GLENDALE, ARIZ. — Theo Pinson scampered around the court, squeezing the final four seconds separating North Carolina from its second straight title appearance.
As he sprinted back toward midcourt and turned the corner, he nearly slipped. It would only be fitting — his team did everything it could to let the game slip away. Nearly six minutes without a field goal, two defensive lapses to let Oregon pull within one and four missed free throws in the final six seconds.
But he kept his balance, evading two desperate Duck defenders trying to send him to the stripe. Like his team, all Pinson had to do was escape.
“Make sure you don’t get fouled,” he thought, “because apparently we miss the free throws.”
On Saturday, it didn’t matter. It was sloppy, and it was thrilling. But the Tar Heels didn’t needed the theatrics of a Luke Maye buzzer beater. They just needed to survive.
“We almost blew it there at the end,” Maye said. “But luckily we pulled it out.”
Seconds earlier, Kennedy Meeks had gone to the line with a chance to ice the game. Oregon, trailing by one with 5.8 seconds left, was out of timeouts. Two free throws would surely send North Carolina back to the title game — the only stage where it could erase the pain from a year ago.
But Meeks missed the first. Then, he missed the second.
Pinson tipped the ball back to Joel Berry, who had his own chance to end it from the line. But he missed the first. Then, he missed the second.
