GLENDALE, Ariz. — Gonzaga left its first national title game with a pain it had never known; a disappointment that may linger with each player and coach for the rest of his life.
North Carolina knew the feeling better than anyone — and the Tar Heels weren’t going through it again.
One day shy of the one-year anniversary of “The Shot” — Villanova’s Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beating, championship-clinching 3-pointer — the Tar Heels completed their season-long quest for redemption and claimed the school’s sixth national championship, with a 71-65 victory over Gonzaga Monday night at University of Phoenix Stadium.
This year, the Tar Heels soaked in every second of the confetti shower that felt like acid in Houston. This year, the fireworks sounded like a symphony. The moment they wished had never happened had created an experience even greater than they could envision.
With the win, No. 1 North Carolina (33-7) became just the fourth team to win a national championship after losing the previous year’s title game (1982 North Carolina, 1991 Duke, 1998 Kentucky), while Roy Williams won his first national title since 2009, and third overall, tying him for fourth all-time, with Jim Calhoun and Bobby Knight.
“They wanted redemption,” Williams said. “It’s a fantastic feeling. … At the end, when you’re watching your kids jump around with that excitement, there’s no better feeling.”
Though the action between the top two teams was marred by fouls, and even uglier shooting, North Carolina’s smiles were no less brilliant afterward, none stretching as wide as Joel Berry II’s.
After hobbling through one of his worst games of the season in the semifinals, the junior point guard quickly erased any doubts of his effectiveness on two sprained ankles, finishing with 22 points, six assists and one turnover to be named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. Berry became the first player since UCLA’s Bill Walton (1972-73) to score at least 20 points in back-to-back championship games.
“It was just gritting it out,” Berry said. “What we went through, I think we just deserved it.”
Playing in its first national title game, No. 1 Gonzaga (37-2) failed to become the first West Coast Conference to win the national championship game since 1956, and the first team outside of a power basketball conference to win the national title since 1990 (UNLV).
Since starting the seemingly impossible climb from anonymous mid-major team to national power, Gonzaga has wanted the respect of the top teams in the country, but perceptions are hard to change. Championships are even harder to win, especially when shooting 28 percent from the field in the second half.
“I was told it would crush you if you don’t win it … and it crushes you,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I’m hoping that perspective will come with time and these guys will realize what an amazing accomplishment they had and what an amazing effect they had. We got everybody back to believing this group was capable of doing this, and more than capable of winning a national championship.”
The top two teams in the country met their match, both unsure how to handle the first opponent that could match their size and strength. Gonzaga’s Przemek Karnowski (nine points, 1-of-8 shooting) was held scoreless in the first half, while Kennedy Meeks (seven points, 10 rebounds) returned to earth after the best performance of his career. Gonzaga received an unlikely boost from Josh Perkins, who scored 13 of Gonzaga’s first 28 points after being held scoreless in the semifinals, but the sophomore went scoreless in the second half, and Nigel Williams-Goss (15 points, nine rebounds, six assists) received little support.
The Bulldogs led by as much as seven, but only led 35-32 at the half, and after controlling most of the game, Gonzaga trailed just 35 seconds into the second half. For the first time, the teams looked like the perception of the programs, with the ACC power pushing around the big fish from the little pond.
Gonzaga pushed back, though, against the lingering perception it didn’t belong, and against the growing belief in the baby blue-colored portions of the crowd that another championship banner was a birthright.
Williams-Goss put Gonzaga up with a drive with 2:20 left, and then broke a tie with a bank shot with 1:49 remaining, but Jackson converted a 3-point play nine seconds later, followed by the long-struggling Isaiah Hicks increasing North Carolina’s lead to three on a drive with 26 seconds remaining. Meeks then blocked Williams-Goss on a drive, and Berry found Jackson for the game-sealing dunk with 12 seconds remaining.
The quest was over.