Down the stretch against Kentucky, North Carolina hit and missed every free throw it needed.
Dexter Strickland went to the line with six seconds remaining after his team made eight consecutive free throws in the previous 80 seconds.
The sophomore guard made his first to put his team up by two while Kentucky had zero timeouts. He clanged the second shot off the rim.
“That was on purpose,” Strickland said. “If we were gonna be up by three we’d have to foul and it’d be a one-point game, so I missed on purpose.”
Kentucky grappled for possession of the defensive board before throwing a desperation heave that went awry as the buzzer sounded.
“We were trying to foul so they wouldn’t shoot a 3-point shot, but Dexter said he had a better idea,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “He’d just miss the free throw and let it be tapped around for a while.”
UNC went 26-of-37 from the charity stripe in the game, including 9-for-10 in the final 1:21.
Tyler Zeller started the 81-second stretch by knocking down both free throws after a Darius Miller foul. One minute later he went 2-for-2 again when Josh Harrellson fouled out of the game.
“We were not fouling 44,” UK coach John Calipari. “‘Do not touch him.’ So we kind of broke down there a little bit. But that happens with a young team.”