[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Coming into Sunday’s showdown with No. 1 seed North Carolina, there was little doubt what Wisconsin had to accomplish to pull off the upset. If the Badgers could slow the game down and contain Sean May, they had a chance. If not, the Heels would waltz into the Final Four.

The Badgers accomplished neither task. North Carolina set the tempo early, and the game quickly became a shootout. May was unstoppable from start to finish, pouring in 29 points and tearing down 12 rebounds. Yet somehow, Wisconsin nearly kept pace with the most explosive offense in the nation.

“We were still there at the end,” forward Mike Wilkinson said.

Until the final minutes the Badgers matched the Tar Heels blow for blow. The Tobacco Road juggernaut scored at will in the post and lit up the scoreboard from the perimeter, but Wisconsin answered at every turn.

“I think we had three defensive stops in a row at the end and that was the only time in the game that we ever stopped them,” North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said.

Bo Ryan’s squad put up 82 points, 14.8 more than its season average. Four Badgers scored in double figures, and Sharif Chambliss added nine. Alando Tucker dropped 25. Kammron Taylor went off for 18. Clayton Hanson had 15. Wisconsin had not played a game like this all year. A team that has lived and died by defense and discipline, the Badgers proved they can hold their own in a shootout.

“We showed that we can play with anybody,” Wilkinson said. “We have a lot of great players on this team and they can all play. We’re not afraid to step on the court with anybody.”

The Badgers connected on 49.2 percent of their looks from the field and 45.8 percent from 3-point range. After turning the ball over 18 times in Friday’s win over NC State, Wisconsin had just 12 miscues Sunday.

“There wasn’t anything we were going to do they hadn’t seen,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “But for us to shoot the percentage that we did, in all three categories, and take care of the ball … we gave ourselves a chance.”

The Badgers did all they could on the offensive end, but ultimately the No. 6 seed just couldn’t keep up. Wisconsin went toe-to-toe with the most powerful offensive force in college basketball, and in the end they were simply overmatched. Rashad McCants poured in 21 points, Raymond Felton added 17 points and seven assists, and the Tar Heels came out on top.

“We’re a very good offensive team,” McCants said. “It’s very hard to stop us from scoring when we have so many threats on the court.”

Wisconsin could not take North Carolina out of its game offensively. Ryan’s squad allowed the Tar Heels to play up-tempo and pound the ball inside. The Badgers found themselves playing UNC’s game, and their 82-point outburst was just not enough.

“I guess we needed 90,” Ryan said. “Their offense, their ball movement, their post feeds, their finishes around the basket, that’s where they were better than us this afternoon.”

The Tar Heels sprinted to a 12-7 edge in fast-break points, but the greatest disparity came in the paint, where UNC outscored Wisconsin 42-30. The difference was May.

The 260-pound center manhandled the 240-pound Wilkinson in the post. When Wilkinson played him straight up, May ran him over. When he tried to front the Tar Heel big man, May slipped to the basket for an easy finish.

“Rashad (McCants) told me before the game ‘there is no way he’ll be able to guard you, he’s too little,'” May said of Wilkinson. “I just tried to use that as motivation to get deep in the paint.”

Desperate to slow down the UNC big man, Ryan called on reserve center Greg Stiemsma, the only player on his bench with the size to match up with May. Stiemsma, who registered less than a full minute of playing time in the tournament prior to Sunday’s game, was the only Badger to find success against the Syracuse region’s MVP, holding him scoreless for the final three minutes of the first half.

“We needed the strongest guy that we had on the bench, so I bypassed Helmigk, Butch, Chappell,” Ryan said. “And what happened was, his presence was pretty good.”

But Stiemsma returned to the bench in the second half and the Tar Heels went right to May. After scoring eight of his team’s first 10 points to start the game, May tallied seven of the Heels’ first 12 in the second stanza.

North Carolina climbed on the big man’s back, and May carried the Heels into the Final Four. Wisconsin hung around with a heroic effort on the offensive end, but UNC had too much speed, too much athleticism and too much Sean May.