COWGILL: UK basketball season ends with loss to UNC

Viewers in the Columbus market were denied a live look at the thrilling finish of Sunday’s game because the CBS affiliate, WBNS, cut to a weather alert because of tornadoes in the area.

You won’t find a more blue-blooded matchup than the regional final between North Carolina and Kentucky this afternoon. On Sunday, the Heels took another step on the road to reaching their goal.

No. 7 seed SC beat No. 3 seed Florida 77-70 in the East Region final, while North Carolina beat Kentucky 75-73 in the South Region final.

“Thornwell was just being Thornwell”, Florida Gators coach Mike White said of the SEC player of the year. “Plays needed to be made down the stretch and I stepped up and made plays”. Australian 7-foot sophomore Isaac Humphries scored a career-high 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting to keep Kentucky within five points at the half.

16 and 12 – North Carolina Luke Maye’s points and rebounds. “It was such a great feeling”.

“I just shot it and luckily it went in”, said Maye, who scored a previous career high of 16 points against Butler in the Sweet 16.

North Carolina leads the nation in offensive rebound percentage, and Kennedy Meeks is the biggest reason why. Twice, they have met in a regional final.

Still, numerous underclassmen in the locker room are not expected back next season.

Never before had the NCAA Tournament pitted powerhouse programs that have so dominated March. The basket gave North Carolina a 75-73 win.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said if he had the final sequence to do over again, he would have used his final timeout after Monk sank the Wildcats’ third 3-pointer in the final 49 seconds to erase their 71-64 deficit. Worse, he picked up his second foul with more than 6 minutes left in the half. With Lonzo Ball, Caleb Swanigan, Josh Hart and Frank Mason all gone, NWG is the closest thing to a National Player of the Year front-runner left in the dance. Payton Pritchard leads the team’s with 3.7 assists per game this season.

On the negative side, the Tar Heels had seven first half turnovers. Lower seeds Notre Dame, Michigan and Iowa State all had more support to win the regional final.

With 5:09 remaining, Kentucky appeared to be headed to Phoenix.

It was as though Monk knew a lot of us had wondered about him on Twitter, pointing out that with the game on the line, precious seconds ticking away, his teammates scrapping and clawing their way back into the game, Monk – the author of the 47-point outburst against UNC in December – was MIA.

Somehow, Kentucky trailed by just five at halftime, despite massive foul trouble – starters Monk, Fox, Adebayo and Derek Willis all sat for large chunks of the opening half – and getting just 12 combined points from Fox, Monk and Adebayo, the three star freshmen. Gonzaga will face SC.

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams going back to the Final Four.

North Carolina had looked beaten as it walked toward the huddle only minutes earlier.

“Last week, he sprained his ankle”. Pinson flashed up the center of the court until he drew a defender and then deftly found Maye on the left wing. “There’s no doubt about it, and we’ve got to play for 40 minutes”, he said.

The Tar Heels (31-7) will play Midwest champ OR on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, in the national semifinal.