UNC vs Kansas: Observations from UNC’s loss to Kansas in national championship game
North Carolina and Kansas play Monday night in the NCAA tournament championship game, with a scheduled tip time of 9:20 p.m. with TBS televising.
The Tar Heels aim for their seventh tournament championship in program history, which would give them four since the turn of the century. Kansas has three NCAA tournament titles, with its last championship coming in 2008.
The News and Observer has seven journalists on site at Caesars Superdome, including Luke DeCock, Andrew Carter, C.L. Brown and Steve Wiseman. They will have live observations from the scene at the arena.
Bacot sidelined as UNC runs out of chances
With Kansas leading 70-69, UNC center Armando Bacot attempted to move in the lane with the ball looking for a shot to put the Tar Heels on top. But Bacot crumpled and reinjured the ankle that he first sprained in Saturday night’s 81-77 semifinal win over Duke.
Bacot lost the ball for a turnover and remained down on the court before getting up and hobbling past midcourt. Play was stopped with 38.5 seconds left and Bacot was helped from the court.
With Bacot out, Kansas center David McCormack muscled his way for a basket with 22 seconds left giving the Jayhawks a 72-69 lead.
UNC missed two 3-pointers -- one by Caleb Love and the other by Puff Johnson -- before turning the ball over with four seconds to play. Kansas turned it over while trying to get the ball in-bounded.
But UNC’s Love missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and Kansas won 72-69 to win the NCAA championship.
Stomach issues sideline Puff Johnson
UNC received a big boost off the bench from sophomore Puff Johnson, who scored nine of his 11 points in the second half. But with 4:23 to play, the game was halted when the 6-8 Johnson knelt down on the court and vomited on the court.
He was removed from the game, with Leaky Black replacing him. Kansas led UNC 63-61 when Johnson was sidelined. The court was cleaned up and play resumed.
Johnson returned to the game with 38.5 seconds to play and Kansas leading 70-69. After the game, Johnson said he got “hit in the stomach.”
“Just didn’t go well once I got hit in the stomach,” Johnson said.
Tied with less than eight to play
After being down by 15 points at halftime, Kansas roared back to take a 56-50 lead. But UNC struck back with Puff Johnson coming off the bench to hit a 3-pointer that tied the game at 57-all when the under-8 media timeout arrived at 7:48.
Johnson was in the game because UNC’s Leaky Black went to the bench with four fouls. Armando Bacot and Brady Manek stayed in the game though they each have three fouls.
Reserve forward Mitch Lightfoot committed four fouls in his seven minutes of play for Kansas. Jayhawks center David McCormack had three fouls.
Kansas makes its surge
The Jayhawks proved the more aggressive team in the early minutes of the second half, taking advantage of poor UNC offense while they got out in transition to cut a 15-point deficit to 46-45 with 12:41 to play.
The Tar Heels hit just 2 of their first 13 shots after halftime while also committing four turnovers over the first seven-plus minutes.
Meanwhile, Kansas hit 9 of 15 shots during the same stretch. The Jayhawks had just two fast-break points in the first half to trail 40-25 at intermission. But they tallied six while cutting their deficit to a single point.
Guard Christian Braun, who made just 1 of 7 first-half shots, scored eight points, including a layup at 12:44 that left UNC up 46-45.
Halftime update
UNC lead Kansas 40-25 at halftime after closing the half outscoring the Jayhawks 18-3 over the final 5:48.
Neither team is shot particularly well with UNC at 36% (12 of 33) and Kansas at 30% (10 of 33). But the Tar Heels dominated the rebounding with a 27-18 edge.
UNC’s eight offensive rebounds allowed it to score 18 second-chance points. Kansas had only 2 in the first half.
Historic effort for Bacot -- already
UNC center Armando Bacot finished the first half with 12 points and 10 rebounds, giving him a double-double over the game’s first 20 minutes. According to the NCAA, Bacot is the first player to post six double-doubles in the same NCAA tournament.
Kansas big men in foul trouble
As usual, the only post player UNC is using against Kansas is Armando Bacot. But the Jayhawks post-player rotation picked up five fouls in the game’s first 16 minutes.
Starting center David McCormack was called for his second foul as he ran by and fouled R.J. Davis on a 3-point attempt. Davis made all three free throws to put UNC up 32-22 with 4:17 left until halftime.
Kansas reserve forward Mitch Lightfoot was called for three fouls during his six minutes of play in place of McCormack in the first half.
Jayhawks coach Bill Self removed both players after McCormack’s second foul, opting for a smaller lineup.
Manek hit in head
The game saw its first official review before the first timeout occurred when UNC’s Brady Manek was felled when he was struck in the head under the Kansas basket.
It occurred after a Jayhawks shot when Manek moved into the lane while Kansas center David McCormack was shooting over UNC’s Armando Bacot. McCormack’s left arm caught Manek in the head as he followed through on a shot he made with 16:49 to play in the first half.
The officials stopped play to review replays but determined the play was not flagrant and thus didn’t warrant any additional discipline.
Manek received attention from UNC’s staff but remained in the game.
Chasing history
With a win Monday night, UNC would be the first unranked team to win the NCAA tournament since Kansas, with Danny Manning, pulled off the trick in 1988.
The Tar Heels were ranked No. 25 in the March 7 poll after their 94-81 win over Duke to close the regular season. But a 72-59 loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament semifinals caused the voting panel to drop UNC from the final AP poll before the tournament.
UNC entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 8 seed in the East Region. But the Tar Heels have knocked off three ranked teams -- No. 4 Baylor, No. 11 UCLA and No. 9 Duke -- in their five NCAA tournament wins.
Bacot ankle update
Armando Bacot tested out his right ankle during pregame workouts, guarding an attacking dribbler under the watchful eye of assistant coach Sean May. Bacot looked to be moving a little gingerly, not unexpectedly so after spraining it late in Saturday’s win over Duke. Bacot returned to that game, but was noticeably limping Sunday.\
Game officials
Jeffrey Anderson (Big East), Ron Groover (ACC) and Terry Oglesby (SEC) were the officials for Monday’s title game. Anderson officiated two Kansas games and three North Carolina games. Groover saw Kansas and North Carolina three times each. Oglesby saw Kansas three times.
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 6:06 PM with the headline "UNC vs Kansas: Observations from UNC’s loss to Kansas in national championship game."