ATLANTA: Start studying, Louisville.
Instead of an all-Big East final against a familiar opponent, the top-seeded Cardinals will play Michigan for the national championship Monday night. It will be the first game between the teams since 1978.
Louisville (34-5) had to overcome its biggest scare of the tournament to reach its first championship since 1986, when it won its second title. Down 12 in the second half, the Cardinals rallied to beat ninth-seeded Wichita State 72-68.
Fourth-seeded Michigan (31-7) then held off Syracuse 61-56, spoiling what could have been a grand finale for the Big East in its final season before Louisville and the Orange leave for the ACC.
The Louisville Cardinals won their 15th game in a row to advance to Monday’s national college basketball championship game.
Russ Smith led Louisville with 21 points and Luke Hancock added 20 points, including a corner 3-pointer that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the second half with 6:30 to play.
Hancock hit another 3-pointer with two minutes left that put the Cardinals up. He did most of his damage from outside but found his way to the rim on two nifty drives that were a part of a 25-9 Louisville run.
Cleanthony Early scored a game-high 24 points for ninth-seeded Wichita State Shockers, who reached the Final Four for the first since 1965.
Louisville were appearing in the Final Four for the 10th time. They have won the national championship twice, in 1980 and 1986.
Injured Louisville guard Kevin Ware made his way to the Louisville bench as the time ticked down. Ware suffered a broken leg in the Cardinals’ win over Duke in the Elite Eight and has been a major inspiration for Rick Pitino’s club.
Michigan, a team that features the national player of the year and multiple stars with NBA lineage, advanced to the final for the first time since 1993.
Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Wolverines with 13 points while Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III both had 10 points.
Trey Burke, named national player of the year earlier this week, was held to seven points in front of the second largest crowd in NCAA tournament history, which included actor Will Ferrell, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson.
McGary also had 12 rebounds and six assists. a
Michigan (31-7) will be seeking its first US college basketball championship since 1989 when it takes on Louisville on Monday night.
Michigan started slow Saturday but once it solved Syracuse’s puzzling 2-3 zone defense in the first half they were able to open up a lead in the second half.
Hardaway led the Michigan charge while Caris LeVert and Spike Albrecht came off the bench to score eight and six points respectively the Wolverines.
C.J. Fair scored 22 points to lead Syracuse (30-10) in the loss.
