By Katherine Kelly, Sports Editor
Unexpected circumstances arose during the NCAA March Madness Championships in Glendale, Arizona on April 3, 2017. To earn spots in the championship game, the teams fought and played aggressive games.
Going into the game, North Carolina had five NCAA championships, whereas Gonzaga had never even made it out of the Sweet Sixteen. In the regular season, North Carolina had a 33-7 record, and Gonzaga had a 37-2 record with the odds looking to be in their favor.
In the Final Four stage of their 19th NCAA tournament appearance last Saturday, the Gonzaga Bulldogs pulled out a win against the South Carolina Gamecocks. They scrambled in the second half and managed a 77-73 point win, landing them a spot in the Finals. The North Carolina Tar Heels played the Oregon Ducks and won 77-76.
At the beginning of the championship game, Gonzaga was looking strong. The end of the first half had Gonzaga leading 35-32. In the second half, however, Gonzaga scored a total of 30 points, and North Carolina took a lead with 39 points. The final score was 65-71 for the Tar Heels. The game was aggressive, with 44 fouls throughout the game and 27 committed in the second half alone.
The game came down to the final seconds as North Carolina was leading by three points. Then came a breakaway dunk by forward Justin Jackson, giving the Tar Heels a five-point lead with 10 seconds left in the game.
In the final seconds, North Carolina dominated the court.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams won his third title, surpassing his personal mentor, Dean Smith. It was also his ninth appearance in the championship game. This win against Gonzaga came just 12 months after North Carolina lost to Villanova with a buzzer-beater shot in the championship game. The loss to Villanova provided the spark needed to ignite the team and help them take home the win.
Both the Bulldogs and the Tar Heels were number one seeded teams in their regions, making the game ultra-competitive. Gonzaga had the first game of the season in which they were not leading in assists by the end.
The game was infected with scoring droughts. At the beginning of the second half, the score was 35-32, Bulldogs in the lead, but the Tar Heels put eight points on the board when the second half started. In the final minutes of the game, North Carolina took a run and scored nine points — Gonzaga only scored two.
Many spectators say that the game may have been rigged, but Sporting News disagrees.
“Referees didn’t cause Gonzaga [to lose]. [North Carolina] chose physicality when skill failed them,” Sporting News said.
That said, the common strategy of “letting players play” was not used during this game, considering the amount of fouls.
With 50 seconds left, it was a one-point game, with a score of 66-65. What was not spotted by the baseline referee was North Carolina’s Kennedy Meeks’s out-of-bounds hand. He was fighting for a jump ball while play continued for a couple of seconds.
The referee called a jump ball, and North Carolina regained possession. After this call, the Tar Heels took the game.
The game was attended by 76,168 people at the University of Phoenix Stadium. It was North Carolina’s 48th appearance in a national championship game throughout all sports but Gonzaga’s first appearance.