Kansas comes back to beat North Carolina in down-to-the-wire thriller for NCAA men's basketball title

NEW ORLEANS — Entering Monday, Kansas had trailed at halftime just once in this year's NCAA tournament. It was in the Elite Eight against Miami, when the Jayhawks turned a six-point halftime deficit into a 26-point win. They outscored the Hurricanes 47-15 in the final 20 minutes of that game.

«I told them we need to play better,» coach Bill Self said after that game. «And the lid was going to come off eventually.»

He might have reused his halftime speech from just over a week ago on Monday.

Kansas erased a 15-point halftime deficit to come back and beat North Carolina 72-69 in the men's national championship game.

It is the Jayhawks' fourth national championship and the program's first since 2008.

David McCormack hit a jump hook with 1:20 left following an offensive rebound to give Kansas a one-point lead, and after a turnover by North Carolina on the following possession, McCormack hit another jump hook with 22 seconds left to push the lead to three.

Caleb Love and Puff Johnson missed game-tying 3-point attempts, and Brady Manek's pass after an offensive rebound rolled out of bounds. But Carolina would have one more chance, as Dajuan Harris Jr. stepped out of bounds with 4.3 seconds left after catching Kansas' inbounds pass.

Love's 3-pointer in the final seconds came up short, though.

Concerns about North Carolina coming out flat after the emotional win over Duke on Saturday seemed warranted in the opening minutes. Kansas scored the game's first seven points, with the Jayhawks' two Saturday stars — Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack — carrying their momentum over. Agbaji hit a 3 to start the game, and McCormack was making an impact at both ends of the floor, even beating Armando Bacot to a loose ball by diving on the