The Kentucky Wildcats beat North Carolina 76-69 Sunday afternoon to claim the final ticket to Houston next weekend for the 2011 Final Four. No. 4 Kentucky will take on No. 3 seed Connecticut, and this year marks the first time that the Final Four will be without a single No. 1 or No. 2 seed.
The two traditional powerhouses put together a very entertaining, up-tempo game on Sunday. North Carolina was led by Tyler Zeller who posted 21 points off of the bench. Freshman Harrison Barnes had 18 points, including eight straight for the Tar Heels late that got them back into the game. Forward John Henson picked up his third foul 6:39 before halftime, and subsequently missed much of the early action in the second half.
Kentucky featured a balanced scoring attack all night. The Wildcats had five scorers reach double figures led by Brandon Knight's 22 points. Coach John Calipari joins Rick Pitino as the only college coaches to reach the Final Four with three separate programs. Calipari previously made it in 1996 with Massachusetts and in 2008 with Memphis.
For more on this game, visit Carolina March and A Sea Of Blue.