Villanova’s Kris Jenkins was at another UNC title game, this time wearing a Heels shirt

Monday marked the second time in the last year that Kris Jenkins has been at floor level for a national title basketball game involving North Carolina.

You’ll recall last year’s title game, when Jenkins was playing for Villanova. Jenkins is the player who hit the buzzer-beating three-pointer that ripped out UNC’s collective heart, just seconds after Marcus Paige had tied the game with a prayer three-pointer of his own. It was one of the great shots in college basketball history.

Fast-forward to Monday. Jenkins was at the game again, but Villanova’s long been out of this NCAA tournament. This year, Jenkins wasn’t just rooting for UNC. He was wearing a UNC T-shirt, 364 days after beating the Heels with his triple. And this time, he saw a North Carolina win against Gonzaga.

Look on the right behind Roy Williams in the photograph below:

Jenkins was at the game because of his close relationship with backup UNC point guard Nate Britt. The two are nearly lifelong friends, but they’re much more than that.

Their story:

A decade before Villanova and UNC met in the title game, Britt’s family took Jenkins into its home and adopted him. Britt knew Jenkins through basketball, and when Jenkins’ mother was struggling and wanted her son to have a better life, the Britts adopted him. Jenkins has stayed close with his birth mother, who watched the Final Four in person last March. It’s a remarkable and heartwarming story.

Britt and Jenkins are legally brothers, even though they’re not related by blood. When the matchup came about in the Final Four last year, Jenkins called it “something our families could cherish forever.”

Their relationship is one of the most heartwarming off-court stories to come out of college basketball in the last couple of years. And while it was cool to see them face off last year with everything on the line, it’s also cool to see Jenkins in the stands rooting for his brother this time around.