Tar Heels get it right this time, bring home the title

Justin Jackson delivered the go-ahead three-point play and North Carolina scored the last eight points for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga and a title that heartbreakingly eluded the Tar Heels previous year.

For a year now – nearly exactly to the day – all these North Carolina players wanted was a chance to redeem themselves, an opportunity to erase the heartbreak from last April’s national championship game loss. The two players who carried North Carolina to the title game – Meeks and Justin Jackson – combined to score just 10 points prior to halftime. He added a game-clinching slam with 12 seconds left to give North Carolina a five-point cushion.

Some of the culprits: Berry led the Tar Heels with 22 points but needed 19 shots to get there.

Carolina shot 35 percent from the field, a percentage point worse than it did in Saturday’s semifinal win over OR, which stood, for two days, as their worst shooting night in a tournament win since 1967. But none of that mattered to North Carolina when the confetti rained down upon its sixth national championship after a 71-65 victory over Gonzaga Monday night. Gonzaga was led all year by junior point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, playing his first season for the Zags as a transfer after spending his first two years at UW. The fifth-year senior shot 1-8 from the field, finishing with nine points thanks to seven free throws. He shot 39 percent from 3-point range, including the game-winning shot against West Virginia that lifted the Zags into the Final Four.

Good thing. Hicks wasn’t going to leave the floor after the national championship game dejected like a year ago. Williams coached in his 100th NCAA Tournament game; he is 76-24.

The officials called 27 fouls in the second half and had several other no-calls that had fans on both sides raining boos down on the court. Certainly it was a blown call-a referee is standing 3 feet away and staring directly at Meeks-but it was hardly the only one of this tournament, much less this game. Combine this with stories of Gonzaga coach Mark Few referring to rival and former UW head coach as Lorenzo “Roll Out the Ball” Romar-a shot at Romar’s coaching ability-and you see how deep and bitter this conflict is. After the jam, the Zags was able to get the ball back but only led to them committing another turnover which led to them fouling and UNC sealing the deal with free throws being made.

“One of the things we had to be tonight was tough enough. But the national championship game, it’s only one”.

Williams-Goss scored 15 points but was just 5 of 17 from the field.

Silly me. It was one of the worst games to watch in recent memory.

“We were negotiating our way through massive foul trouble, ones that we haven’t had all year”, Few said. “We broke that glass ceiling everybody said we couldn’t get over”.

“As far as crying, no”, Meeks said, “but I’m sure I will”.