North Carolina trailed by eight at the half and by 11 in the second half but rallied to tie it late in the game only to see Kentucky hit a pair of threes to send the Wildcats to the NCAA Final Four by a 76-69 score.

Kentucky lived by the three-pointer as the Wildcats hit 12 of them on 22 attempts. With the score tied at 67 following a pair of free throws by UNC’s Tyler Zeller, Kentucky’s Brandon Knight fired in a three from the right wing to make it 70-67 with 2:50 left.

A Zeller basket drew the Heels within one with 1:54 to go but that was as close as it would get. Kentucky’s DeAndre Liggins blocked a shot by a driving Kendall Marshall and on the other end threw in a three late in the shot clock to make it 73-69 with just 36 seconds left. Free throws by Knight, who led five Wildcats in double figures with 22 points, wrapped it up and ended Carolina’s season at 29-8.

“I couldn’t be prouder of my team,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “I wouldn’t trade my kids for anybody.”

He could have used a few more of them however as the John Henson, Harrison Barnes and Leslie McDonald all got in foul trouble. Henson’s foul trouble particularly hurt as he picked up his third just 13 minutes into the game. He ende up playing on 23 minutes and had to be careful with his play in the second half, especially after he picked up his fourth foul just four minutes into the second half.

“(Foul trouble) definitely hurt us,” Zeller said during the post-game press conference. “We had to change what we’ve been doing the last couple of months but at the same time you can’t blame it on that.”

Still, Henson, who fouled out in the last minute, was able to take only four shots, haul in just one offensive rebound and block no shots as he had to play tentatively when he was in the game.

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