Wisconsin is one win away from its second straight trip to the Final Four, but it didn't get there without some anxious moments on Thursday night.
The dream seemed to be fading with every missed three-point attempt and every made North Carolina transition basket on the other end, but somehow, the veteran Badgers found a way to keep dancing with a 79-72 victory over the Tar Heels.
Wisconsin trailed at halftime and faced a 4-point deficit with less than 7 minutes to play, but then its usual suspects answered the bell. The biggest hero of all wearing red and white on Thursday was Sam Dekker, who poured in a career-high 23 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Fellow stars Frank Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes also scored in double figures, combining for 31 points and 14 boards.
North Carolina has to be wondering what more it could have done to win its 12th straight Sweet 16 game. The Tar Heels had more transition success against Wisconsin than nearly any other team this season, they shot 47.3 percent from the field, and connected on 8 of their 13 attempts from beyond the arc. Justin Jackson and Brice Johnson tied for the team high with 15 points each.
UNC even had the services of a player most thought would be sidelined on Thursday. After being listed as questionable all week because of a sprained knee, North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks wound up starting the game. Perhaps partly because of his knee and partly because of foul trouble, Meeks was mostly a non-factor in the game, finishing with just 4 points and 4 rebounds.
Wisconsin had its own surprise returnee on Thursday; senior guard Traevon Jackson returned to the court for the first time since January. Jackson, who had been the Badgers' starting point guard, hadn't played since suffering a fractured right foot on Jan. 12 in the team's loss at Rutgers. He came off the bench against the Tar Heels, and scored 4 points on 1 of 3 shooting from the field.
Here are three things we learned from Wisconsin's gritty Sweet 16 win:
1. Sam Dekker is finally becoming the beast we've always thought he could be
It might be hard for some to believe that heading into Thursday's game, Dekker's previous career-high was just 22 points, a mark he set earlier this season against Penn State. He surged past that total against Carolina, playing perhaps the biggest game of his career at a time when his team needed him the most.
The 6'9 Sheboygan native spent a solid chunk of last summer wowing scouts and executives during the skills camps hosted by LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Additional reports of him growing two inches during the offseason had college basketball writers across the country predicting a monster season.
It didn't happen at first, as an ankle injury kept his numbers fairly pedestrian through the season's first couple of months. He has finally looked like the superstar everyone expected during the NCAA Tournament scoring 20 and 17 points in the Badgers' first two wins before exploding for 23 on Thursday night.
As great as Kaminsky is, this was a game where Wisconsin had to have a monster effort from Dekker if it wanted to prevail, and the junior responded in a big way.
2. North Carolina's streak of 11 consecutive Sweet 16 victories is no more
Heading into Thursday night, North Carolina had won 11 consecutive games in the Sweet 16, a streak which dated all the way back to 1993. The Tar Heels are still 25-8 all-time in regional semifinal games, the best record of any program that has made it through to the tournament's second weekend at least 15 times.
The last time UNC tasted defeat in a Sweet 16 game was another 1 vs. 4 matchup all the way back in 1992. The Tar Heels fell to top-seeded Ohio State, 80-73, in Lexington, Ky.
3. Wisconsin is still virtually unbeatable when leading with 5 minutes left
The win over North Carolina moved Wisconsin to a ridiculous 116-3 over the last five years when leading with 5 minutes to play, including a perfect 33-0 this season.
It looked for a long time as though UW wasn't going to have a chance to improve on the statistic, as they trailed, 60-56, with less than 7 minutes to play. Then Kaminksy buried an open three to spark a 9-0 Badger run that also included a pair of layups by Zak Showalter, and another by Dekker. The Tar Heels fought back to cut the lead to 1 on two separate occasions, but Wisconsin never trailed again.
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