percent.
The Tar Heels won the ACC championship but lost to in-state rival Duke in the conference tournament championship game. They then earned the number one seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament. After stomping on Texas Southern 103-64 in the First Round, they beat a hungry Arkansas Razorback team from the SEC 72-65 to earn a date in the Sweet 16 against Butler.
North Carolina won that game 92-80 and then went on a 12-0 run at the end of the game to finish off Kentucky's season 75-73 in the Elite-8. Saturday night in Glendale, they clipped Oregon's wings 77-76. ''If it wasn't for Kennedy Meeks, we wouldn't have been in the basketball game,'' Williams told the AP.
On the other end of the court, was the Gonzaga Bulldogs who reached the Final Four for the first time in school history. The Bulldogs went 37-1 on the season and went 17-1 in the West Coast Conference. They breezed past the 16-2 Gales of St. Mary's in the conference to win the championship. "To be playing in the last game of the year is just crazy cool," said coach Mark Few to the AP.
Big man on campus is Nigel Williams-Goss with his 16.9 points per game. He was also rebounding at 5.9 per game and had 4.7 assists per game. He was shooting 49.3 in field goal percentage.
"I think the respect thing has to go out the window," he told the AP before the championship game. You have 37 wins in a college season, I mean that's just unbelievable. And to be playing the last
game of the season, we have a chance to play for it all. And we're here to win it."
Gonzaga as top seed in the West Region outlasted South Carolina 77-73 Saturday in the Final Four. Williams-Goss in that game had 23-points. The Bulldogs got to the desert by taking care of fellow Jesuit school and 11th seed Xavier 83-59 in the Elite-8 and sent West Virginia back to the mountain roads in the Sweet 16 by winning 81-58.
"I've had some really, really tough teams," Few told the AP. I've had some really close teams. I've had some teams that have been crazy efficient on the offensive end and ones that have been pretty darned good on the defensive end that probably didn't get credit for it," Few said. "These guys are all of that. All of it."
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