James Worthy was Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame college teammate at the University of North Carolina. The two played together on the 1981–82 Tar Heels, one of the most talented teams in college basketball history.
Worthy was a junior power forward and the team’s leading scorer, while Jordan was a freshman guard. Along with Sam Perkins, they formed a formidable core that led North Carolina to the NCAA championship. In the title game against Georgetown, Worthy scored 28 points and made the decisive defensive play by intercepting a late pass, while Jordan hit the game-winning jumper from the left side. North Carolina won 63–62.
Worthy left after that season and became the first overall pick in the 1982 NBA draft, joining the Los Angeles Lakers. He won three NBA championships, earned the nickname “Big Game James,” and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. Jordan entered the NBA two years later and also became a Hall of Famer. Patrick Ewing, one of the listed alternatives, was Georgetown’s star opponent in that championship game, not Jordan’s North Carolina teammate.