LOS ANGELES — Wisconsin looked like a beaten team for much of the game.
Frank Kaminsky got off to a slow start, his team couldn’t make a shot in the first half and then fell behind by seven midway through the second half.
It looked like a repeat of the Big Ten Conference title game, when the Badgers were left for road kill against Michigan State before coming back to win in overtime.
The top-seeded Badgers again proved their grit Thursday night, rallying in the final 10 minutes to hold off North Carolina 79-72 and advance to the final eight of the NCAA tournament.
Sam Dekker had a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, Kaminsky added 19 and Nigel Hayes 12 to send Wisconsin (34-3) into the West Regional final Saturday against No. 2 seed Arizona or sixth-seeded Xavier.
“The toughness that they showed today was really something,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said.
“It’s strange, the difference between winning and losing is so small.”
Marcus Paige hit consecutive 3-pointers that drew the Tar Heels within one with 54 seconds left, but Wisconsin made all eight of its free throws, four by Kaminsky, in the closing seconds.
“Everyone knows that once we get to free throw time at the end of the game, we’ve got to make our free throws or they’re going to come down and score,” Kaminsky said. “We’ve been through that a lot this season with situations like that. So it’s just nice to be able to go out there and do it.”
Reserve Zak Showalter scored six points in the Badgers’ 19-7 comeback after they were forced into tough positions by North Carolina’s perimeter defense.
“The plays he made for us in that two-minute span, we wouldn’t have won without them,” Hayes said. “This was similar to the Michigan State game except it didn’t go to overtime. We weren’t really playing our type of basketball. We were letting them have their way and their will. All we needed was a couple plays to get us going.”
The teams shot exactly the same – 46 percent – for the game, but the Badgers improved to 58 percent in the second half and made 20 of 23 free throws to keep their hopes of a second straight Final Four berth alive.
“These guys have been through a lot. They’ve seen the good runs. They’ve seen the bad runs,” Coach Bo Ryan said. “But this group never gets discouraged to the point they get down on themselves or their teammates, and that’s what’s fun.”
Brice Johnson and Justin Jackson scored 15 points each for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-12), who got within one with 4:21 left but didn’t get the lead.
“We wanted to pressure them and not allow them to be comfortable. We did that for the most part,” Paige said. “The problem was we couldn’t finish our defense on key possessions.”
The Tar Heels appeared to have the game in hand when they were up by seven and Kaminsky went down with his hands covering his eyes, having gotten hit by Isaiah Hicks.
With Kaminsky on the bench, the Badgers launched the 19-7 run that put them in front, 65-60.
“It’s just great to have so many voices understanding what needs to happen and what we need to do out on the court, which was getting stops,” Kaminsky said, “and then coming down and getting good, easy looks at the bucket.”
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