On the biggest stage in college basketball and in one of the craziest championship finishes you’ll ever see, it was Villanova that had just one more trick up its sleeve than perennial powerhouse North Carolina.
It took two weathered Tar Heels storms and one buzzer-beating, heart-breaking triple, but after 40 minutes of hard-fought play, the underdog Wildcats were the ones to hoist up the national title trophy on Monday night.
The championship-clinching shot came after Tar Heel star senior Marcus Paige connected on a deep three that knotted up the game at 74 with just a few ticks remaining on the clock.
But Villanova wasn’t done yet. Guard Ryan Arcidiacono took the ball up the floor, and dished it to his right, to a waiting Kris Jenkins. Jenkins grabbed the ball, cocked his right arm back, and let it fly – putting up and nailing the biggest shot of his life to the roar of tens of thousands of fans.
The 77-74 win marks Villanova’s second national title, and its first in the last 30 years.
While North Carolina was the – close – favorite coming into the contest, its advantage in the first half came from what many had considered its Achilles heel. While this squad has the unfortunate honor of being one of the worst three-point shooting teams in program history, veterans Justin Jackson and Joel Berry caught fire in the early going, combining to go 6-of-6 from deep through intermission.
Their accuracy from long-range helped create some much-needed space for the heavily pressured post players, whom the Wildcat defenders were swarming from tipoff.
Largely thanks to the early podium performance from Berry – 6-of-7 from the field, 15 points at the half – North Carolina entered the break with a five-point lead, 39-34.
But it was a different story when the second half kicked off. Playing with added urgency – and regaining their patented marksmanship from deep – Villanova quickly rode their high-velocity, high-accuracy stroke to a tie-game. Then to a lead. Then to a bigger lead.
It was an unlikely source -- Phil Booth – who revved the run up before standout guard Arcidiacono regained his early touch. And at the 5:29 mark, Villanova led 67-57.
But then North Carolina woke up, and began to chip away at that newfound Nova lead. Two free throws, one put-back slam, and an exclamation point of a ring-wing triple from none other than Berry brought the Tar Heels back with three, 67-64, with 3:30 remaining. And after the Wildcats extended their advantage to six once more, a huge Marcus Paige trey from the right corner sliced lead in the half. Three-point game.
And although Paige soon hit another triple -- this time with just six ticks left, from even deeper, with a defender diving toward his feet -- Jenkins' heroics rendered the Tar Heel floor general's late sharpshooting moot.
Championship, Wildcats.
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