Isaiah Hicks pondered his career, which was potentially four minutes from finality. He exchanged glances with Kennedy Meeks. They weren’t ready for the end.
Nate Britt swallowed his fears and clung to the bench. Eleven months after losing in the national title game, North Carolina was staring at a second-round exit — and Arkansas had all the momentum.
“I don’t think any of us thought that we would lose this game or saw the road ending here,” Britt said.
With 3:47 left in UNC’s 72-65 win on Sunday, head coach Roy Williams pleaded with his team. The No. 8 seed Razorbacks (26-10) led by three. The top-seeded Tar Heels (29-7) hadn’t had a game like this all season — it was time to win one.
“We’ve got to be tough,” he said. “It’s gotta be with our brain and our heart both. We’ve gotta get stops and we’ve got to get shots.”
Ten seconds later, Joel Berry committed his only turnover of the game to give Arkansas a five-point lead. On the next possession, a frantic exchange left Berry with an open 3-pointer. So he fired, errantly, for his 10th miss in 12 attempts.
Hicks skied for the offensive rebound, but Moses Kingsley sent his put-back attempt flying into the UNC bench. It wasn’t over. But to the fans in the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, it felt like it.
“I just told my teammates to believe,” Berry said.
