In the final game, played in Albuquerque, New Mexico, NC State led at halftime by a score of 33–25. Houston was hampered by foul trouble that plagued star Clyde Drexler, who picked up four first half fouls. From the second halfof the Cougars came out with a second wind and based control of the game, eventually taking a seven-point lead. But, things weren’t all great for Houston. Considering that the game was played Albuquerque, players had to take care of the town’s mile-high altitude. The Cougars’ star centre, Akeem Olajuwon, had difficulties adjusting to the surroundings and tired quickly, having to check out of the game multiple times so he could put on an oxygen mask and then recuperate. With Olajuwon on the bench, Houston head coach Guy Lewis determined that so as to safeguard the lead and the health of his huge man in precisely the same period, the Cougars needed to start slowing down the game. Once more, this allowed the Wolfpack to return to their own standby strategy of extending the game. Houston’s free throw shooting was quite suspect entering the game, which functioned heavily in NC State’s favour since they could rally back and even the score at 52 in the last two minutes. On what would be the final Houston possession, Valvano known for his players to back off and let guard Alvin Franklin bring the ball up the court. The Wolfpack defenders would let the Cougars employ their slowdown strategy of passing around. When the ball got back to Franklin he was fouled immediately. With 1:05 left, the freshman was fouled and sent to the line to get a one-and-one. The thought to foul Franklin sprung from the enormity of the second; NC State believed that the relatively inexperienced Franklin could not withstand the strain of going to the line with the tournament at stake and understanding fifty million viewers were tuned into watch the match. The theory proved correct as Franklin failed to convert the Wolfpack caught the rally. Valvano called timeout with 44 seconds left and drew up a play for senior defender Dereck Whittenburg through the timeout, which required the team to pass him the ball with ten minutes left on the clock so he could take the last shot. Houston needed a defensive stop so they could find another opportunity to close out the game. Lewis decided to move from the man-to-man shield his team had been running the entire game to a half court trap defense. The Wolfpack, who weren’t expecting the defensive adjustment, were made to deviate and began passing the ball around simply to keep the Cougars from stealing it. Houston almost got the turnover it was searching for if Whittenburg made an errant pass to Gannon that Drexler almost came away with before the sophomore recovered control of the ball. The ball eventually wound up in the hands of guard Sidney Lowe, who gave it to forwards and fellow mature Thurl Bailey in the corner. Attempting to keep the ball going, as he had been double teamed when he received the move, Bailey looked back toward Whittenburg, who was approximately thirty feet from the hoop near midcourt. Bailey threw what Whittenburg would later call a”poor fundamental” overhanded pass that Houston’s Benny Anders, guarding Whittenburg about the drama, was able to steal. Now, Whittenburg hearkened back to his high school days together with Morgan Wootten in DeMatha Catholic High School, where he had been taught to always catch the basketball with both hands. If Whittenburg hadn’t attempted to do this in this case, Anders might have gotten the slip and a game-winning breakaway layup. In college basketball at the moment, the game clock continued to operate after a made field goal, and the Wolfpack likely wouldn’t have had time to inbound the ball. Since it was, Anders knocked the ball out of Whittenburg’s hands, but Whittenburg quickly regained control. The clock, meanwhile, had ticked down to five seconds and Whittenburg was still standing a significant distance from the objective. After he regained control, Whittenburg turned and started a desperation shot, later claimed by Whittenburg to be a pass, to attempt to win the match for NC State. The shot’s trajectory took it to the front of the basket where Olajuwon was covering Wolfpack centre Lorenzo Charles. As he noticed the shooter, Olajuwon said he understood the shot was likely to come up short but he also did not wish to go for the ball too early due to the potential for goaltending. Charles took advantage of this indecision by Olajuwon and went up for the atmosphere balland, in 1 movement, he scored the go-ahead points using a two-handed dip. The final second ticked off the clock prior to Houston could inbound the ball, and with that, the match ended, and the Wolfpack were the national champions.

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