ST. LOUIS — The formality of a much-anticipated “battle of the blue bloods” between Kansas and North Carolina turned into a workmanlike block party Sunday.
Doing the heavy lifting in the paint, Kansas junior center Jeff Withey, a 7-footer who has gone from journeyman role player to the joy of Lawrence, Kan., in a matter of months, blocked two shots with little more than two minutes remaining to spark an 80-67 victory for the Jayhawks in the Midwest Regional championship game at the Edward Jones Dome.
The No. 2-seeded Jayhawks (31-6) advanced to their 14th Final Four and will play Ohio State (31-7) in a national semifinal Saturday in New Orleans.
Withey’s blocks, on consecutive North Carolina possessions, led to five Kansas points at the other end. Kansas broke free from a closely contested game by scoring the final 12 points.
Here’s the most impressive part about Withey’s blocks: He carried four personal fouls while making those
pivotal blocks.
“I wasn’t really too worried about fouling out,” Withey said. “I knew that if I had backed up (and played it safe), they would have made a couple of
extra shots.”
North Carolina (32-6), the top seed in the Midwest Regional, trailed only 68-67 with 3:59 remaining. But the Tar Heels missed outside attempts and decided they had better attack the basket.
That’s where Withey comes in. First, he got a hand on a driving layup by North Carolina’s 6-11 John Henson and tossed an outlet to Tyshawn Taylor, the Jayhawks’ senior leader. Taylor sprinted the other way and was fouled on the basket by North Carolina’s Stilman White, a freshman filling in for injured Tar Heels star Kendall Marshall.
Taylor converted the free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play. KU guard Travis Releford became the beneficiary of Withey’s next block when he smothered a layup by White and Taylor got the rebound to Releford for a dunk.
“Those were two huge blocks,” North Carolina’s 7-footer, Tyler Zeller, said of Withey. “Give him credit for staying aggressive.”
Kansas’ Taylor turned in one of the best games of his career, stuffing the stat sheet with 22 points, six rebounds, five assists and a game-high five steals. Junior forward Thomas Robinson, a John Wooden Award finalist, contributed 18 points and nine rebounds.
The Tar Heels, shooting 43.8 percent in the second half, got 15 points from James McAdoo off the bench.
“It was a great game for 34, 35 minutes,” said North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who coached Kansas for 15 years before leaving in 2003. “And then they played much, much better than we did.”
North Carolina had to play once again without its playmaker. The spark that ignites the Tar Heels’ fast break, Marshall watched the game in street clothes from the end of the Heels’ bench, unable to play with
a surgically repaired right hand.
“We caught a break with Marshall not being able to play,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “He’s a great player. We talked about it as a team — we wanted him to play.”
Self made a late defensive adjustment that also spurred the 12-0 run. The Jayhawks went to a triangle-and-two set, with KU’s Releford and Elijah Johnson hounding the Tar Heels’ top shooters, Harrison Barnes and P.J. Hairston.
“I think we confused (North Carolina),” Taylor said.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
