Kris Jenkins' 3 at the buzzer caps Villanova's run to national title

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HOUSTON — Ryan Arcidiacono had always dreamed of this moment.

National championship on the line. Clock running down toward zeros. Massive crowd in the stadium roaring and a few million more watching on TV.

The spotlight is on him, and he buries the shot.

“Always, always,” Arcidiacono said. “If you ever get into a big game, you always want the ball. I’ve always wanted the ball at the end of games because I’d rather our team lose because of me.”

Which is where reality diverted from the dream.

“When I dreamed about it, I never dreamed about making a pass to someone,” Arcidiacono said with a laugh. “You always dream about making the shot yourself.”

With the basketball in his hands for the final time in his brilliant Villanova career and a national championship at stake, Arcidiacono decided not to shoot the potential game-winner.

Because for four years it’s never been about him, it’s been about the team. And he wasn’t about to change now.

“For him to be so unselfish and give up the ball?” Kris Jenkins said later. “It just shows what type of teammate he is, what type of person he is.”

Arcidiacono passed it, Jenkins shot it and the buzzer sounded, and Villanova — the team that couldn’t get out of the second round — was national champions.

Jenkins, mired in foul trouble much of the game, buried a deep three-pointer at the buzzer to give Villanova a heart-stopping 77-74 win over North Carolina Monday night at NRG Stadium and the second NCAA Tournament title in school history (see Instant Replay).

Villanova, which trailed by seven early in the second half and led by 10 late in the second half, watched the entire lead disappear, the last three points of it when Marcus Paige hit an off-balance, double-clutch three with 4.7 seconds left and Daniel Ochefu desperately trying to steal the pass before it got to him.

Tie game, and no sign of panic on the Villanova bench.

The Wildcats called timeout, Jenkins inbounded to Arcidiacono, who brought it up court as the final seconds ticked down.

He thought about shooting, but he heard a voice.

“I heard someone screaming in the back of my head,” said Arcidiacono, who was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. “It was Kris. I just gave it to him, and he let it go with confidence.”

Added Jenkins: “I was screaming at him.”

The win capped a miracle run through the NCAA Tournament for the Wildcats, who hadn’t beaten a team seeded higher than 15th since 2009.

This team beat four straight top-10 teams, including the No. 1 and 3 teams in the country.

“Ryan knows the play is to put people in position where the man with the ball knows exactly where everybody’s going to be, and then you trust,” coach Jay Wright said. “You have to have a guy that you trust to make the right decision. Not to be selfish, want to be a star himself. And that’s Ryan.”

The final play perfectly embodies this team.

Unselfish. Team-first. A group of guys that truly don’t care who gets the credit, who gets the accolades, who scores the points.

“We don’t care who gets the credit,” Jenkins said. “We just want to win. I’ve never been a part of a group of guys who compete this hard.”

After a slow start, Jenkins has been one of the best three-point shooters in the country over the past two months.

He made 17 of 35 from three-point range during the tournament. Nearly half.

The one that will go down in Philadelphia sports folklore was the final shot of the 2016 basketball season.

“I’m giving him that shot 10 times out of 10,” Josh Hart said. “That’s my brother, man. He had highs, he’s had lows, and he’s fought through it, never gave up, and that’s just a tribute to his character. He wasn’t going to miss that shot.”

Sophomore guard Phil Booth led Villanova with a career-high 20 points off the bench (see story), Arcidiacono added 16 points on 6 for 9 from the field, Jenkins scored 14 and Hart added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Villanova shot 58 percent from the field and 57 percent from three, concluding the most accurate NCAA Tournament shooting performance in 18 years.

“I told Arch before that final play, ‘You better shoot it,’” said Daniel Ochefu, who added nine points and six rebounds.

“And I was extremely serious. I’m not the most intimidating person in the world, but I can be pretty intimidating when I want to.

“After the game, Arch came over to me and said, ‘Hey, I saw Kris was wide open, so I passed it to him.’ I told him that’s OK. I have so much respect for him for passing that ball in that situation. My respect for him is out of this world.”

It’s fitting that Arcidiacono, as unselfish an athlete as you’ll ever see, made a pass to win a national title the final time he touched the basketball in a Villanova uniform.

“He’s a senior and you want to make the play to win it all,” Hart said. “But he wasn’t so consumed with himself that instead of going out there and trying to make the right play, he trusted Kris.

“He bypassed the shot, saw Kris was more open than he was, got him the ball and Kris hit it. That says so much about Arch’s character.”

Jenkins got a clean look. About three feet behind the three-point line. Squared up. No North Carolina defenders were close.

The buzzer went off soon after he released the ball, and the play was reviewed.

But there would be no overtime.

The college basketball season was over, and the celebration in Philly and the suburbs had begun.

“It’s one of those things, if he misses that shot, you go back to the huddle and say, ‘Hey, we got exactly what we wanted,’” associate head coach Baker Dunleavy said. “We got the play we wanted, we got the shot we wanted, let’s go play overtime.

“But Kris, he doesn’t miss too many of those.”

Jenkins’ jumper sent the Villanova team and fans into a frenzy.

And the reality began setting in.

“I’m still in shock right now,” Jenkins said. “For us to win a national championship with this group of guys, with these seniors, who’ve given so much to our program and who’ve shown what Villanova basketball is all about, it really means a lot to send them off the right way.

“To have the opportunity to hit the game-winning shot from a senior who was unselfish and gave up the ball … that could have been the final shot of his career? I’m just so happy for Arch right now.”

The wild ending followed a riveting game. North Carolina led by seven at 41-34 early in the second half, then the Wildcats went on a 33-16 run to build that 10-point lead with 4:42 left.

The Tar Heels outscored Villanova 14-4 to tie it on Paige’s crazy shot, and that set up Arcidiacono and Jenkins on the game-winner.

“When Kris shot it, there wasn’t any doubt,” Darryl Reynolds said. “There was this sense of calm that came over me when the ball left his hand, because I knew it was going in. He wasn’t going to miss it.”

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