Justin Jackson’s dunk gave the Tar Heels a 70-65 lead on Monday night, but Carolina should not have even had the ball in the first place.
The North Carolina Tar Heels avenged their loss in the 2016 NCAA National Championship Game on Monday night, though once again, a huge tournament game had a controversial no call. In the waning moments of their 71-65 win, the Tar Heels were aided by the referees failing to see that Kennedy Meeks was out of bounds. Meeks appeared to steal the ball with 0:09 seconds left in the game, but his hand was clearly out of bounds.
The referee, despite standing right over the play, did not call it, and Meeks then passed to Joel Berry II. Berry then hit Justin Jackson with a perfect fastbreak pass, leading to a dunk that put the Tar Heels up by five points. That proved to be an insurmountable lead, and the Tar Heels would go on to cut down the nets inside University of Phoenix Stadium for the sixth national title in school history.
Take a look below at the pivotal play below.
Hand out, perfectly legal. pic.twitter.com/yVLXDByImK
— Matt Smith (@SamENole) April 4, 2017
Berry was named Most Outstanding Player of the game, as he avenged a rough showing in their Final Four matchup against Oregon. The junior point guard had been battling ankle issues all tournament, but he looked at full capacity on Monday night. Berry scored a game-high 22 points in the win, dishing out six assists along the way.
For Roy Williams, the win is his third national title, including two for the Tar Heels. This team was able to overcome plenty of adversity during the tournament, having to claw back from deficits in each of their games after the first round. For Gonzaga, they were playing in the first title game in school history, and it is a shame that a non-call wound up being a pivotal play in the biggest game of the year.
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