There were 74,340 screaming fans inside the NRG Stadium, but as the seconds ticked down and with a thrilling contest all-square at 74-each, Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono heard only one voice: that of Kris Jenkins, calling for the ball.
“I just heard Kris yelling, ‘Arch, Arch, I’m open,’” Arcidiacono said.
What happened next won’t be forgotten in a hurry. With barely a second remaining, Arcidiacono flipped the ball to Jenkins, who caught it in stride, squared his feet and let it go. The buzzer sounded, but the three-point jumper was perfect. Cue pandemonium in the stadium as Villanova secured only their second NCAA championship.
Afterwards, Jenkins insisted he was confident at making the shot. “I think every shot’s going in, so that one was no different,” he quipped. “I knew it was going in,’’ he said. “My team-mates set me up perfectly.”
Kyle Lowry, the Villanova graduate who now stars for the Raptors, was sitting in the second row, and nodded in agreement: he knew where Jenkins’ shot was headed.
“Do you know how many times I’ve seen that kid take that shot in the summer?” Lowry said. “At least 1,000. I knew it was going in.”
Villanova head coach Jay Wright admitted Jenkins has had a lot of practice from behind the three-point line. “He takes those shots all the time and sometimes I want to kill him,” Wright said. “But sometimes he makes them, too.”
On Thursday, Jenkins thanked his team-mates, but also his mom, an enormous influence on his basketball coaching.
“She started with me when I was young and she even coaches me on my shots still to this day,” he said. He admitted his mom was “shocked” that he was left open to make the shot. “We were both stunned at that,” he said.
Jenkins teased Arcidiacono – later named the Final Four MVP – for not going alone as the seconds ticked down. “He’s a senior with the game on the line; that’s supposed to be his shot,” Jenkins said. “But he passed it to me.”
On the North Carolina bench, Roy Williams, the winner of two national titles, said he knew Jenkins’ shot was good.
“I saw Kris shoot it, his follow-through looked great,” Williams said. “I pretty much knew it was going in.”
Jenkins revealed how the Wildcats had practised the play countless times over the past few seasons. Get the ball to Arcidiacono and let him make a decision. The play, known as Nova, was meticulously rehearsed.
“We put the ball in Ryan’s hands because we know he’s going to make the right decision,” Jenkins said. “He usually makes the shot but last night he made the pass.”
Wright perhaps summed it up best. “[Kris] Jenkins lives for that moment,” he said.
