North Carolina is heading to the national championship to take on Kansas after defeating Duke 81-77 in the 2022 Final Four on Saturday night. In doing so, the Tar Heels ended Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's career with a loss in Coach K's 13th trip to the semifinals.
The much-hyped third matchup this year between the two teams — and the rivalry's first-ever NCAA Tournament showdown — mostly lived up to the hype with 12 ties and 18 lead changes and both teams trading makes down the stretch.
Duke went into halftime up 37-34 despite getting just five minutes from center Mark Williams as he picked up two quick fouls, and despite North Carolina piling up four first-half fouls on his replacement, Theo John.
In the second half, Caleb Love came alive for the Tar Heels, hitting a number of monster shots to keep North Carolina close. And with North Carolina leading Duke 75-74, Love hit a huge 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to give the Tar Heels a four-point advantage, then made 3-of-4 free throws late to help North Carolina seal it.
The win helped North Carolina win this year's series with Duke 2-1, and the Tar Heels will move on to face Kansas, which ousted Villanova 81-65 earlier Saturday.
Duke was in search of Krzyzewski's sixth national championship, but the Tar Heels played spoilers — as they did in Krzyzewski's final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium — ending his title count at five. Here are the numbers on Duke's legendary coach: 1,202 wins, an NCAA record, 13 Final Fours, which passed UCLA coach John Wooden to set another NCAA record. And within the ACC, Krzyzewski won 13 regular-season titles and 15 tournament titles.
He turned Duke into capital letters DUKE, taking a program that had reached two Final Fours but had no national titles and churning it into a spot among college basketball's blue bloods. And he set things up well for his successor, with Jon Scheyer bringing in the nation's top-ranked recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite.
There won't ever be another Coach K, but Krzyzewski also potentially assured that Duke won't revert back to the strong, but far-from-elite, program that it was before he arrived.
On the other side, Hubert Davis pushed his alma mater to the national championship game in his first year as a head coach. He deserves a mountain of the credit, as he empowered a less-than-traditional backcourt of Love and R.J. Davis to be themselves. Davis scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half, then Love took over, pouring in 22 of his his 28 in the second half.
That mercurial duo needs a foundational piece next to them, and that's where Armando Bacot comes in—the North Carolina big man added his 30th double-double of the season, passing Tim Duncan and setting a new record for an ACC player. Bacot finished with 11 points and 21 rebounds against the Blue Devils, giving North Carolina the force on the glass it had to have to win.
How much of a force? In a four-point win, UNC grabbed 17 offensive rebounds — 14 of which came from Bacot (8) and Leaky Black (6) — and scored 22 second-chance points.
Will the intensity of the game weigh on North Carolina heading into the national championship game?
Each of the Tar Heel starters logged at least 33 minutes and four played at least 36. Bacot played the fewest minutes, but sustained a rolled ankle in the second half, albeit one he returned from less than a minute later. Davis played 36 minutes. Brady Manek logged 39. Both Love and Black played the full 40 minutes. The only reserve to play more than three minutes was Puff Johnson, who played nine.
Coaches talk at times about how difficult it is to refocus quickly after a huge, emotional win, and this was one of the hugest and most emotional one could imagine. But even past that, the Tar Heels only trusted their rotation to a few select players and didn't make a second-half substitution until Bacot checked out with his ankle with 5:18 left to go in the game.
Kansas saw three of its starters play 33 or fewer minutes — many of which weren't high-leverage minutes — and the Jayhawks are more comfortable utilizing parts of their bench in close games.
If Kansas and North Carolina are in a tight contest down the stretch on Monday, will the Tar Heels have the juice to get across the finish line?
North Carolina outlasts Duke 81-77 to reach the national championship game against Kansas. Love scored six big points late, first on a 3-pointer, then by making 3-of-4 free throws to close things out. The Tar Heels will play the Jayhawks Monday night.
