Another close finish, and Arkansas has a chance at another national championship.
The Razorbacks, who had won their first four games in the NCAA tournament by a total of 15 points, beat North Carolina 75-68 Saturday and will have a chance to repeat only after surviving a last-minute scare that saw their lead cut to one point."We're called the `Cardiac Kids' and we tried to do it again," said Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson.
UCLA is the only team that could prevent Arkansas from joining Duke as the only repeat champions in the last 22 years. The Bruins, a team that made repeating an art form with seven straight ending in 1973, beat Oklahoma State 74-61 to advance to Monday night's final.
Arkansas got back in the title game behind a great second half by Corliss Willliamson, some great defense that held North Carolina to one field goal in the last 15:10 and a buzzer-beating 55-foot heave at halftime by Dwight Stewart.
"In the second half, we came out and played some smart basketball," Williamson said. "We were able to shut them down on the defensive end."
Williamson, the MVP of last year's Final Four when the Razorbacks won their first title, was 9-for-12 from the field in the second half when he scored all but two of his 21 points.
North Carolina was 6-for-34 from the field in the second half and went 12:38 without a field goal at one stretch as the Razorbacks opened a 69-58 lead with 3:35 left. The Tar Heels weren't done.
Donald Williams, the Final Four MVP two years ago when North Carolina won it all, hit a 3-pointer to break the long dry spell and bring the Tar Heels within 69-63. Stewart had trouble connecting from closer in, missing consecutive front ends of 1-and-1s and North Carolina was able to close within 69-68 with 47 seconds left on three free throws and a dunk by Jerry Stackhouse.
Arkansas, which survived wild finishes in its first three tournament games, including two overtimes, got two free throws from Clint McDaniel with 27 seconds left. Williams missed a 3-pointer with nine seconds to play and McDaniel's two free throws with 7.5 seconds left and Williamson's layup at the buzzer accounted for the final margin.
"I think we got very tentative when we had a 10-, 11-point lead," Richardson said.
North Carolina was making its 10th Final Four appearance under coach Dean Smith. The 1993 title was his second, the other coming in 1982 on freshman Michael Jordan's famous jumper.
"In the second half, they started getting the ball into Corliss and working their offense," Smith said.
"Stewart hit two big 3s. That one at the end of the first half, and the one over Rasheed Wallace (to make it 69-58) really did it."
The Tar Heels had a much easier ride to the Final Four, with no game closer than 10 points.The teams set a Final Four record for combined 3-point attempts as Arkansas finished 12-for-32 from beyond the arc and the Tar Heels were 10-for-28. The old record was 56 attempts by Arkansas and Arizona in last year's semifinals.
Stewart finished with 15 points and McDaniel had 13. Corey Beck had 10 assists for the Razorbacks.
Williams led the Tar Heels with 19 points and Stackhouse had 18.
The first half was a 3-point shooting contest that fittingly ended with Stewart's 55-foot heave as the buzzer sounded.
North Carolina was 6-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half, while the Razorbacks were 8-for-22.
The Tar Heels took advantage of bad shooting by Arkansas to take a 38-31 lead with 16 seconds left in the half. The Razorbacks missed 11 of 12 shots as North Carolina took the seven-point lead after trailing 28-27 with 5:29 to play.
Arkansas was working the ball down for a final shot when Williamson was called for traveling with 3.6 seconds left. Pat Sullivan threw a long inbounds pass that went over the heads of Wallace and Stewart, bounced and hit the backboard. Divor Rimac grabbed the loose ball and flipped it to Stewart, who hit the longest of the first half's 14 3-pointers.
Less than a minute into the game, Stackhouse was kneed in the thigh and had to leave the game. He returned about two minutes later without any visible problems, but he did ice his right leg each time he left the game.