Holliday: Not even UNC's New Orleans magic can overcome Kansas

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

New Orleans has been so good to the North Carolina Tar Heels through the years.

From Michael Jordan’s jumper to win it all against Georgetown to Caleb Love’s 25-footer that clinched the forever game against Duke—arguably the biggest shot since Jordan—UNC had won a phenomenal 93% of its games in the Crescent City prior to Monday night.

Several of these wins were cliffhangers; not just the aforementioned Final Four wins, or the 1993 Championship game against Michigan, but how about UNC-Tulane in 1976? I was privileged to call that game alongside the great Woody Durham. The Tar Heels needed four overtimes and that was a team that featured four Olympians. So yeah, it seemed that North Carolina in New Orleans had become an irresistible force.

Alas, Kansas has become an immovable object for the men in light blue. Neither the luck of New Orleans nor a 15-point halftime lead proved to be enough to push the Tar Heels past the nemesis Jayhawks.

The history of North Carolina’s series against Kansas started well enough, in 1957, with 5’10" Tommy Kearns jumping center against 7’1" Wilt Chamberlain. UNC beat KU in three overtimes, thanks to Joe Quigg’s two free throws with six seconds left. Then Quigg, who I believe should be in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, jumped up and knocked away the lob that Chamberlain intended to catch and finish for the win. One footnote to that game: Kearns ultimately became Chamberlain’s stockbroker, starting a pattern of interconnectivity between these two schools that continued for decades.

UNC would win two more games against Kansas under Frank McGuire. And then McGuire started that cross pollination between Chapel Hill and Lawrence, when he hired Dean Smith, a veteran of KU’s 1952 NCAA Championship team, as his assistant. Of course Smith played for Phog Allen, who learned basketball from the inventor of the game, James Naismith, adding historical ties to the UNC-Kansas rivalry.

Smith replaced McGuire in 1962 and I’m sure was quite happy not to face his alma mater for almost 20 years. But in early January 1981, it happened-in Kansas City. I remember a close, low-scoring game. Mostly, I remember hostility toward Smith. Some fans shouted “traitor,” as he walked into the arena. Kansas won 56-55, the Jayhawks’ first victory in the series. And that was a UNC team that played for the National Championship.

UNC added Michael Jordan the following season and improved its record against Kansas to 4-1. However, the series has been almost all uphill for the Tar Heels from there.

And those close ties between UNC and Kansas reached a new level in 1988. KU reached out to Smith, hoping the man who coached the U.S. to the Gold in 1976 and won the 1982 NCAA title, might return to his alma mater. Smith declined, but told the administration in Lawrence he had a young assistant who was ready to be a head coach. And so Roy Williams followed Larry Brown, another Smith protégé at the school where the game was invented.

Williams had never been a head coach but what an impact he made on the college game. His third team, in 1991, reached the Final Four, where the Jayhawks were matched against North Carolina. Williams’ Jayhawks beat his mentor’s Tar Heels in Indianapolis in a very rare game where Smith was ejected. Kansas cut the lead to 4-2.

Smith and UNC defeated Williams and KU in 1993, en route to Smith’s second national championship. More New Orleans magic. But that was the last UNC win of significance. Matt Doherty’s final team upset Kansas at Madison Square Garden. It was big for Doherty since he had been an assistant under Williams for many years. But that happened in December and that UNC team did not play in the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina has not beaten Kansas since.

Williams replaced Doherty at UNC following the 2003 season—see what I mean about all this back and forth stuff between the two schools? "Ole Roy," loved by so many, felt incredible guilt leaving Lawrence, magnified by the fact that he never won a National Championship there. Williams presided over three meetings with his successor, Bill Self, all in the NCAA Tournament. KU eliminated UNC in 2008, 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, though he couldn’t beat Kansas, Williams won three NCAA titles at UNC before turning the program over to his hand-picked successor Hubert Davis. Not from Kansas. Yet Davis could not alter the evolving wave of Kansas wins over Carolina, as the Jayhawks handed the Tar Heels yet one more bitter defeat Monday night.

UNC had a great deal to overcome after its scintillating thrill of a lifetime victory over Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s last game of a legendary run as coach. First off, Armando Bacot badly sprained his ankle against Duke. Brady Manek and Caleb Love, we’re told, also were nursing ankle problems. But let the record show, the Tar Heels did not suffer from any kind of a Duke hangover.

Channeling the emotion of Davis, whose high energy in-game interview with Tracy Wolfson, “We’ve got live action, we’ve got live action”—seemed to embody the performance level of his team in the first half. UNC broke from a 22-22 tie to take a 40-25 halftime lead.

Bacot dominated inside in the first half, even on one leg, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds-yet one more double double for him accomplished in the first 20 minutes. Bacot also got KU’s big men Mitch Lightfoot and David McCormack -- coincidentally Bacot’s one-time AAU teammate back in Virginia -- in foul trouble. Leaky Black had KU star Ochai Agbaji tied up in knots. R.J. Davis played big, scoring 11 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Manek added 9 points and 4 rebounds. What a first half!

UNC built this 15-point lead despite not shooting well. The Heels shot 36% from the floor and just 27% from three. But Carolina was crushing Kansas on the offensive glass, pouring in 18 second-chance points to just 2 for KU.

For UNC to be up 15 points while shooting poorly had to be a good omen right? Ultimately, no. Because Kansas wasn’t yet playing its best defense.

