During the final 5.8 seconds on Saturday night, North Carolina clinging to a one-point lead against Oregon in an NCAA tournament national semifinal, Kennedy Meeks was talking to himself and Joel Berry was thinking he couldn’t miss and Theo Pinson was stunned, bewildered.
“Can we make one?” Pinson said he was thinking, again and again, while one missed free throw turned into two misses, and then three, and then four, when Berry’s second attempt bounced off the left side of the rim with four seconds remaining.
At that moment, the Tar Heels had missed four consecutive free throws in the final six seconds.