No. 1 UNC Benefitted From Two Questionable Calls To Survive Against Arkansas


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For the second day in a row, it looked like a 1-seed was going to down during the 2017 NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32. On Saturday, Villanova fell to Wisconsin, ending its opportunity to defend its championship.

On Sunday, Arkansas tried its hardest to get in the fun. The Razorbacks gave North Carolina everything that the Tar Heels could handle, but in the end, Roy Williams’ squad moved on to the Sweet 16, winning 72-65.

The end of the game was not without some controversy, though. Arkansas was up by five points with 3:31 remaining, and the momentum generally seemed to be going in favor of the Razorbacks. But two calls – both no-calls on what looked to be fouls – went the way of the Tar Heels down the stretch.

First, Arkansas’ Daryl Macon attempted a jumper from behind the three-point line that was contested by North Carolina while the Tar Heels had a one-point lead. It looked like Macon’s hand got hit on the release, but the foul was not called.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5f9vqu

Right after, Tar Heels guard Joel Berry drove down the lane and looked like he was out of control. He ran over Arkansas’ Adrio Bailey on what seemed to be a charge, but the referees let him play on. Berry threw up a shot while trying to beat the shot clock and missed. Right before the buzzer could go off, Kennedy Meeks was there for the tip-in to extend the North Carolina lead.

The Tar Heels are the third-best team remaining in the field based on KenPom, and at the start of the Tournament, only Duke had better odds of winning it all. As of right now, both teams from Tobacco Road have a chance at taking home this year’s title, but we’ll see if that’s still the case after the Blue Devils take on South Carolina later tonight.

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