Big time players. Make big time plays. In big time games.

UNC sophomore forward Luke Maye showed Sunday night in Memphis he is indeed, a big time player, as his jumper from the left wing with 0.3 seconds remaining gave the top-seeded Tar Heels a thrilling 75-73 victory over the No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA South Regional Final–and earned the program a trip to its 20th Final Four.

The shot gave Maye a career-high 17 points off the bench for head coach Roy Williams, who saw his infamous “no-timeout” strategy pay off with great success.

Kentucky guard Malik Monk–held to just 12 points after scoring 47 in the Wildcats’ victory over UNC in December–had just tied the game on the other end with a three-pointer right in front of Maye’s outstretched arm.

Joel Berry gave Tar Heel fans a scare in the first half, when he left the game for a brief period after rolling an ankle. (AP Photo/ Mark Humphrey)

The Tar Heels never panicked as Theo Pinson calmly drove the ball inside before kicking it out to Maye, who then etched his name in UNC history.

“I’m the guy that wanted him to come as a walk-on, so how dumb am I?” Williams said about Maye in his on-court interview after the game. “He made some big time plays today, big time plays two days ago.

“Theo made a heck of a drive,” the coach continued. “I didn’t want to call timeout in the open court. And he found Luke, then Luke knocked it in.”

Maye showed ice cold composure for both the shot, and during a postgame interview when asked the classic “What were you thinking?” question.

“I was late on the switch, kinda got out there late–but then Theo found me,” Maye said. “I just shot it like I do every day in practice.”

It was the second straight game that Maye poured in a career-high in scoring, with only ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson–who had 19 points on 17 shots–serving as the only player on either side with more points than the pride of Huntersville, North Carolina.

UNC led for nearly the entire game, but almost saw its hopes slip away when the Wildcats rallied to take a five-point lead with five minutes to play.

Roy Williams made sure his team didn’t panic during a late timeout that spurred a game-changing 12-0 run. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Ironically enough, it was a timeout from Williams that seemed to get the Tar Heels back into gear–much like in their Second Round comeback win over Arkansas.

After leaving the huddle, UNC rattled off a 12-0 run to wrestle the lead right back from the young and talented Wildcats.

“I told them it was the same thing against Arkansas,” Williams said. “We were down five, but they played their butts off the last few minutes. And that’s what they did today.”

For the Tar Heels, they not only advanced to the Final Four, but also avenged their loss to Kentucky from earlier in the season.

In that game, Monk gave the Wildcats a victory with a last second three-pointer. It seemed like a re-run was getting set to happen when his shot tied the game with less than ten seconds remaining.

That is, until Luke Maye sank the most memorable jumper by a UNC player since a man named Michael Jordan won the Tar Heels a national title against Georgetown in 1982.

“You gotta congratulate Kentucky,” Williams said. “What a great run. They made three [three-pointers] in the last minute it seemed like.

“But my guys are pretty doggone tough too.”

Up Next:

The Tar Heels will head to Phoenix for the Final Four, with a matchup against No. 3 seed Oregon awaiting on Saturday night.

Game Notes:

  • UNC’s late 12-0 run was the team’s seventh run of at least ten consecutive points during the NCAA Tournament.
  • Joel Berry went to the locker room early in the first half with a rolled ankle, forcing senior reserve Stilman White into critical minutes.
  • Kennedy Meeks grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in the game for UNC, which was ten more than the next closest player for either team.

 

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