Championship - 1982 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball

1982 NCAA Final Men's Basketball

New Orleans, LA

March 29, 1982

Georgetown Hoyas vs North Carolina Tarheels

I didn't know a ton about this game going in. I knew about the ending but I didn't know if it was competitive game. One of the stories of this game, which I didn't know prior to watching the semi-final games was that each team had a man from Gastonia, NC. James Worthy of the Tarheels and Eric "Sleepy" Floyd of the Hoyas played against one another in high school. Their teams went as far as the state championship game which Floyd's school won.

The Tarheels did not come out as strong as they did in their semifinal game against Houston. North Carolina was down 4-6 against the Hoyas at the first TV time out, with both of their points coming off of goaltending calls on Patrick Ewing. Their next two baskets were also the result of goaltending calls on Patrick Ewing. The Tarheels finally started to score points without help from the officials after that. Georgetown continued to score and was still in the lead with just under 8 minutes left in the game, 18-16.

The game stayed tight in the first half. Ewing was called for goaltending one more time. Worthy scored 16 of the Tarheels first 24 points. The Tarheels took the lead for the first time late in the first half 25-24. The Hoyas came back and went into halftime up 32-31. Worthy had 18 points at the half, Ewing and Floyd had 10 a piece.

The second half started just as competitive as the first one. North Carolina took the lead, went up by 3 but Georgetown came back took the lead and went up by 4. The game continued like that. Georgetown had the lead 62-61 with less than a minute to go but North Carolina took their time and with 15 seconds to go Michael Jordan hit what would turn out to be the winning shot. Georgetown brought the ball back down the court and had enough time to get a shot off. Unfortunately, one of the Hoyas passed it to James Worthy by accident and that was basically it. Georgetown won 63-62.

I didn't see this game when it was originally played. I would of course have been rooting for Georgetown if I had. This was a tough one to watch. Both teams played a lot of good defense. Both teams had times when it looked like they were in charge. There were some great plays but because there was no shot clock in 1982 there was also a lot of passing the ball around. Great game.