N. Carolina outlasts Oregon
Tar Heels return to final for shot at their 6th title
Finishing off Oregon in the Final Four on Saturday should have been easier than it turned out, North Carolina’s Roy Williams admitted.
Maybe the entire game should have been less stressful than the 77-76 final margin at University of Phoenix Stadium.
But the No. 1-seeded Tar Heels could not find any rhythm offensively until late in the first half, then had trouble putting the Ducks away after taking a 66-56 lead with 8 minutes, 31 seconds remaining. They missed four free throws in the final five seconds and needed two offensive rebounds to prevent Oregon from getting the ball for a crack at a gamewinning shot.
“We had a big advantage inside, but we weren’t showing that,” Williams said. “Kennedy (Meeks) was our only guy inside scoring. We needed more offense from Kennedy tonight, and he stepped up and did that. I thought he was sensational around the basket.”
Meeks, a 6-foot-10 senior forward, had 25 points and 14 rebounds as North Carolina (32-7) earned a second straight shot at a national championship. The Tar Heels will face another No. 1-seed, Gonzaga (37-1), in the title game Monday in their quest for a sixth national championship. Gonzaga, which outlasted South Carolina 77-73 in the first semifinal before a capacity crowd of 77,612, is making its championship game debut.
“Making it back to the national championship game is amazing,” Williams said. The Tar Heels are 5-5 in title games. Oregon (33-6) led by as many as eight points in the first half, but trailed by three at the half and was never able to take the lead in the second half. If the Ducks had won, it would have been the first NCAA final between two Western teams, and it would have come in the Final Four’s return to the West for the first time since 1995.
Gonzaga will try to become the first champion from the West since Arizona in 1997.
North Carolina came out attacking in the second half, quickly building its lead to eight (46-38) on a Justin Jackson 3pointer and forcing an Oregon timeout at 16:58.
The Ducks stabilized and were within three (48-45) before back-to-back baseline 3-pointers by ACC Player of the Year Jackson, then a Jackson steal and two free throws for a 56-47 Tar Heels lead at 12:44. The 6-8 Jackson and Meeks both had 20 points at that point.
North Carolina gained its first doubledigit lead (66-56) at 8:14 when Theo Pinson rebounded a Meeks free-throw miss and dropped a pass to Meeks for a layup.
Oregon got as close as six points twice