“They had a chance to put their foot on their necks, and they allowed Kansas to stay in the ball game” - Shannon Sharpe says North Carolina ‘blew it’ in the NCAA tournament final
North Carolina Tar Heels' supporters saw their team blow a fifteen-point halftime lead to the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament final, and FS1's Shannon Sharpe called out UNC for blowing the game.
March Madness concluded with the Kansas Jayhawks beating the North Carolina Tar Heels by a final score of 72-69, thanks to a clutch performance from the Jayhawks' center Dave McCormack and a not clutch performance from UNC guard Caleb Love.
UNC went into halftime with a significant fifteen-point lead and a peak lead of sixteen points in the first half, but they ran out of gas in the second half, and the Jayhawks took advantage to take a second-half lead and hold on to win.
FS1 analyst and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe called out the North Carolina Tar Heels for not putting the Kansas Jayhawks away after getting such a significant lead in the game.
.@ShannonSharpe on Kansas overcoming a 16-point deficit to beat North Carolina:
"UNC blew it. There's a reason this is the largest comeback in the history of the championship game. They had a chance to put their foot on their necks and they allowed Kansas to stay in the game." https://t.co/RgUBgkQjgr
Despite the Tar Heels leading the Jayhawks by a score of 40-25 at halftime, the game was tied just over nine minutes into the second half. While UNC was able to keep the game close and even tie it a few times after that, they never felt in control of the game after blowing their lead, which fit Shannon Sharpe's point.
Instead of coming out in the second half and trying to put the Jayhawks away, the Tar Heels almost immediately lost control of the game. Shannon Sharpe believes that UNC lost the game, but some credit needs to go to their opponents.
Shannon Sharpe says North Carolina blew the game, but Kansas also went out and won the game
Shannon Sharpe is correct that the North Carolina Tar Heels collapsed in the second half and blew their lead.The Jayhawks played some of their best basketball of the entire March Madness in the second half as well.
UNC came out in the second half playing flat, and the Jayhawks immediately began to erase their significant halftime deficit. For a team to blow the game as quickly as the Tar Heels did, their opponent has to be playing exceptionally well too.
Let’s not start that UNC gave the game away mess… Kansas went and got that game! They went got that one out the MUD. Carry the hell on…
While UNC did not put their foot in the Jayhawks' throat like Shannon Sharpe wanted, Kansas was doing their part to fight back and put the Tar Heels away. The Tar Heels were never behind anywhere near as much as the Jayhawks were at halftime, but they were in trouble for most of the second half.
Basketball is a game of runs, and the Jayhawks had more significant runs than North Carolina throughout the game. Still, in the end, the clutch performance of Dave McCormack and the struggles of Caleb Love in the last few minutes made the difference.