By PAUL GOTHAM
HOUSTON, TX. — Daniel Ochefu took matters into his own hands.
Villanova needed to go the length of the floor in 4.7 seconds, and Ryan Arcidiacono would use Ochefu’s screen to to get into the open court. Knowing that, he wanted to make sure conditions were just right, and the senior forward, with professional basketball in his near future, became a mop jockey for a few seconds.
“I knew the little kid was having a hard time,” Ochefu explained. “I knew exactly where I had to set the screen. I didn’t want to slip. I didn’t want Arch to slip. The kid was having a hard time.”
And the 6-11 Ochefu grabbed the mop and dried the floor where moments prior he had sprawled out in an attempt for a steal.
“I’m the one that dove, so I left a big wet spot on it,” Ochefu explained. “So I was, like, make sure the floor is dry. Thank God we didn’t slip on that.”
North Carolina did not take full advantage of the hint.
“It’s what we do every single day in practice,” Arcidiacono noted. “Daniel set the screen for me because they let the ball come in. I was going to be aggressive off the screen.”
Once freed of his defender, Arcidiacono looked to attack the North Carolina basket. When the Tar Heels defense sagged into the paint, the senior point guard found teammate Kris Jenkins for the game-winner at the buzzer.
“Kris did a great job of sprinting into the play,” Arcidiacono stated. “Once I heard him, I just flipped it to him. So that’s definitely part of the play.
“We work on that play every single day in practice. I’m always the one with the ball. I think coach has confidence in me and my teammates have confidence in me. I was trying to be aggressive. It’s not about me taking the right shot, it’s about me making the right read. I think I just did that.”
“We have certain plays with less than four seconds, from four to seven seconds,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Every coach has this. Zero to four, four to seven, seven to 12. We have plays. So we know what it is. We practice it every day.
“I didn’t have to say anything in the huddle. We have a name for it, that’s what we’re going to do. Just put everybody in their spots.”
On the previous play, Marcus Paige capped a furious rally as UNC erased a 10-point deficit (the largest faced by the Tar Heels in the NCAA Tournament) in the final five minutes. The senior guard eluded Ochefu and hit an off-balance, double-clutch 3-pointer from 25 feet to tie the game at 74.
MARCUS PAIGE!!! #NationalChampionship
https://t.co/y9RVKpoz5i— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016
“We ran a screen for me to get the ball,” Paige said. “I had a feeling Villanova would switch it, they did. Took it away. Daniel fell down, slipped on the court. I knew I was going to have to shoot it.”
For a moment, the senior guard thought about feeding Brice Johnson underneath the basket for two.
“My instinct kicked in right away to throw the ball to Brice right under the basket,” Paige added. “That’s why I hesitated with the ball when I jumped. Obviously we needed three.”
UNC had momentum, but could not get the game to overtime.
“I told my team when I made the shot, we go to overtime, we got 4.7 seconds to play defense and this game is ours. No matter what, we were going to win the overtime ’cause that’s just how the game was going to go. We had clawed back from down 10.
“At that point we believed we were going to win. We just needed 4.7 seconds of defense. It didn’t work out. Kris is their best three-point shooter. He got a pretty clean look for whatever reason. You know, there’s 75 possessions in the game. They just happened to get the last one and make the shot.”
Jenkins finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He picked up his second foul less than five minutes into the game and was limited to 21 minutes of playing time. The game winner was his second 3-pointer of the night.
“From previous games I realize when I take the ball out, the ball gets up the court, the defenders usually follow the ball,” Jenkins explained. “I knew when I gave Arch the ball, he was going to be aggressive. They were going to try to take Arch away because he’s hit big shots in his career. When they all followed the ball, I just knew if I got in his line of vision, he would find me.
“You know, we put a lot of work in. This team, everybody has the confidence to catch and shoot. So when Arch threw me the ball, one, two step, shoot ’em up, sleep in the streets.”
FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! https://t.co/QXjPTrQN6Y #NationalChampionship
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016
Jay Wright noted that Jenkins made more than just the championship-winning shot on the final play
“He’s the last option because he’s the inbounder,” Wright said of Jenkins. “If he can catch up with Arch and get ahead of him and get in his vision, that’s your last look.
“But the first look is Arch, then Josh Hart is screening for Phil Booth. He’s last look. For him to realize that the inbounder wasn’t staying with him, he’s one of the smartest basketball players we’ve ever had.”
“You know, I wanted him to be more covered,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “I hoped we’d get up to him closer. I really felt like we’d gotten him to do what we wanted to do. They weren’t able to throw it any length of the court, save any time. They had to take it about 75 feet before they get to the basket.But when the shot went up, I saw Kris shoot it, his follow-through looked great. I pretty much knew it was going in. It was helpless. It was not a good feeling.”
Ochefu scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting while grabbing six rebounds.
Arcidiacono finished with 16 points and claimed tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Booth led Villanova with 20 points. Booth and Jenkins joined Arcidiacono on the all-tournament along with UNC’s Joel Berry II and Johnson.
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