Analyst Charles Barkley called it. He argued that Kansas played the first half with a poor game plan, trying to pound the ball into McCormack and Lightfoot. That worked well against undersized Villanova, McCormack scoring 25 points, but not well at all against Bacot and Manek. With Black draped all over Agbaji, typically KU’s number one scorer, the Jayhawks’ first half offense went dormant.

Bill Self changed tactics in the second half, playing a smaller lineup, turning up the heat defensively, and pushing the tempo. UNC, with injuries—did I mention Manek took two shots to the head during the first half?--and UNC, with a shorter bench, gradually lost control in the second half.

Carolina began the second half with two turnovers and three missed shots. Kansas scored fastbreak baskets on two of those errant field goal attempts. And then Jalen Wilson also scored in transition on a three-point play and Manek picked up his third foul.

Black then committed his third and fourth fouls within a span of 58 seconds. The normally astute NCAA play-by-play man Jim Nantz barely noticed Black’s trip to the bench. But Kansas noticed. With UNC’s lockdown defender on the sidelines, the Jayhawks ripped off six baskets in their next seven possessions, including, two more on the fastbreak, all part of a 15-4 Kansas run.

But just as it looked like UNC might get run out of the building - like Miami, KU’s opponent the previous weekend - this resilient Tar Heel team fought back. With UNC’s starters being injured, gassed or in foul trouble, the Tar Heels desperately needed a boost from the bench. Puff Johnson answered the call.

With UNC trailing 56-50, R.J. Davis made two critical baskets, and then Johnson went to work. He buried a three to tie the game. Then Puff drew a charge from the red hot Remy Martin. He grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a putback. Could he put the ball on the floor and attack the basket? Yes, he could. Johnson scored on a beautiful reverse layup, as UNC continued to match Kansas in the closing minutes.

Then, Johnson took a blow to the midsection, and had extreme trouble breathing. He had to leave the game. But Black returned and immediately stole the ball. That steal led ultimately to two free throws by Manek which knotted the score at 65 with 3:06 left.

Martin, the game’s best three-point shooter, buried one to open a three-point lead for Kansas. But Caleb Love answered with a driving layup; and after a Kansas air ball, Manek tip in a missed jumper by Love, as UNC took a 69-68 lead with 1:41 to go.

Then came the game’s biggest play. All night long UNC, led by Bacot and Manek, put on a clinic in defensive rebounding. The Tar Heels cleared 31 of KU’s 39 misses, almost 80%. But one that got away tilted the game in the Jayhawks’ favor. Three Tar Heels had inside position as McCormack put up an errant jumper. Yet somehow McCormack was able to get his own rebound and score. Kansas would never trail again.

Bacot tried to answer but he again rolled his sprained right ankle in a most painful way. And lost the ball. The referees stopped the game to allow Bacot to exit the court, but then McCormack, working against a smaller defender, hit a jumper to give Kansas a three-point lead.

UNC did get possession with four seconds left, trailing 72-69. The Tar Heel coaching staff drew up a play for Manek. The Oklahoma transfer, certainly familiar to the Kansas coaching staff, was well defended on the night. He was only able to take eight shots, making four.

But on this final possession the Jayhawks didn’t need to worry about Manek. He stumbled coming off a screen. And that caused Puff Johnson to look for his second option as he inbounded the ball. Caleb love, only 5-24 on the night, got the call. The St. Louis star has made so many big shots all season long, but he couldn’t connect this time. UNC’s gallant national title bid as a No. 8 seed, came up inches short.

A look at the second half shooting stats tells all you need to know about Self’s halftime adjustments. UNC, pressed and prodded by the Jayhawks’ quick defenders, hit just 11 of 40 shots in the second half, 2-12 from three. Kansas, feasting off fast breaks following UNC missed shots, hit 19-33, 58%. KU hit 4-10 from three.

Also, UNC, after turning the ball over just five times in the first half, committed eight more turnovers in the frenetic second.

So much went wrong for Carolina after intermission, yet Kansas won by the narrowest of margins.

This North Carolina team will look quite different next season. Manek is out of eligibility. Early speculation suggests both Bacot and Love will enter the NBA draft. Leaky Black has that extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA, but after playing for the National Championship would he want to come back to a team that likely will return just one other starter, RJ Davis.

UNC will still have talent. Puff Johnson definitely looked like a future starter Monday night. Dontrez Styles and perhaps DeMarco Dunn along with Justin McKoy will compete for playing time. Hubert Davis recruited well in his first season as head coach—three highly regarded freshmen will join the fold. Also, Davis demonstrated with the recruitment of Manek that he can navigate the all important transfer portal.

But UNC will have far less experience and probably less talent for 2022-23, especially inside. Tar Heel fans should not expect a repeat of the just concluded “March Miracle.” Yet Davis has shown that he can inspire players to push themselves to previously unattained heights; he can get players to trust each other and build chemistry; and his offense, with the basketball in the right hands, is fun to watch and really looks like a blast to play in.

There were some who questioned whether Davis was the right choice as head coach after UNC lost to lowly Pitt six weeks ago. But now, the believers outnumber the doubters.

This year, by incorporating the stretch four as an integral part of UNC’s offense, Davis figured out a way to beat Tony Bennett’s Virginia, the scourge of UNC in the ACC for the past decade.

And maybe, given time, more talent, and especially more depth, Davis can end the long losing streak against Kansas, now 20 years and counting.