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SPORTS Monday 19 March 2018

Texas A&M stuns reigning champ

UNC 86-65 in NCAA 2nd round

By AARON BEARD I'm not ashamed to say I eliminated on the tourna-
AP Basketball Writer love these kids." ment's opening weekend
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Tar Heels shot just 33 for the first time since 2014.
Reigning national cham- percent, including 6 of 31 The Tar Heels led 20-13 ear-
pion North Carolina sput- (.194) on 3-pointers after ly only to see the Aggies
tered to the worst NCAA entering the game shoot- go on 15-0 run to change
Tournament loss of Roy ing nearly 37 percent from the entire dynamic of the
Williams' career on Sunday behind the arc. game. Davis got loose
night, overpowered in its It came on the same court for three baskets inside as
home state by Texas A&M, where, two nights earlier, the Aggies asserted them-
86-65. UMBC made history by be- selves in the paint, while
It's the second straight year coming the first 16-seed UNC started missing shot
the titleholder has been to beat a 1 when the Re- after shot.
bounced from March Mad- trievers upset top overall By halftime, the Aggies had
ness before the Sweet 16. seed Virginia. And as with pushed to a 42-28 lead,
T.J. Starks scored 21 points that game, the upstart dis- then got 3-pointers from
and the No. 7 seed Aggies patched the favorite with Admon Gilder and D.J.
(22-12) manhandled the surprising ease. Hogg to open the second
second-seeded Tar Heels. Williams' previous worst loss half and push the margin to
They dominated the glass. in NCAA play had come in a stunning 20 points.
They used their size to con- the Tar Heels' 84-66 loss to Amazingly enough, the Tar
trol the paint and block his former Kansas program Heels got no closer than
shots. And they pounced in the 2008 Final Four. This 17 again to stun a crowd
when UNC's small-ball line- was also UNC's worst NCAA that was wearing a lot of
up couldn't make an out- Tournament loss since fall- blue and expecting the Tar
side shot. ing by 23 points to Arkansas Heels to advance.
"We had a certain togeth- in the 1990 Sweet 16. UNC had won 12 of 13
erness today," said the Meanwhile, the Aggies — NCAA Tournament games
6-foot-10 Tyler Davis, who who peaked at No. 5 in dating to its 2016 finals run
had 18 points and nine re- the AP Top 25 in December before Sunday.
bounds for the Aggies. "We before injuries and suspen- Its loss showed again how
didn't have the fastest start, sions helped lead to an 0-5 difficult repeating is for
but we were together the start in the Southeastern reigning champions a year
whole time." Conference — are moving after 2016 title winner Vil-
Another 6-10 forward, Rob- on to the Sweet 16 for the lanova lost to Wisconsin in
ert Williams, finished with second time in three sea- the second round. A na-
13 rebounds, helping the sons. tional champion has not
Aggies take a 50-36 edge The Tar Heels were a very advanced past the Sweet North Carolina's Joel Berry II, front, drives past Texas A&M's Rob-
while shooting 52 percent different team than last 16 in 11 consecutive tour- ert Williams, back, during the first half of a second-round game
— including 10 of 24 from year's title winner, namely naments. in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Charlotte,
3-point range. in the way they leaned on BIG PICTURE N.C., Sunday, March 18, 2018.
Joel Berry II scored 21 points a small-ball lineup. But ex- Texas A&M: The Aggies
in his final game for the pectations grew that they beat Providence in Friday's ing with 10 wins in 13 games Angeles to face third-seed-
second-seeded Tar Heels could make a third straight opening round, a win fu- to playing in their home- ed Michigan, which beat
(26-11), who were trying Final Four run as UNC found eled by a dominating per- state where they had been Houston on a buzzer-beat-
to reach their third straight a final-month groove, in- formance by Williams and practically unbeatable ing 3-pointer Saturday.q
Final Four. But they ended cluding two wins against Davis on the boards. And in NCAA games. Instead,
up falling to 34-2 in NCAA Duke and a trip to the At- they were playing for only they couldn't buy a 3-point
games in their home state, lantic Coast Conference their third trip to the Sweet shot, struggled to rebound
the only other loss coming Tournament championship 16 since the tournament against a bigger team and
in 1979. game. expanded to 64 teams in offered little more than a
"It's the most inadequate Instead — after a heart- 1985. They earned it in im- meager resistance as the
feeling I've ever felt," Wil- breaking title-game loss pressive and unexpectedly Aggies played with aggres-
liams said. "I feel it all the to Villanova in 2016 fol- dominant fashion. sive confidence.
time, last game of the year, lowed by last year's title win UNC: Everything was set up UP NEXT
but I think I felt it more to- against Gonzaga — the for the Tar Heels to contin- The Aggies advanced to
day than any other time. Tar Heels found themselves ue their ascent, from enter- the regional semifinals in Los