KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nothing seemed to be going right for the University of Kansas men's basketball team in the final stretch of the first half of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
Following a 16-3 run by the University of North Carolina Tar Heels to the end the half, KU found themselves in 40-25 hole.
Still, despite being down, KU forward David McCormack could spotted smiling at halftime — something that shocked his teammates.
"I'm like, 'Why are you smiling dude, we're down 15.'" KU forward Christian Braun said. "He's [McCormack] telling me like, 'Man keep your head up, keep going, we'll be alright, we've been here before.' And I'm like, 'I don't know if I've ever been here before, down 15 in a national championship.'"
But, the message of playing to their strengths was consistent throughout the locker at halftime.
"It was just a matter of us playing our game and executing in the second half and taking away what they were getting at in the first half," KU guard Ochai Agbaji said.
Coming out of the second half, KU went on a 12-1 run to close the gap.
During a post game conference, both McCormack and Agbaji could be seen pointing to their left when asked what sparked the energy coming out the half.
The pair were pointing at their fellow teammate Dajuan Harris.
"It was Dajuan, Dajuan sparked that in the second half," Agbaji said. "Just his defensive pressure, kind of rubbed off on everyone else. That's where we got that momentum and everything else just fell in place on the offense."
