Puff Johnson addresses late-game injury that caused him to throw up

Puff Johnson isn’t one of the most notable names on North Carolina‘s roster, but he is a role player who can produce for the Tar Heels when he’s needed the most. That was certainly the case on Monday night in the NCAA National Championship game, as Johnson came off the bench and helped provide some spark for UNC.

Playing 18 minutes off the bench, Johnson – a 6-foot-8 sophomore guard – scored 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds for the eighth-seeded Tar Heels in their 72-69 loss to No. 1 Kansas. While Johnson tallied 11 points, nine of them came in the second half, which was a big boost for North Carolina.

With the game being a back-and-forth affair down the stretch, Johnson was hustling on both ends of the floor – until he unfortunately took a hit to his stomach and ended up throwing up on the court. Johnson had to be pulled from the game and later returned, but he wasn’t playing at the same level he was prior to taking the hit.

Meeting with the media for the team’s postgame press conference following the tough loss, Johnson was asked what happened to him.

“During the game, I got hit in the stomach,” Johnson said. “Just didn’t go well once I got hit in the stomach. That’s about it.”

Despite North Carolina’s National Championship loss, the Tar Heels were able to put together a 29-10 season in Hubert Davis’ first year as head coach – clearly showing that the program will continue to be successful moving forward.

Armando Bacot makes history in UNC’s championship game loss

Despite North Carolina’s loss in the national championship game, Armando Bacot continued to put up historic numbers.

UNC played in six games during the NCAA Tournament, and Bacot had a double-double in each of them. He is now the only player to ever have six double-doubles in a single NCAA Tournament.

Additionally, Bacot picked up his 31st double-double of the season in UNC’s championship game defeat. He tied David Robinson’s single-season Division I record for double-doubles in a single season.

On3’s Jonathan Wagner contributed to this report.