HOUSTON — North Carolina was the No. 1 team in the nation when the season started — and they could be No. 1 when it ends.
The Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA championship game on Monday night against Villanova by ending Syracuse’s surprise run to the Final Four, 83-66, before 75,505 at NRG Stadium. The title game will tip at 9:19 EST on TBS.
North Carolina (33-6) improved to 3-0 against ACC rival Syracuse on the season.
“Villanova is a great team,” North Carolina big man Kennedy Meeks said. “They’re coached by a great coach. They do some similar things as we do.
“Our main goal is to play a similar goal to what we played tonight, get the ball inside, really try to pound it in there and knock down our free throws.”
North Carolina out-scored Syracuse 50-32 in the paint while shooting just 4-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Villanova (34-5) moved into its first NCAA championship game since winning it all in 1985 by virtue of a historic 95-51 beatdown of Buddy Hield and Oklahoma that marked the largest margin of victory in Final Four history.
North Carolina, which has won 10 straight games dating to a Feb. 27 loss at Virginia, will play for its sixth NCAA championship, while Williams is attempting to become just the sixth coach to win three. The Heels last won in 2009 when they took out Villanova, 83-66, in the national semifinals before beating Michigan State in the final.
“In ’84, before half you guys were born, Villanova played Georgetown twice in the regular season,” Williams said Friday. “Georgetown won both of ’em, all right? Then Villanova upset” Georgetown in the championship game.
Marcus Paige scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Brice Johnson had 16 points and 9 rebounds, Justin Jackson scored 16 points and Meeks had 13.
Trevor Cooney led Syracuse with 22 points, Malachi Richardson added 17 and Michael Gbinije had 12 on 5-of-18 shooting.
“It’s tough, I was very fortunate to be a member of the Syracuse family for five years and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Cooney said. “This is a really tough game to go out on.”
North Carolina seized a 39-28 halftime edge despite shooting 0-of-10 from beyond the arc. The Tar Heels used their massive front line of Johnson, Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Joel James to outscore Villanova 26-12 in the paint.
Syracuse, meantime, made only 11-of-31 field goals before the break, shooting 3-of-10 from deep.
North Carolina used an 12-4 spurt in the second half to stretch the lead to 51-35.
Syracuse used a 10-0 run to cut it to 57-50 on a Richardson three-pointer, but Carolina answered with a 10-3 spurt — highlighted by deep shots from Paige and Theo Pinson — to make it 67-53. Carolina had been 0-of-12 from deep before Paige’s shot made it 60-50.
“I told the players, I’m more proud of this team than any team I’ve ever coached,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.
Boeheim, 71, bristled when he was asked the inevitable retirement question.
“Why do you guys always ask me that, really?” he asked. “Make sure you ask [North Carolina coach] Roy [Williams] when he comes in here, too.”
Boeheim, who sat out nine games this season with an NCAA-mandated suspension, is slated to step down after the 2017-18 season, when associate head coach Mike Hopkins is due to take over.
Told by a reporter that he had “a rough season,” Boeheim went off.
“I haven’t had a rough season,” he said. “I had a great season. I don’t think it was rough at all. We had our ups and downs on the court, but that happens a lot. I mean, that’s not unusual.
“As far as what I feel about this year, I’m more satisfied than I’ve ever been in any year that I’ve ever coached, with the possible of exception the year we won it all. But other than that year, I’m more proud and more happy, whatever the word is I’m looking for, satisfied, with what this team has done than any year that I’ve ever coached.
“I guess my answer to your question is, I’m happier now at the end of this year than anytime I’ve ever coached. I’m really not that tired. I had 30 days off. So, shoot, I could probably go another 30.”
For his part, Williams didn’t like the retirement question, either.
“I was back there listening to Jimmy’s questions,” he said. “Jimmy told you to stop asking him about retirement. He said, Ask Roy. You have asked me that question five times since I got into town.
“If I’m going to retire, I think I’ll retire in the next two minutes. How good do you think the chances of me retiring in the next two minutes? So don’t ask me that stupid question either.
“Other than that, it’s been a great afternoon, a great night.”
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