Add Luke Maye's name to the list of March Madness heroes

Add Luke Maye's name to the list of players who will live on in March Madness lore.

Maye hit a jumper with 0.3 seconds left and top-seeded North Carolina held off Kentucky 75-73 to earn the Tar Heels’ second consecutive trip to the Final Four and 20th all-time in Sunday’s showdown of college basketball’s elite in the South Regional. It was the second big game for Maye, who had the first double-double of his career in Friday's Sweet 16 victory over Butler.

"I don't think Luke has put together two games like this all season," Justin Jackson said. "It just shows, with hard work, you can continue to play and you can be a great player."

After leading for most of the game, North Carolina found itself down by five points with five minutes left. But it took control with 12 consecutive points over the final five minutes, a run similar to what it used a week ago to beat Arkansas. Kentucky’s freshmen De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk made a game of it again by hitting three quick threes, the last two by Monk.

Monk’s second shot with 7.2 seconds left and defenders in his face tied it up at 73.

Theo Pinson brought the ball down and, in the process, allowed Maye to get free.

"He was penetrating toward the basket and kind of picked my man a little bit," Maye said. "I just stepped back and he gave me the ball, and I just shot it. Luckily, it went in. It was such a great feeling."

Kentucky tried a desperation heave, but it wasn't close and North Carolina won. Maye, a sophomore from Huntersville, N.C., entered the game averaging 5.5 points. He finished with a career-high 17 points, topping his previous best set only Friday.

He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the regional.

“I’m the guy that wanted him to come as a walk-on, so how dumb am I?” coach Roy Williams said. “He (made) some big-time plays today, big-time plays two days ago.”

Christian Laettner, who wore No. 32 for Duke and also buried the Wildcats with a last-second jumper (in 1992), made notice of the moment with a sharp-edged tweet:

Annnnndddd, then it was back to being student-athlete, with an 8 a.m. class on Monday. At least the classmates honored him with a standing ovation.

Contributing: Nancy Armour of USA TODAY Sports; and The Associated Press

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