Morgan Beard
Staff Writer
In a thrilling last second buzzer beater shot by junior forward Kris Jenkins, the Wildcats take the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship home to Villanova University.
The North Carolina Tar Heels came up short in the nail biting game on April. 4 as the Wildcats defeated the Tar Heels 77-74 in a matchup, played in Houston, Texas, lived up to all of its hype.
Jenkins’ shot the first ever buzzer beating shot to win a NCAA men’s national title since Lorenzo Charles’ dunk for North Carolina State in 1983, and the first title game to end on a buzzer beating three pointer.
Jenkins’ mother, Felicia Jenkins, is also a former Jackson State women’s basketball coach. Jenkins also played against his adoptive brother, North Carolina’s Nate Britt. Britt’s was Villanova’s original target as a prospect but Villanova fell in love with Jenkins’ soft touch.
It was a very physical and intense game. Both teams were experienced, led by senior guards Paige and Arcidiacono on a mission. There were no freshman prodigies expected to dazzle and then ditch college for the N.B.A. This was a throwback game.
Villanova and North Carolina quietly established themselves as a cut above. The Tar Heels, the No. 1 seed in the East Region, had yet to win a tournament game by fewer than 14 points. The Wildcats, a No. 2 seed from the South Region, had to upset the top seed, Kansas, to reach the Final Four.
Villanova player Arcidiacono, who was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four, scored 16 points. Phil Booth added a team high 20 for Villanova. North Carolina Paige score a game high 21 points.
North Carolina was favored by many to win its sixth national title and Coach Roy Williams his third, to move him into a tie for fourth on the career list with Jim Calhoun and Bob Knight. He would have surpassed his mentor, the legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
It was a sloppy start to the game, with the teams combining for four turnovers and only five field goals in the first five minutes. But Carolina, which had missed its first 12 3-point attempts in Saturday’s win over Syracuse, delivered on five of its first seven, including three in a row from the same corner.
Carolina was leading, 32-20, with two minutes remaining in the half when Joel Berry II knifed through Villanova’s defense for an uncontested layup, The Wildcats went in the locker room at the intermission trailing, 39-34. Despite shooting 58 percent from the field.
Villanova even outscored Carolina in the paint, 18-12, in the first half, a rarity against the Tar Heels interior size. A dry spell for the Tar Heels early in the second half allowed the Wildcats to retake a 49-46 lead with 12 minutes 45 seconds remaining. It would grow to double digit thanks to three point shots by Jenkins and Arcidiacono with 5:29 left.
Neither defense was able to get a stop on both team’s star key players.
Chaz Shepherd, a sophomore health physical education & recreation major from Jackson, Miss., said, “The game should be considered to be the best title game in many decades. The game came all the way down to last second, with Villanova making a clutch game winning shot.”
Nickolas Davis, a freshman mass communication major from Fayetteville, Ga., agrees.
“The game has to go down in the top ten in championships all time since it’s only the second buzzer beater in history and wow so exhilarating especially as a Duke fan to see North Carolina hopes flushed down the toilet,” said Davis.
