North Carolina forward Justin Jackson (44) shoots against Syracuse in their NCAA Final Four duel. AP
HOUSTON— North Carolina will look for its sixth NCAA championship when the Tar Heels meet the Villanova Wildcats, trying for their second, on Monday (Tuesday Manila time).
The Tar Heels (33-6) last won it all in 2009 and Villanova’s only title came in 1985.
Both teams advanced to the championship game with lopsided wins, but Villanova’s was far more of a blowout than North Carolina’s.
The top-seeded Tar Heels beat 10-seed Syracuse 83-66 on Saturday night in a national semifinal for their 10th straight win. That was after the Wildcats made easy work of Buddy Hield and Oklahoma, with a 95-51 trampling that was the biggest margin of victory in a national semifinal game.
Villanova (34-5) did it with 71.4 percent shooting led by Josh Hart, who scored 23 points on 10 of 12 shooting.
That percentage was the second best in the history of the Final Four. The only team to shoot better was that 1985 team which won the title with a victory over Georgetown by hitting 78.6 percent of its shots.
“They shot the ball very efficient tonight,” Hield said of Villanova. “If a team do this, I feel they can go win it all.”
It won’t be easy against the only No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four this season. Coach Roy Williams has already led two North Carolina teams to championships and this squad has won each of its five tournament games this year by an average of 16.2 points.
North Carolina has reached the title game for the 10th time and it will be just the third appearance for Villanova.