(2) Kansas 80, (1) North Carolina 67 - The loss of Kendall Marshall turned out to be an achilles heel for North Carolina as they could not make plays down the stretch and Kansas overwhelmed the Tar Heels late, en route to a date with Ohio State in the Final Four.
A frenetic first half ended in a 47-47 tie. Thomas Robinson led all scorers with 14 first-half points, James Michael MacAdoo had 10 for Carolina; Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes, 8 apiece. Kansas made a 12-2 run to lead, 40-33, but Carolina quckly scored eight straight to grab a brief, 41-40 advantage.Kansas set the tone for the second half by scoring the first seven points and held the lead throughout most of the period. Elijah Johnson broke the game open with a 3-pointer at 3:09, followed by Tyshawn Taylor's layup and 3-point play, then a Travis Relaford dunk gave Kansas a nine-point lead - their largest of the game to that point - with just 1:28 to play.
Carolina could not muster any offense in the final minutes. Kansas ended the game on a 12-0 run, holding North Carolina scoreless for the final 3:58. Taylor led all scorers with 22 points, plus six rebounds, five assists and five steals. The Jayhawk big men dominated inside. Jeff Withey had 15 points and eight rebounds. Thomas Robinson scored 18, with nine boards.
Kansas will face East region #2 seed Ohio State in the Final Four at New Orleans next Saturday in one of two semi-final games.
Kentucky is the sole #1 seed remaining. Ohio State and Kansas are both 2-seeds, while Louisville was the #4 seed from the West.
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