2 Kentucky (32-5) vs. 1 North Carolina (30-7)
Time: 2:05 p.m. PDT. TV: Channel 2 Bottom line: No NCAA tournament game has featured as much history as this regional final. North Carolina and Kentucky have combined for 13 national championships (eight for Kentucky, second all time) and 244 tournament wins. This is Kentucky’s 56th NCAA berth, the most ever, with North Carolina second on the list with 48. North Carolina has earned the most No. 1 seeds (16); Kentucky is second with 12. No team has made more Final Fours than North Carolina (19), and now the Tar Heels are a win away from making their 10th Final Four as a No. 1 seed.
Rematch: Kentucky avenged a regular-season loss against UCLA in the regional semifinal. Now the Tar Heels seek payback for a 103-100 loss on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas. Justin Jackson scored 34 points for North Carolina in that game, only to be topped by Malik Monk’s 47 for Kentucky, including the gamewinning three-pointer. North Carolina didn’t have top defender Theo Pinson for that game but did have guard Kenny Williams III, who later suffered a season-ending injury. Tar Heels’ edge: North Carolina leads the all-time series 2315 and is the only school with both 10 or more wins and a winning record against the Wildcats. This will be the fourth game between the programs in the tournament — all in regional finals with the Tar Heels holding a 2-1 edge.
Numbers to know: Kentucky has momentum with a 14-game winning streak, longest in the nation. Both teams average 85.2 points a game. The key likely will be on the boards; Carolina leads the nation in rebounding, averaging 43.7 a game. Did you know? North Carolina Coach Roy Williams has 73 tournament wins, second only to Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (91). Williams is 8-4 in the Elite Eight, including 4-3 at North Carolina. But nobody has more tournament wins since 2010 than Kentucky’s John Calipari with 26.