Kansas Wins the NCAA Men’s Basketball Title

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Kansas Wins the NCAA Men’s Basketball Title
05 Apr 2022
5 min read

News Synopsis

Kansas won its fourth NCAA title on Monday after taking down North Carolina by 72-69 in an epic battle in the finals. Surpassing Kentucky's 10-point rally to beat Utah in 1998, it was the biggest comeback in title game history. 

David McCormack notched a go-ahead bucket from a close range of 1:21 remaining, and at 22 seconds mark to put the Jayhawks ahead by three. North Carolina missed the last four shots, including Caleb Love's desperation 3 at the buzzer. His heave barely grabbed the rim after officials determined that Kansas guard DaJuan Harris Jr. had an inbound pass with 4.3 seconds left.

McCormack and Jelen Wilson scored 15 points each. Christian Braun scored 10 of his 12 in the second half and Remy Walker has 11 of his 14 over the final 20 minutes. 

North Carolina scored 16 straight points late in the first half to open a 40-25 advantage at the break, but KU went on a 31-10 run over the opening 10 minutes of the second to take a six-point lead and set up a fantastic finish.

Bacot scored 15 points and 15 rebounds and became the first player to score double-doubles in all six tournament games. He finished the season with 31 double-doubles. Carolina was trying to join 1985 Villanova as only the second 8 seed to win March Madness.

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