These 2nd-half adjustments led Kansas Jayhawks to NCAA title: ‘I was scared to death’

Bill Self needed a play.

Kansas trailed by 15 to North Carolina in Monday’s national championship game, and KU’s coach knew how vital the first offensive possession of the second half would be for potentially building momentum.

Assistant Jeremy Case — in charge of the team’s scouting report for North Carolina — turned to Self in the locker room at halftime.

“Coach, we’ve still got ‘54,’” Case said, motioning to a folded paper in his hand that listed the calls he’d wanted to run against the Tar Heels.

“‘Yeah, let’s run ‘54,’” Self said to Case, “and get a lob.”

Case did his best to look confident for Self.

In his mind, though?

“I was scared to death,” Case said with a smile while walking off the court following KU’s 72-69 win over North Carolina. “Don’t tell nobody, but god dangit, I was scared.”

In Case’s first year as a KU assistant coach, his suggestion proved invaluable.

KU got a defensive stop, then went to the play initially devised for big men Dedric Lawson and Udoka Azubuike four years ago. Self and staff wanted to create a way to stress defenses when defending KU’s two bigs, so they crafted a set with the 5 man screening for the 4 — “54” — and watched as it created an alley-oop during the 2018 Champions Classic against Michigan State.

This time, the coordinated motion had a wrinkle, with North Carolina perhaps sensing something was amiss when Ochai Agbaji brought the ball upcourt as KU’s point guard.

Dajuan Harris — not a big man like Lawson — received a pass at the elbow, then curled around big man David McCormack before tossing up a lob.

McCormack cradled it with one hand, then slammed it down with two, trimming North Carolina’s lead to 13.

A few steps away on KU’s bench, Case — crouched lower than any coach while watching the moment unfold — clapped a few times in relief, leaving his play sheet on his lap.

“It worked like a charm,” Case said afterward, “and then energy from there.”

The first-play choice was just one of many KU second-half adjustments that resulted in the Jayhawks rallying for the biggest comeback in NCAA championship history.

More than anything, though, Case said the team was able to get a much-needed refocus during the lengthy intermission.

“We corrected the things that were correctable,” Case said. “We told them, ‘Offensive rebounding and transition is how they’re going to beat us,’ and they got to do all that in the first half. So second half, that was our main focus: No offensive rebounds and no transition points.”

North Carolina slowed its pace after that. And though KU’s defensive rebounding still struggled in half two, the Jayhawks at least limited second-chance points damage while also holding UNC to 28% shooting.

Harris, meanwhile, set the emotional tone defensively. He was noticeably more active to start the second half, and the feistiness had ripple effects for North Carolina, forcing the ball out of guard RJ Davis’ hands and more into that of the less-efficient Caleb Love.

Those statistical tendencies played out Monday as well. Love finished with 5-for-24 shooting — while going 4-for-18 in the second half — which allowed the Jayhawks an opportunity to catch up.

Just as important, though, was simply believing a comeback was possible. Assistant coach Norm Roberts sensed that in the locker room.

“Every single one of those kids said, ‘We’re going to come back. We’re going to come back,” Roberts said. “And, ‘Stay together. Stay together.’”

McCormack was a noteworthy example of that. He even admitted to smiling at halftime while indicating to his teammates he was confident in a rally.

A few still thought he was a little crazy.

“He was looking at me, and I was like, ‘Why are you smiling, dude? We’re down 15.’ He was telling me, like, ‘Keep your head up. Keep going. We’ll be all right.’ I was, like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I’ve ever been here before,’” KU guard Christian Braun said with a chuckle. “Down 15 in a national championship game, I definitely never been there. But we’re just proud of him, and he kept us going.”

In the final 20 minutes, KU also tapped into what coaches believed could be a hidden advantage.

During their previous game against the Villanova Wildcats on Saturday, the Jayhawks didn’t have to stress late in an 81-65 victory. North Carolina, meanwhile, had to grind to the very end later that night in an emotional 81-77 win over arch-rival Duke.

KU staff’s hoped that keeping up the tempo offensively while continually moving with its half-court offense would deliver the early body blows needed to crack North Carolina late.

“Thought they’d be worn out from the game the other day, so that was the game plan,” KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend said. “We did a lot better in the second half.”

KU raced to eight fast-break points in the final 20 minutes, consistently getting layups with transition opportunities.

The Jayhawks also continued to thrive with half-court execution, just like with that opening second-half play.

After the game, Case looked again at his play sheet to re-read his writing. “Rip” had worked, along with “Thumbs Down” and “Ramsey” too.

It all had resulted in this: Case leaving the Superdome court as a national champion, helped by the preparation he’d done and the Jayhawks following through on that blueprint.

“We did it, man,” Case said with a smile just before heading back to his team’s locker room. “We did it.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.

Jesse Newell

The Kansas City Star

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Jesse Newell covered the Chiefs for The Star until August 2025. He won an EPPY for best sports blog and previously was named top beat writer in his circulation by AP’s Sports Editors. His interest in sports analytics comes from his math teacher father, who handed out rulers to Trick-or-Treaters each year.