DETROIT — What a shock: The school everyone said was No. 1 at the beginning of the season has earned the chance to prove that it's No. 1 at the end.
Getting from November to now wasn't as easy as it sounds, but North Carolina Coach Roy Williams' team is one game from almost living up to its incredible hype.
North Carolina used its considerable height, power and point guard Ty Lawson advantage to defeat Villanova on Saturday, 83-69, to advance to Monday night's national title game against Michigan State.
With four losses, North Carolina can't finish with a perfect season, as some had predicted. But 34-4 won't look bad on a trophy, either, even if Saturday's game was anything but a classic.
One team, in fact, made only nine of 29 shots in the second half -- and that team won.
"Nobody could make a shot," Williams said, also speaking on behalf of a Villanova team that shot 10 for 38 in the second half after making only 16 of 41 before intermission. "But we made plays. We're still playing. That's what we wanted to do. Jimmy Valvano's line about survive and advance is what we wanted to do."
It looked like "game-over" when North Carolina jumped to a 17-point first-half lead. But pesky Villanova, with no starter taller than 6 feet 8, was hard to shake loose.
The Wildcats cut the lead to nine at the half and then quickly closed the gap to five, at 50-45, on Shane Clark's three-pointer only two minutes into the second half.
North Carolina eventually, though, pushed the lead back to 18 on Wayne Ellington's baseline three-pointer with 4:45 left. Villanova desperately tried to stay in contact, but then the clock ran out.
North Carolina players, though they made only 40.3% of their field-goal attempts, looked like sharpshooters compared to their opponents.
Villanova (30-8) finished at 32.9% for the game, making 26 of 79 shots, and had trouble dealing with North Carolina's size. The Tar Heels brought 7-footer Tyler Zeller and the 6-10 Ed Davis -- off the bench.
Villanova also couldn't handle Carolina's short guy, either, the 5-11 Lawson, who led all scorers with 22 points.
Lawson also had seven rebounds and eight assists. Wayne Ellington had 20 points and Tyler Hansbrough had 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Scottie Reynolds led Villanova with 17 points.
"There's nothing wrong with failing," Villanova Coach Jay Wright said afterward. "You can't fear failure. And when it happens, you've got to learn from it. So I really want us to learn from this tonight."
