ST. LOUIS — Kansas is headed to the New Orleans and the Final Four, while North Carolina is headed back to Tobacco Road with regrets and what-ifs. Last night’s 80-67 Midwest Region finals loss to Kansas with Kendall Marshall sidelined is going to stick with the Tar Heels for a while, coach Roy Williams perhaps longest of all.
Top-seeded North Carolina (32-6) was as star-studded a team as there was in this NCAA tournament, with Harrison Barnes, Marshall, John Henson and Tyler Zeller all projected by Hoopshype.com as top picks in the upcoming NBA draft. But they couldn’t do without the one they were missing.
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Marshall fractured his right (non-shooting) wrist in Sunday’s Sweet 16 victory, and had surgery on Monday. He returned to non-contact practice Saturday, but was ruled out 90 minutes before tipoff last night, and without their floor leader the Tar Heels missed their last dozen shots and went scoreless the final 5:45.
“Yes, I’ll play it over for a long time. I’ll say what-if for a long time. But we still had a chance. We just didn’t play as well as we needed to play,’’ said Williams. “I’m going to play this game over and over and over.’’
Without Marshall and Dexter Strickland, a junior from Rahway, N.J., who suffered a torn ACL on Jan. 19, the Tar Heels turned to Stilman White. The freshman had 13 assists and no turnovers in his two starts, but they missed Marshall’s incisive passing and leadership down the stretch.
After shooting 63.6 percent in the first half, UNC shot just 22.6 percent in the second.
“All of a sudden we panicked. I can’t say anything negative about Stilman — my gosh, how good was he? — but we panicked a little bit out there,’’ said Williams. “[It’s] too emotional for me, that’s the bottom line. … I don’t think [playing Kansas] will ever feel good for me, regardless of the outcome.’’