How Kansas Beat UNC to Win the NCAA National Championship

NEW ORLEANS — As Kansas players glumly trudged off the Superdome floor at halftime on Monday night, down by 15 points, mired in foul trouble and dazed by a powder blue North Carolina hurricane, David McCormack was all smiles.

The Jayhawks’ hulking senior center looked around the locker room, clapped his hands, patted his teammates on the back and told them they had been there before, rallying from deficits throughout the season, including in the N.C.A.A tournament.

Still, there were more than a few sideways glances that greeted him.

“I was like, man, I don’t know if I’ve ever been here before,” his teammate, Christian Braun, said with a laugh. “Down 15 in the national championship game? I’ve definitely never been there before.”

By the end of the night, the Jayhawks had been somewhere else they hadn’t been in quite some time — standing atop a podium at center court, blue confetti at their feet, after being crowned national champions.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/sports/ncaabasketball/kansas-unc-ncaa-championship.html