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NEW ORLEANS — The Duke players stood there motionless, stunned at the finality of it all. Mike Krzyzewski slowly walked to center court to shake hands.
Coach K’s legendary career came to a close Saturday night at the hands of his bitter rival — four weeks to the day after that same rival crashed the party at his final home game.
In an instant classic that more than lived up to the hype, the eight-seeded Tar Heels stunned No. 2 Duke, 82-77, in the Final Four to advance to Monday’s national championship game.
Caleb Love, who dreamed of attending Duke but was never offered a scholarship, scored 21 of his 28 points after halftime and hit the clinching free throws with 7.8 seconds left that sent the favored Blue Devils home, and Krzyzewski into retirement. North Carolina, on the bubble as recently as February, advances to meet No. 1 Kansas in Monday night’s national championship, ruining Coach K’s hopes of leaving a champion.
Trevor Keels, Brady Manek and Wendell Moore Jr. hit 3-pointers on successive possessions, the lead changing hands after each one, to set up the frantic final 80 seconds. R.J. Davis, the White Plains native, gave North Carolina the lead with two free throws with 1:01 to go, and Love’s top-of-the-key 3-pointer pushed the lead to four with 24.8 seconds to go.
Duke started the second half strong, building its largest lead up to that point of seven. Unfazed, North Carolina unleashed by far its best stretch of the game. A 13-0 spurt that began with consecutive Love 3-pointers, giving the Tar Heels a four-point edge.
Duke punched back with six straight points, getting even on Paolo Banchero’s basket inside, as these two heavyweights kept on slugging. The two teams converted on six straight trips, to the delight of the capacity crowd.
Momentum flipped after a rare mistake from Banchero. Attempting to save the ball under his own basket, he threw it right to Armando Bacot. The forward scored and drew the fourth foul on Duke star big man Mark Williams. Bacot hit the free-throw and Davis added a jumper, as North Carolina took a five-point lead into the under-eight timeout.
The Tar Heels lost Bacot momentarily with 5:18 to go, after he turned his ankle in traffic while going after a rebound. It coincided with a 10-3 Duke run that saw them go ahead on two AJ Griffin free throws. A few minute later, Bacot returned, though he was gimpy.
Neither team could create separation over the first 20 minutes of scintillating action. It was like two boxers feeling each other out. There were five times and five lead changes. Davis was the Tar Heels’ best player in the opening half, scoring 14 points, and 12 of their first 22. Despite committing four fouls in just over 11 minutes, Marquette transfer Theo John provided a significant contribution in place of the foul-plagued Williams. John had six points and four rebounds in those 11 minutes.
Duke went into the half up three, on the stretch of a Jeremy Roach three-point play in the final seconds, that followed a 6-0 North Carolina spurt.
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