North Carolina Survives to Complete the Final Four

But North Carolina switched to a 2-3 zone, hit some hard shots and then got an 18-footer from Luke Male with.03 left to beat Kentucky 75-73 and earn its Final Four berth while ending UK’s season at 32-6.

Luke Maye hit the game-winning shot with 0.3 seconds to play as No. 1 seed North Carolina advanced to their 20th Final Four Sunday with a hard-fought 75-73 win over No. 2 Kentucky in Memphis.

The North Carolina Tar Heels and Kentucky Wildcats went through a series of unreal emotions during their Elite Eight matchup.

They will play against Orego, which emerged from the Midwest Region with a victory against Kansas, on Saturday night in a national semifinal in Glendale, Ariz. With:54 left, it was 71-64, Carolina, which meant that Williams’ guys had scored 12 points in a row (on their way to finishing the game 16-9). He had some more heroics Sunday, draining a 3 to tie the game at 73 with 7.2 seconds left.

Even with those hurdles, North Carolina needed a jumper from Luke Maye with 0.3 seconds left to end the Wildcats’ season, eliminating Kentucky 75-73 in the South Region final of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

After North Carolina fell behind by five points with 5:12 remaining, Roy Williams called a rare timeout to gather his team and help them regroup. ‘It was a great feeling’. Adebayo rebounded from a shaky first half to finish with 13 points and seven rebounds, and Monk scored 12 points, six in the final 38.5 seconds. And you’ve got to beat who’s out there, and let’s go, and don’t worry about it. The first time Kentucky and Carolina had played this season, in December, it was 103-100 Kentucky, and Malik Monk made the shot to win the game.

Theo Pinson drove enough toward the basket to pick off Maye’s defender, then passed back to Maye. Williams said. “He (made) some big-time plays today, big-time plays two days ago”.

Justin Jackson hit a layup on the other end on a long inbounds pass to put the Tar Heels back up by three. UNC is the only program to play in the Final Four in eight different decades. “We need to make dome dadgum shots and free throws”. Maye has tallied 33 points and grabbed 15 rebounds over the last two games. Meanwhile, it’s the first Final Four trip for Gonzaga coach Mark Few, Oregon coach Dana Altman and SC coach Frank Martin.

Monk and Fox almost staged a remarkable comeback, combining to hit three 3-pointers in the final 53.5 seconds, erasing a seven-point deficit, only to lose on Maye’s jumper after Monk had pulled the Wildcats even with 7.2 seconds left. Justin Leon had a team-high 18 points for Florida. It was the second big game for Maye, who had the first double-double of his career in Friday’s Sweet 16 victory over Butler.

“We still got our open looks, but they just, I guess they just went farther than what they were in the first half”, Leon said. The players come and go, especially at Kentucky, where so many kids like Fox and Monk are there and gone after a year. Gonzaga and OR from the Pacific time zone and SC and North Carolina from the Eastern time zone.