In the final match, played in Albuquerque, New Mexico, NC State led at halftime with a score of 33–25. Houston was hampered by foul trouble that plagued celebrity Clyde Drexler, who picked up four first half fouls. From the second halfof the Cougars came out with another wind and based control of the match, finally taking a seven-point lead.
However, things weren’t all great for Houston. Considering that the match was played in Albuquerque, players needed to take care of the city’s mile-high altitude. The Cougars’ star centre, Akeem Olajuwon, had difficulties adjusting to the surroundings and drained quickly, needing to test from this match multiple times so he could put on an oxygen mask and recover. Together with Olajuwon on the seat, Houston head coach Guy Lewis determined that in order to protect the lead and the health of his huge man in the exact same time, the Cougars had to begin slowing the game down.
Yet more, this allowed the Wolfpack to go back to their own standby strategy of extending the match. Houston’s free throw shooting was very suspicious entering the game, which worked heavily in NC State’s favour since they were able to rally back and even the score at 52 in the last two minutes. On what would be the last Houston ownership, Valvano called for his players to back away and let freshman guard Alvin Franklin bring the ball up the court. The Wolfpack defenders would allow the Cougars employ their lag strategy of passing around. Once the ball got back to Franklin he was fouled immediately. With 1:05 left, the freshman was fouled and sent to the line for a one-and-one. The idea to filthy Franklin sprung from the enormity of the moment; NC State believed that the comparatively inexperienced Franklin could not withstand the strain of going to the line with the tournament at stake and understanding that fifty million viewers were tuned in to watch the match. The concept was right as Franklin failed to convert and the Wolfpack grabbed the rally. Valvano called timeout with 44 seconds left and drew up a play for mature defender Dereck Whittenburg through the timeout, which called for the group to pass him the ball with ten minutes left on the clock so he could take the final shot.
Houston had a defensive stop so they could find another chance to close out the match. Lewis made a decision to move from the man-to-man shield his team was running the whole game to a half court zone trap defense. The Wolfpack, who weren’t anticipating the defensive modification, were made to deviate and began passing the ball around just to keep the Cougars from slipping it. Houston almost obtained the turnover it was searching for if Whittenburg made an errant pass to Gannon which Drexler nearly came away with prior to the sophomore recovered control of the ball. The ball eventually wound up at the hands of protector Sidney Lowe, who lent it to forward and fellow senior Thurl Bailey at the corner.
Trying to keep the ball moving, as he had been double teamed when he obtained the pass, Bailey appeared back toward Whittenburg, who was approximately thirty feet away from the hoop near midcourt. Bailey threw what Whittenburg would call a”poor basic” overhanded pass that Houston’s Benny Anders, guarding Whittenburg on the play, was in position to steal. Now, Whittenburg hearkened back to his high school days together with Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School, where he had been taught to always grab the basketball with both handson. If Whittenburg hadn’t attempted to do so in this circumstance, Anders might have gotten the slip and a game-winning breakaway layup. In college basketball at the time, the game clock continued to operate following a made field goal, and the Wolfpack probably would not have had time even to inbound the ball. As it was, Anders knocked the ball out of Whittenburg’s hands, but Whittenburg immediately regained control.
The clock, meanwhile, had ticked down to five seconds and Whittenburg was standing a significant distance from the objective. After he regained control, Whittenburg turned and started a desperation shot, afterwards claimed by Whittenburg for a pass, to attempt to win the match for NC State. The shot’s trajectory took it on the front of the basket where Olajuwon was covering Wolfpack centre Lorenzo Charles. As he noticed the shooter, Olajuwon said he knew the shooter was going to come up short but he did not want to go for the ball too early because of the prospect of goaltending. Charles took advantage of the indecision from Olajuwon and went up for the air balland, in 1 motion, he scored the go-ahead points with a two-handed dunk. The final second ticked off the clock before Houston could inbound the ball, and with that, the game ended, and the Wolfpack were the national champions.

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