LAWRENCE – College basketball needs games like Friday’s clash between North Carolina and Kansas in historic Allen Fieldhouse. Not only did the game deliver a thrilling 92-89 outcome — after the Tar Heels came back from down 20 in the first half — it gave college basketball fans a true marquee contest to kickstart the season. 

Sure, Baylor-Gonzaga on opening night was great. And Auburn-Houston on Saturday won’t disappoint. But this game was different. 

Two of the top three programs in all-time wins. A combined 36 Final Four appearances. A rematch of the 2022 national championship game. Not to mention the long history of ties that extend all the way back to James Naismith and Phog Allen. “North Carolina and Kansas don’t exist without the other one,” Bill Self said after the game. “Dean Smith came from here. Larry Brown came from Carolina. Roy Williams came from Carolina and Kansas… The thing is, for the first time in a long time it’s not emotional if Hubert [Davis] and I play. It was emotional for Roy. It was emotional for Coach Smith. It was emotional for Larry. There was too much emotion going on for it to be a good game. Now it’s a good game. And I think in large part because those emotional ties don’t exist anymore.”

The game didn’t exactly start out as a marquee matchup. Kansas was up 20 points with 1:06 to play in the first half and carried a 15-point lead into halftime. It looked like the Jayhawks would walk away with an easy victory, proving they’re the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. 

Well, we should all know better. A big lead at halftime in a Carolina-Kansas game means nothing. Just look at the 2022 national title game, when the Jayhawks overcame a 16-point first-half deficit to win, 72-69.

Just when Friday’s contest looked like it would be a snoozer, all hell broke loose. UNC chipped away at the deficit with lots of free throws (they ended up shooting 28 of 31 from the line while KU was 12 of 17) and timely three-pointers from 6-foot-9 senior forward Jae’Lyn Withers (11 points on 3 of 5 three-point shooting). With seven minutes to play, a Withers layup gave Carolina an 80-79 advantage, the Tar Heels’ first lead since the 15-minute mark of the first half. The building was stunned.

North Carolina extended the lead even further to 87-83 with 3:28 to play. But down the stretch, 7-foot-2 super senior center Hunter Dickinson and 6-foot-4 senior guard Zeke Mayo, a transfer from South Dakota State, took over and scored the Jayhawks’ last nine points. With 1:06 to go during a timeout, the decibel meter hit 130.3, just 0.1 off the indoor record set by Kansas vs. West Virginia in February of 2017. 

After Dickinson made 1 of 2 free throws with 12 seconds left, Tar Heel sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau had a last look at the basket, but it didn’t fall.  

“I came here for games like this,” said Mayo, who is a Lawrence native. “The entire game was honestly just something I’ve never been a part of.”

Mayo finished with a game-high 21 points on 50 field goal shooting. Dickinson had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Three other Jayhawks finished in double-figures including KJ Adams (14 points), AJ Storr (13 points) and Dajuan Harris (10 points). 

The Tar Heels guard trio of RJ Davis, Seth Trimble and Cadeau all scored double-digit points but were held to 27.8 percent shooting from the field. Limiting the Tar Heel guards was a major key to the Kansas victory. The Jayhawks also committed just four turnovers and out-scored North Carolina by 18 points in the paint. 

The victory for Self gave him 590 career wins at Kansas, tying Phog Allen at the top of the Jayhawks all-time coaching win list. It also gave Kansas a 7-6 advantage in the series vs. North Carolina. 

The Tar Heels were disappointed to lose, of course, but when it was over it was clear they understood the magnitude of what had happened. “Anytime that you bring two unbelievable programs that have terrific kids and talented kids, competitive kids, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in March or November, it’s going to be highly competitive,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “I mean, when you run through the tunnel and you see that crowd and you see Kansas across the court, if you can’t be fired up to compete and play in this type of atmosphere against that type of team, then something is wrong with you. And I think we bring the same thing out in an opponent, and I thought we brought the same thing out in Kansas.”

Carolina-Kansas was a reminder of how special college basketball can be. If Friday was any indication, we’re in for one hell of a season.