Kansas 70, North Carolina 58
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Travis Releford scored 12 points in the first 8:24 of the second half to help Kansas turn a nine-point halftime deficit into a nine-point lead as the No. 1 seeded Jayhawks defeated No. 8 seeded North Carolina 70-58 in the third round of the NCAA tournament at Sprint Center Sunday.
Releford finished with 22 points, including 13 in the second half, to lead the Jayhawks. Jeff Withey added 16 points and 16 rebounds for Kansas (31-5).
The Jayhawks advance to the Sweet 16 and will face Michigan on Friday.
P.J. Hairston had 15 points and James Michael McAdoo had 11 for North Carolina, which finished the season 25-11.
The Jayhawks started the second half on a run that lasted well past the midway point of the half. Releford, the only Jayhawk with more than one made field goal in the first 23 minutes of the game, had a put-back and a 3-point field goal to begin the surge. He later followed another Kansas miss with a basket to cut the lead to 33-32. When he tipped in a Ben McLemore miss at the 14:36 mark, Kansas had regained the lead at 37-35.
The Jayhawks outscored North Carolina 49-28 in the second half.
Both teams started cold, with the Jayhawks hitting just one of their first 13 shots. North Carolina was only slightly better, going 4-of-17. But two of those were 3-pointers as the Tar Heels grabbed a 12-2 lead. Kansas stormed back with a 13-2 run of its own to grab its first lead.
But the Tar Heels pulled away late in the half to lead 30-21. North Carolina finished the first half shooting only 26 percent. Kansas was at 25 percent.
Withey didn't contribute much on the offensive end early in the first half, but he certainly made his presence felt on the defensive end. He had nine rebounds and two blocks, plus he altered a number of shots in the first half.
NOTES: This was the second year in a row, and third time in six years, that these two teams matched up in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas won the previous two meetings, including an 80-67 victory in the Midwest Regional Final last season. Kansas also defeated North Carolina 84-66 in the Final Four in 2008 when Kansas won its last national championship...North Carolina coach Roy Williams won his 700th game Friday against Villanova, becoming the third-fastest to reach that total (879 games) behind Adolph Rupp (836) and Jerry Tarkanian (876). Of his 700 wins, 418 came as head coach of Kansas (1988-2003)...These two schools rank second (Kansas, 2,101) and third (North Carolina, 2,090) in all-time NCAA Division I wins behind Kentucky (2,111)...Kansas is the only school to win 30 or more games in four straight seasons.
