Junior forward Justin Jackson scored a game-high 19 points and sophomore forward Luke Maye scored 17 points, including the game-winning shot, as No. 1 North Carolina survived a 75-73 thriller over No. 2 Kentucky in the South Region championship game on March 26 in Memphis, Tenn.
North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, left, celebrates with his players after they beat Kentucky 75-73 in the South Regional final game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday, March 26, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
North Carolina (37-7) advances to the Final Four for the second straight year and 20th time in school history.
The last few minutes of the game defined why the NCAA Men’s Tournament has taken on the moniker, March Madness. In an extreme tightly contested game, no team led by more than two points until near the six-minute mark when Kentucky freshman guard De’Aaron Fox scored a driving layup to put the Wildcats ahead, 62-59. Kentucky’s lead was quickly pushed to 64-59 after sophomore forward Isaac Humphries made a jumper.
But North Carolina reclaimed the momentum and lead with a 13-0 scoring run and was up, 71-64, with less than a minute left. That’s when the madness reached its peak as Fox nailed a three-pointer to cut North Carolina’s lead to 71-67 with 46 seconds left. Kentucky (32-6) then forced a five-second violation as North Carolina couldn’t make the inbound pass in time. That led to a clutch three-point shot made by freshman guard Malik Monk to cut the score to 71-70.
Justin Jackson quickly broke Kentucky’s full-court press and made a layup to extend North Carolina’s lead to 73-70. But Monk then nailed another clutch three-point shot to tie the score, 73-73, with only 10 seconds left. That set up Luke Maye’s game-winning jump shot that sealed North Carolina’s 75-73 victory.
Next – North Carolina will next face No. 3 Oregon in the Final Four on April 1. Fellow No. 1 seed Gonzaga will take on No. 7 South Carolina in the other Final Four matchup that same day.
