National Championship 2016, North Carolina vs Villanova: Full highlights

Monday night’s North Carolina vs Villanova national title game lived up to the lofty expectations.

Who would have expected a national title game like this one? Villanova was looked at as a team in which no one could trust to make a run to the Final Four. The Wildcats have been eliminated early in the tourney in recent years, but Jay Wright’s squad has been on fire through the tournament, just demolishing opponents.

North Carolina was a safe choice to make a Final Four run and the Tar Heels seemed to have little problem making it through the East Region and to the national semifinal. Facing ACC foe Syracuse in the Final Four, the Tar Heels pulled away late and found themselves back in the title game for the first time since 2009.

Roy Williams vs. Jay Wright was quite a battle on Monday night as the two basketball powers fought hard from beginning to end.

The first half was exactly what fans wanted, a back and forth battle with no clear front-runner. North Carolina was absolutely on fire from three-point range in the first half, hitting 6-of-8 to start the game and went into the locker room with a 39-34 lead.

Villanova opened the second half with a purpose, taking the lead back just over five minutes into play and hoping to hold on for dear life for the remainder of the game. Villanova extender the lead to seven points with about 10 minutes left as the Tar Heels went cold from the floor.

With the Tar Heels down 10, the game looked like it was just about over, but a 12-3 North Carolina run cut the Villanova lead to just one point with a minute remaining. The championship game was headed for a classic finish.

A questionable foul call on North Carolina gave the Wildcats a three-point lead, but Marcus Paige rebounded his own miss to score and cut the deficit to one yet again.

Down three with 13 seconds left, the Tar Heels had a chance to tie it up with a three and Marcus Paige hit an unbelievable double-clutch three with four seconds left to knot the game at 74. Kris Jenkins got a chance to win it at the buzzer with a three and he did it, making this the most memorable title game in recent memory.

Three Stars

While everyone played well for the Wildcats, it seems, Kris Jenkins hit the biggest three-pointer of his life at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a victory. He finished with 14 points.

Ryan Arcidiacono simply couldn’t miss, like most of the Wildcats, in the second half. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

After a quiet first half, Marcus Paige caught fire in the second. He scored just four in the first 20 minutes and then finished the game with 21 points and six assists.

Full Highlights

"40 minutes from a title! #NationalChampionshiphttps://t.co/2RlaJIIFUf— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016"

"Brice Johnson with the spectacular spinning alley-oop finish! #NationalChampionshiphttps://t.co/C8o5XDsEjZ— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016"

"Oh, baby, Brice Johnson! #NationalChampionshiphttps://t.co/hMNLklZ3CD— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016"

"MARCUS PAIGE!!! #NationalChampionshiphttps://t.co/y9RVKpoz5i— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016"

"UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!! #NationalChampionship https://t.co/POLVkUJnpj— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016"

Betting Odds

North Carolina was a two-point favorite heading into this one and the Tar Heels were so close to forcing overtime, but the Wildcats won by three.

What’s next?

North Carolina is losing some key talent like Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige from this year’s team, but the Tar Heels will be stocking up with a top-10 recruiting class in 2016. Expect the Tar Heels to be right back in the thick of the title race next season.

Villanova has a five-star coming in with the 2016 class, but the Wildcats are losing Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, for sure. Those are two big pieces to this year’s run. It will be interesting to see if they can make it back next season.

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