The 2022 NCAA tournament has had many unexpected moments, from the 15-seed Saint Peters making it to the elite eight to legendary Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski’s final tournament game. However, history was made Apr. 4 as number one-seed Kansas came back from a 15 point deficit to beat out the eight-seed North Carolina, the biggest championship comeback of all time.

After beating out the second seed Duke in the final four, UNC made their way to the national championship to face off against the one-seed KU. The Tarheels were coming off of a high-energy game where their starting guard, Caleb Love scored 28 points followed by fellow starter Davis who ended the game with 18 of his own. They brought this same energy to the first half of the championship game and it showed as they scored 40 in the first half and on the defensive end held the Jayhawks to just 25 for the half. 

The second half was a historical turnaround with KU scoring a total of 57 points while holding their opponents to only 29. The difference in this game was made by the injuries UNC experienced. Within the first few minutes, UNC’s Brady Manek received an accidental blow to the head from David McCormack which had him on the floor for a few minutes. Additionally, Love rolled his ankle early in the second half which heavily influenced his ability to elevate and attack the rim. He was visibly not as capable of playing as aggressively as he is used to. This also affected the rest of the team’s ability to hold KU from scoring. Soon after this injury KU went on a 10-1 run for scoring and cut UNC’s lead down to one point with less than 13 minutes remaining. After this, UNC never had the lead by more than three points. KU controlled the lead for most of the remainder of the game. The final score ended 72-69 with the Jayhawks coming out on top.

As shocking as Monday night was for many March Madness fans, the outcome was equally as heartbreaking for others. UNC being the underdog and eighth seed made this loss even more emotional as they made it all the way to the championship. However, the Jayhawks earned their victory more than anyone and had an amazing game offensively in the second half.