NATIONAL CHAMPS CROWNED
Villanova hits buzzerbeater to top North Carolina, 77-74
First came the smothering. Now for the celebrating.
Villanova won its second national title Monday night thanks to a defense that was at its peskiest, stingiest best in the second half. With North Carolina on lockdown — it’s kind of hard to make a shot when there’s a 10-armed octopus in your way — Phil Booth and Ryan Arcidiacono made a couple of clutch shots to set up Villanova’s 77-74 victory.
North Carolina would make a final furious run behind Marcus Paige, who scored eight points in the final 90 seconds. But Kris Jenkins drilled a three at the buzzer off a beautiful pass from Arcidiacono, the Final Four most outstanding player, to seal the victory, setting off a dogpile at midcourt.
“I was just shocked,” Villanova coach Jay
Wright said. “They did it.”
It’s Villanova’s first national title since 1985, and most of that group was in attendance — including former coach Rollie Massimino, who flew in from Florida on Monday and had a prime seat behind the Wildcats bench. As the final buzzer sounded, Massimino stood there, simply beaming.
As if he knew the shot would go in, Jenkins simply said, “I think every shot is going in, so that was no different.”
Athough Villanova was a No. 2 seed compared with North Carolina’s No. 1, this was no upset. The Wildcats were ranked No. 1 during the season, and a case could be made that they were deserving of that seed for the tournament.
But Wright and his players said they didn’t much care what their seed was or where they played. Their only concern was that they be the last ones standing Monday night.
Wright and his team have long been criticized — or worse — for their struggles in the tournament. They were blown out by North Carolina in the Final Four in 2009 and made early exits as a No. 1 seed the last two years.
But the Wildcats were outstanding all tournament — their margin of victory puts it among the best in national championship history — and were at their best in their final two games. After so much talk all season about how there was no one great team, Villanova showed it was more than deserving of that title.
It didn’t come close to the 71.4% it shot in the semifinal against Oklahoma, but its 58.3% was still pretty impressive. But most impressive was its defense, which had North Carolina looking for restraining orders, let alone fouls, for most of the night.
Carolina had been averaging 83 points, and it won its first five tournament games by 14 points or more. Even in the first half, it shot 54% — and was a blistering 7-for-9 from three-point range. But Villanova put the clamps on over the last 21 minutes; North Carolina finished shooting 42.9% and was just 12-for-35 in the second half.
What could have been a ninepoint North Carolina lead at the half was cut to five thanks to Josh Hart’s block and Booth’s cool pull-up jumper with a second left. After North Carolina took a 43-38 lead with 16:59 left in the game on a dunk by Brice Johnson, Villanova cranked up its defense again.
North Carolina would make just two of its next 12 shots, and the Tar Heels looked increasingly flustered by the defense. Roy Williams turned up the volume on his complaints to the refs, and his players were often looking to the sidelines for a call. No luck. Villanova, meanwhile, was coolly pulling ahead. Arcidiacono made his first baskets since early in the first half, and Booth made a layup to push the lead to 57-50 with 8:34 to play.
A three by Arcidiacono would make it 63-57 with 6:18 left, but Paige wasn’t about to let North Carolina go without one last fight. But the rally came too late, and the title was Villanova’s.