Despite being up by 15 at the half, and outrebounding their opponent 55-35, North Carolina was blitzed by Kansas in the second half, falling 72-69 in the NCAA national championship game.
The Tar Heels shot just 31.5 percent for the game, including 28.2 percent in the second half while Kansas was hitting 58 percent of their shots.
Carolina went on an 18-3 run at the end of the first half to take a dominating 40-25 lead into the half. But it took Kansas just over nine minutes to catch up.
Cold-shooting and a lack of rhythm with Leaky Black and Brady Manek in foul trouble and Armando Bacot hobbled, combined with hot shooting and defensive pressure by the Jayhawks changed the game.
“In the second half, their pressure just bothered us. We couldn’t do anything offensively,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “They made more plays at the end.”
The Tar Heels came from four down with four minutes to go to take a 69-68 lead on a Manek two-handed follow shot after a Love miss with just 1:41 to go.
But a pair of hook shots inside by Kansas big man David McCormack – one with Bacot in the game and the other with Bacot out after re-injuring his ankle in the last minute – put Kansas up 72-69 with 25 seconds left.
Carolina got a couple of three-point shots up – one by Love and one by Puff Johnson – but neither fell and Manek threw it out of bounds trying to get the rebound to Black.
Kansas gave Carolina one more chance as they stepped out of bounds on the inbounds. The Heels designed a play for either Manek or Love with four seconds left but neither got open. Love forced up a shot and came up short.
Love, the hero Saturday night against Duke, was just four of 18 from the floor in the second half. The Tar Heels as a team were just five of 23 from the three-point line for the game – just 21 percent.
With 38 seconds left, and the Heels trailing, Bacot drove in and turned the already injured ankle and went down, not getting off a shot. He did not return.
“I thought it would be an easy basket and I rolled my ankle,” Bacot said.
Being up 16 at one point in the first half and being without two key players in key situations of the second half (Black through fouls and Bacot through injury) was a bad way to lose.
It was a game of two halves with Carolina outscoring Kansas 40-25 in the first half and Kansas outscoring Carolina 47-29 in the second.
Kansas got 12 points off Carolina turnovers in the second half compared to the Heels scoring just two points off Kansas turnovers.
The Tar Heels were truly beat up by the end.
Manek caught an elbow in the first half and seemed out of it for a few minutes. Davis took a finger or elbow to the eye. Love came up lame late in the game and was slowed by it the rest of the way. Johnson, who had scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, was injured and missed the last four-plus minutes. Bacot, hobbled a bit throughout and missing the last 38 crucial seconds, still finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Carolina, which finished the season 29-10, also got 15 points from R.J. Davis, 13 points from Manek and 13 points from Love.
Kansas, who got 15 inside points from McCormack and 15 mostly long shots from Jalen Wilson, finish the season 34-6 with a National Championship.
For video highlights and more commentary on the game, please click here.