GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) _ This time, the North Carolina got it right.
The Tar Heels have erased the memory of last year’s buzzer-beating loss to
Villanova in the NCAA title game by topping Gonzaga, 71-65 to win this year’s
national championship. It’s the sixth NCAA crown for North Carolina, which
closed on a 9-0 run after Nigel Williams-Goss hit a jumper to put the Bulldogs
ahead 65-63 with under two minutes remaining.
Justin Jackson converted a three-point play with 1:40 remaining to put the Tar
Heels ahead to stay. He added a game-clinching slam with 12 seconds left to give
North Carolina a five-point cushion.
Joel Berry II had a team-high 22 points for the Tar Heels, who won despite
shooting under 36 percent from the field and going 4-for-27 from 3-point range.
Berry was named the outstanding player of the Final Four, playing on two bad
ankles and bouncing back from a 2-for-14 shooting effort against Oregon on
Saturday.
Jackson was 0-for-9 from beyond the arc but finished with 16 points, while
Isaiah Hicks added 13.
North Carolina’s shooting was actually better than Gonzaga’s. Williams-Goss
paced the Bulldogs with 15 points despite missing 12 of his 17 attempts. Josh
Perkins contributed 13 points, but Przemek shot 1-for-8 in
scoring nine. The Bulldogs shot 33 percent in losing their first title-game
appearance.