Gonzaga to face North Carolina in final

That sent the Tar Heels (32-7) back to the national championship game for the second straight season to face fellow 1-seed Gonzaga, putting them on the doorstep of their season-long goal to return and win. North Carolina won 77-76.

Thornwell, who was averaging 26 points per game, missed practice Thursday due to an illness and missed eight of his 12 shots on Saturday, finishing with 15 points – 11 under his scoring average in the tournament.

The Ducks’ largest lead of the night came with 4:08 remaining in the first half after Dylan Ennis made three-pointers on consecutive possessions to put UO ahead, 30-22, and the pocket of OR fans amid a crowd of 77,612 grew louder.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Roy Williams has been here before. The turnovers flew in every direction.

Also consider that Meeks and Hicks have the size necessary to match up with Zach Collins and Przemek Karnowski, and the national title game should feature some memorable low-post battles that could decide where the sport’s most coveted hardware will reside.

They fumbled those away in a rash of bad shots, poor decisions and an inexplicable inability to secure rebounds on missed free throws.

Bell has been a defensive force for OR this entire season. Tyler Dorsey led the Ducks with 21 points, while Dylan Ennis finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Who will cut down the nets? “But my main focus was that if Joel missed the second free throw, hit the glass hard”.

Gonzaga and North Carolina have turned their attention toward Monday’s national championship game.

“He said, ‘Look, I wouldn’t want to be playing against me today, ‘ ” Williams-Goss recalled.

Gonzaga doesn’t generally get one-and-done elite stars, so it’s an experienced group, too – two seniors, two juniors and a redshirt sophomore. “I’m sure (Bell) wished he’d boxed out right there”.

“I just felt like our guys realized that we’re not going out that way”. Against Kentucky in the Elite Eight, Meeks attempted just four field goals, instead contributing with 17 rebounds.

That set OR up with another long, athletic team in the national semifinals.

Still, Oregon almost pulled off the upset win.

Williams shook that label in his second season at North Carolina, winning it all in 2004-05 and then came back with another title in 2008-09. And one stretch that UO players said they regret played out not in an instant but over four excruciating minutes to end the first half.

Jackson (22 points) was the only other Tar Heel finding any offensive success, while point guard Joel Berry II struggled to a 2-for-14 shooting night while hobbled by two ankle injuries. “I thought he controlled everything inside – 25 points, 14 rebounds, 11 of 13 (shooting)”. A gut-wrenching loss to Villanova in a championship game classic past year denied Williams a third career title.

Williams-Goss missed a shot with 12.7 seconds left and SC rebounded and called a timeout trailing 75-72.

Brooks, Oregon’s usual go-to guy, wasn’t even there for the finish.

Williams 2-4 3-4 7, Karnowski 6-12 1-2 13, Mathews 4-11 0-0 12, Williams-Goss 9-16 3-3 23, Perkins 0-2 0-0 0, Collins 6-10 1-2 14, Tillie 0-0 2-2 2, Melson 2-5 0-0 6. Totals 29-60 10-13 77.

“He helps me all the time”, Meeks said Friday. But they’ve only lost one game this year.

Given the lead and Oregon’s own terrible shooting (37 percent), losing this one might have felt every bit as bad as the Villanova loss past year.

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This story has been corrected to show that OR beat Kansas in the Elite Eight, not Kentucky.