No. 8 North Carolina defeated No. 2 Duke 81-77 at the men’s Final Four in New Orleans on Saturday. The Tar Heels advance to the national championship where they will take on No. 1 Kansas.
The Tar Heels victory means this was Mike Krzyzewski’s last game as a college basketball head coach. Krzyzewski ends his career with a 1202-368 record, making 13 Final Fours and winning five national championships. He will leave college basketball with 101 victories as a head coach in the NCAA Tournament.
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"I’ve been blessed to be in the arena, and when you’re in the arena, you’re either going to come out feeling great or you’re going to feel agony…" Krzyzewski said postgame. "That's the thing that I’ll miss. I won’t be in the arena anymore. But damn, I was in the arena for a long time. And these kids made my last time in the arena an amazing one.
"As a coach, you are allowed to go into that arena with amazing competitors. People who want to achieve at the highest level… That's the beauty of being a coach. Coaching them has been an amazing opportunity."
After a slow start, both teams started to generate offense. After the Blue Devils had a three-point lead at the half, the Tar Heels went on a 13-0 run to go out ahead early in the second half. Both teams exchanged baskets, with 18 lead changes throughout the game.
Armando Bacot posted his 30th double-double of the season, recording 11 points and 21 rebounds. It is the most double-doubles in a single season in ACC history. Bacot briefly exited the game late in the second half after twisting his ankle but later returned.
Caleb Love led the Tar Heels in scoring with 28 points. He converted a critical 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining, along with the game-sealing free throws.
Paolo Banchero kept the Blue Devils in the game, posting a double-double 20 points and 10 rebounds.
North Carolina has made six national championship games since 1985. A win on Monday night gives the Tar Heels its seventh national championship in program history.
Kansas is favored over North Carolina by -4.5 in Monday's national championship according to BetMGM.
For more information on Duke vs. UNC, check out The Athletic’s live blog here.
(Photo: Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
GO DEEPER
The night North Carolina beat Duke, again, to go to the national title game
How does UNC match up with Kansas?
Brendan Marks, North Carolina basketball writer: Kansas won't have quite the size advantage over UNC that it had over Villanova, and in Bacot, the Tar Heels have arguably the best big man left in the NCAA Tournament. One figures Leaky Black draws the matchup on Kansas star Ochai Agbaji, and the point guard battle between Remy Martin and R.J. Davis would be fascinating. If there is a real swing player for UNC, it would be Brady Manek, a sharpshooting stretch-4 in the archetype Kansas has struggled with this season. That Manek played against Kansas the last four seasons at Oklahoma adds even more intrigue.
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Coach K's legacy in college basketball
Brendan Quinn, college basketball writer: One of the best to ever do it. While Saturday night is framed as a loss and his last game, Krzyzewski's career is in no way diminished by a Final Four loss, even if it did come to a No. 8-seeded rival. It hurts in Durham, no doubt, but this was one of 1,570 games he coached over a 47-year career as a head coach. His place in basketball history is without question. Is it questionable how he and the school went about treating this year-long going away tour? Sure, but that's been debated ad nauseam. With this Duke season in the books, it's worth remembering that any season ending in the Final Four is an enormous success.
How will we remember Coach K's last NCAA Tournament?
Marks: As memorable, but ultimately, somewhat underwhelming. Not being able to send Krzyzewski off with his storybook sixth national championship, as daunting and difficult a task as that was, has been the end goal the entirety of the season. So coming up short, against anyone, would hurt. But that it's UNC ending Krzyzewski's career, after also spoiling his final home game in Cameron Indoor? It's something that'll bother Krzyzewski on his way into retirement, even if he says otherwise.
How this game will be remembered in the Duke/UNC rivalry?
Quinn: The best part of Saturday night's matchup is that the game itself was so good that the massive narrative of Krzyzewski's final game easily slid into the back seat. Both teams traded haymakers in an incredible second half as the moment grew larger and larger by the minute. For much of the final 10 minutes, most of the 70,000-plus in attendance at the Superdome remained on their feet. Krzyzewski said it well afterward: "The winner was going to be joyous and the loser was going to be in agony." It was incredible and it will be at or near the top of the list in the annals. And, of course, a legend was born in Caleb Love.