 Chamberlain made the First Team of the All @-@ America squad and led his Jayhawks into the NCAA finals against the Tar Heels of North Carolina . In that game , Tar Heels coach Frank McGuire used several unorthodox tactics to thwart Chamberlain . For the tip @-@ off , he sent his shortest player , Tommy Kearns , in order to rattle Chamberlain , and the Tar Heels spent the rest of the night triple @-@ teaming him , one defender in front , one behind , and a third arriving as soon as he got the ball . With their fixation on Chamberlain , the Jayhawks shot only 27 % from the field , as opposed to 64 % of the Tar Heels , and trailed 22 – 29 at halftime . Later , North Carolina led 40 – 37 with 10 minutes to go and stalled the game : they passed the ball around without any intention of scoring a basket . After several Tar Heel turnovers , the game was tied at 46 at the end of regulation . In the first overtime each teams scored two points , and in second overtime Kansas froze the ball in return , keeping the game tied at 48 . In the third overtime , the Tar Heels scored two consecutive baskets , but Chamberlain executed a three @-@ point play , leaving KU trailing 52 – 51 . After King scored a basket , Kansas was ahead by one point , but then Tar Heel Joe Quigg was fouled on a drive with 10 seconds remaining and made his two foul shots . For the final play , Dick Harp called for Ron Loneski to pass the ball into Chamberlain in the low post . The pass was intercepted , however , and the Tar Heels won the game . Nonetheless , Chamberlain , who scored 23 points and 14 rebounds , was elected the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four . Cherry has speculated , however , that this loss was a watershed in Chamberlain 's life , because it was the first time that his team lost despite him putting up impressive individual stats . Chamberlain later admitted that this loss was the most painful of his life . 
