Inside the Kansas Jayhawks’ second-half comeback stunned UNC for the basketball national championship

NEW ORLEANS – When he’s sitting just a few rows back Kansas On the bench at Caesars Superdome on Monday night, Mario Chalmers tried not to toss and turn.

The program he led to the 2008 basketball national championship entered halftime with a 15-point deficit. Chalmers, the hero of that team hit 3 pointers to send the game to extra time in the previous victory Memphishopefully the Jayhawks will remember what can still happen.

“I just thought, ‘Let’s keep believing,'” said Chalmers after Kansas. 72-69 wins from behind finish North Carolina. “The same thing Coach [Bill] Tell us yourself [in 2008] is to continue to believe. And I know they can pull it out eventually. “

The line between the joy of victory over hardship and the pain is almost very thin. Myself, who won his second national championship on Monday, knows all too well after his previous 2012 loss Kentucky in the championship game and a defeat defeat before Villanova in the 2018 Finals, but his first national championship team with Chalmers also fell short in the second half, albeit in a more urgent and dire scenario, so he challenged the bridges. his 2022 player in the dressing room.

“We were very disappointed with the way we played at halftime,” Self said after coming back 16 points, the biggest deficit a winning team has overcome in a national championship game in history. NCAA history. “I told them, ‘You’d rather have 15 points off halftime or nine hours with [two minutes] leave?’ because that’s what happened in ’08. They all say 15.”

His players also looked at each other around the dressing room and started shouting, “We’re back! We’ll be back!”

The one-season saving comeback – that further cemented the legacy of a longtime coach – was born at the time. But it’s so much more than flying bodies and energetic college athletes launching a powerful offensive strike against a disqualified North Carolina team. Baylor, UCLA and Duke on the way to the championship game in Hubert Davis’ first year.

The Jayhawks know how much energy North Carolina expended in a 69 back-and-forth game against rival Duke 48 hours before Monday’s game. Although the Tar Heels seemed insurmountable in the first half, the Jayhawks waited for fatigue to arrive.

“We ended up defending the three-point line and getting inside the defenders and getting a few of them into trouble,” said Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend. “We really tried [speed them up]. We think they will wear out because of the game the day after tomorrow. The last round was all we needed. “

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Ochai Agbaji, Remy Martin and Jalen Wilson arrive with big crates to Kansas on three properties in a row.

At the beginning of the second half, Ochai Agbaji – who only took five pictures in the first half with Black leak Kansas star hunt – more aggressive. His explosive display disappointed North Carolina, who played more cautiously with Black trying to avoid his fourth foul and Armando Bacot hobbled in a bad right ankle that he injured late in the win over the Blues. With shots from all over – Kansas edged past North Carolina 31-10 in the first 10 minutes of the second half and also edged Tar Heels 20-8 in that span – UNC looked stunned by how The game takes place spinning. Just five minutes after half-time, Black came on from the bench with his fourth foul.

But KU’s defensive pressure is also important. North Carolina only made five three points all night. In the second half, however, North Carolina finished 2-12 from outside the arc and missed all seven 3-pointers on the right side of the field.

The efforts in the second half of Jalen Wilson (11 points), David McCormack (nine points), Christian Braun (10 points), Remy Martin (11 points) and Agbaji (four points) put Kansas ahead of North Carolina 47-29 after halftime. But the Jayhawks’ defensive discipline also brought one of the most explosive teams of the past month back to normal.

“It’s a ‘Rocky,'” Self said. “Just punched, punched, punched. Almost eliminated, and one way or another, you just keep fighting.”

Six months ago, Self wasn’t sure he had a team that could do this successfully. He respects rumors of his 2021-22 squad, has returned to Agbaji, McCormack and Braun and also added Martin, an All-Pac-12 star at State of Arizonabut Self isn’t quite ready to compare it to his first and only national championship team.

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Sean Farnham pinpointed Leaky Black’s departure at a time when Ochai Agbaji and Kansas turned a corner.

“That team in 2008, they played better against [adversity]”Speak for yourself at ESPN at Big 12 media day in October.” We have some similarity, but I don’t know if when it really goes down, how much will this team enjoy that. [adversity] when that team loves it. The harder it is, the more they like it.”

With 3 minutes and 6 seconds to play and a draw Monday night on college basketball’s biggest stage, however, Martin hit a 3-pointer from the corner and McCormack sank a pair to help Kansas take the lead. Jayhawks didn’t shrink at all.

Agbaji even laughed at Self, who was scrambling on the sidelines as North Carolina got another ball in the final seconds of the 3-point game after a review showed the Kansas defender Dajuan Harris Jr. has stepped out of bounds.

“[Self] was drawing something, and he was so intense and his lips were getting dry,” Agbaji said. I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. … We get it, Coach. ‘”

With his second national title, Self is now positioned to succeed Mike Krzyzewski as the face of college basketball – albeit in the sport’s most complicated chapter. The advent of handover gates and the era of name, image, and the like transactions have added many more layers to program construction. As the sport’s new champion and leader of a team still awaiting the results of a major breach that includes allegations of five Level I violations, Self has been seen by some as a The villain and easy target of a disorganized system’ doesn’t seem to know what it wants from these other people’s investigations.

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Caleb Love’s attempt to link the game was unsuccessful for North Carolina as Kansas won its fourth national title.

But the FBI’s assertion five years ago that it had the college’s “basketball manual” didn’t deliver on the poignant allegations many had anticipated. The sport has largely moved forward. He and Kansas may face penalties in the coming months, but the trial has left no meaningful mark so far.

The awkwardness of this moment was illustrated when Mark Emmert, leader of the NCAA to Kansas and other programs, presented the championship trophy to Tom Burnett, commissioner of the Southland Conference and head of the selection committee. men’s basketball, to give to Self, but only after Emmert called the team the “Kansas City Jayhawks.”

However, the joy of self never fades on Monday. A few months ago, he lost his father, Bill Self Sr. Throughout the week, he said he’d talked to him, wishing his father had been there for this run – a run that elevated the trainer’s status among his peers. On Monday night, Self joined Jay Wright and Rick Pitino as the only active coaches with multiple national titles.

“It feels even better than I thought,” Self said before climbing the ladder to shoot a piece of net at the Superdome.

As confetti fell and the players cheered, the scene looked familiar to Chalmers, who smiled as he witnessed the celebration from the crowd.

The Kansas team that had the greatest comeback in national championship game history on Monday night played with a passion Chalmers and his teammates also exploited 14 years ago. And he was proud.

“Most teams,” said Chalmers, “would give up at a point like that.”