The North Carolina Tar Heels captured their sixth NCAA title Monday night, beating the Gonzaga Bulldogs 71-65. It was coach Roy Williams third title victory. North Carolina overcame the memory of last year’s buzzer-beating loss to Villanova by surging to victory in this year’s national championship. The Tar Heels’ Joel Berry II scored a team-high 22 points, making him the outstanding player of the Final Four, which he achieved despite playing on two bad ankles.
Much had been made of the size match up between the twin gargantuan front courts of the Tar Heels and Bulldogs, and neither team shied away from banging away on the interior turning the game into an ugly, defensive stalemate for long stretches of the clock. Hyperactive refs called way to many fouls slowing the pace of the game even further.
In the end, UNC won the battle of the bigs, registering a 40-18 scoring edge in the paint and an 18-percentage-point edge on 2-pointers. You have to give the Heels credit, they won a game they could easily have lost. They managed to win the title shooting only 15 percent from 3, 35 percent from the field and under 58 percent from the free-throw line. One key was that Carolina took care of the basketball, committing only 4 turnovers.
Carolina came out strong and aggressive to start the game but fell behind by 3 at halftime. But the determined Tar Heels pulled ahead in the final minutes to claim victory, and after the game, several Tar Heels players gave glory to God.
“Ah man, it’s unbelievable. We had about six or seven guys get into Bible study … have just quiet time just to be able to take it all in and keep the mindset on the Lord above. That was the most important thing,” said #32 Luke Maye. “No matter the outcome we knew He was there and He’s got our back. We just went out there and wanted to play for Him. And I felt like we did that tonight. And luckily He blessed us. So it’s a great feeling.”
“For me I always know God has a plan for me. You know whether it’s to lose in this game again or win tonight. Uh, so for me, I place all my decisions based on that,” said Justin Jackson, a 6’8″ forward/guard for the Tar Heels. “So for me, I felt like God was calling me to come back here. I knew I had a great group of guys here. I knew we had a chance to come back and do some huge things. You know God is good all the time, all the time God is good. At the end of the day I can’t do anything but praise Him and thank Him for the abilities that He gave me and the abilities He gave this team.”