Coleman lifts No. 17 Texas over No. 14 UNC for first Maui Invitational title
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — It wasn’t long after Texas arrived for the relocated Maui Invitational that coach Shaka Smart pointed out the banners hanging above the court to recognize the tournament’s past champions.
“We said: ‘There’s no Texas on these banners,’ ” Smart said.
There will be now, thanks to Matt Coleman III’s clock-beating shot and a defensive effort that carried the 17th-ranked Longhorns to their first title.
Coleman hit a stepback jumper with 0.1 seconds left to help Texas beat No. 14 North Carolina 69-67 in Wednesday’s final, capping a wild finish that saw the Longhorns regroup after blowing a 16-point lead and falling behind late.
Coleman finished with 22 points and was the most valuable player for the Longhorns (4-0), securing the program’s first Maui title in their fifth appearance.
The senior led the offense all day long, making 9 of 16 shots with three 3-pointers. And he was ready for his clutch moment, saying he even smirked during the preceding timeout with a single thought: “I was just made for times like this.”
Coleman dribbled down the clock against UNC’s RJ Davis and made his move. The lefty drove to the foul line, and then sprung back to launch a soft jumper over Davis’ outstretched arm from near the right elbow.
The ball bounced off the rim, then the backboard, then through the net.
“Soft touch, baby,” Coleman said.
“It was on line. I knew I didn’t leave it short. It just had to play with the rim a little bit, create some suspense for the fans — that’s all,” Coleman continued with a chuckle.
The Tar Heels (3-1) could only heave the ball the length of the court for a miracle that never materialized.
“RJ tried to do a good job and Matt hit a tough shot,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “If we had had a little more experienced team, we would have probably tried to double-team. … But it’s what it was, and you’ve got to congratulate Matt for making a shot.”
Garrison Brooks led UNC with 18 points and seven rebounds despite playing through an ankle injury that sent him to the locker room at least twice. Davis finished with 11 points, and Armando Bacot had 10 points an 12 rebounds.
Texas used a 26-5 run to turn a fivepoint deficit into a 36-20 lead on Greg
Brown’s free throws with 3:50 left in the first half. But the Tar Heels roared out of halftime with five straight scoring possessions. They clawed to within one five different times before finally tying it on a free throw from Caleb Love with 3:54 left and then taking their first post-halftime lead on Brooks’ turnaround with 2:35 to go.
“In the second half (Williams) just told us to go out there and fight and just be competitors and we did it,” Bacot said, “but unfortunately we just lost on a lastsecond shot.”