North Carolina back in the Final Four

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — No one sacrificed more than Rashad McCants to make sure North Carolina got back to the Final Four. So it was only fitting that he made the plays when the Tar Heels needed him most.

The star guard, no longer the team's leading scorer this year while accepting a more team-oriented role, swished a clutch 3-pointer and had two huge defensive stops down the stretch, leading top-seeded North Carolina past Wisconsin 88-82 Sunday in the final of the Syracuse Regional.

Sean May led the Tar Heels (31-4) with 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Raymond Felton added 15 points — including four free throws in the final minute to seal it. But it was McCants who did the most to end a marvelous run by the sixth-seeded Badgers (25-9) and send the Tar Heels to the Final Four for the first time since 2000.

They will play Michigan State, which beat Kentucky 94-88 in double overtime, next Saturday in St. Louis.

With North Carolina clinging to a three-point lead, McCants jumped high to swat away a 3 by Clayton Hanson with about 2 minutes left, Hanson's only miss of the second half from beyond the arc. Later, when Kammron Taylor drove to the basket, McCants again was there to stop him.

"I knew they were going to come at me," McCants said. "I took that as an assignment and shut him down."

Wisconsin closed within three again on an alley-oop dunk by Alando Tucker before McCants made his 3-pointer, coming off a screen by Marvin Williams to give North Carolina an 81-75 lead. He finished with 21 points.

That proved to be enough, and when the final buzzer sounded, McCants and Felton spent several seconds embracing in the lane while teammates quickly donned hats that read "Syracuse Regional Champions."

Coach Roy Williams advanced to the Final Four for the fifth time in his career; after four trips with Kansas, he's taking his alma mater in only his second season there.

"It's special, there's no question about it," Williams said. "I loved 15 years at Kansas. I loved those four times there. But I did go to school here, my wife went to school here, my son went to school here and my daughter went to school here. It is special."

One by one, he sent his players up a ladder to cut down nets on both ends of the court. He did the same when North Carolina clinched its first outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title since 1993, choosing to ignore any criticism for celebrating before the NCAA tournament.

No one could blame him this time.