Virginia tops Texas Tech in OT thriller to win its first NCAA Tournament title
Virginia has always taken joy in taking its time.
No program in college basketball is more disciplined, more willing to see what the next second will bring. No players are more patient, more perfectly suited to turn a tormented existence into an extraordinary one, to find their greatest source of pride from their greatest humiliation.
What was another five minutes? What was another heart-racing, life-altering, legacy-defining finish?
The Cavaliers could wait forever, a team unlike any other. Now, more than ever, the national champion stands alone.
In the first meeting of first-time title game participants in four decades, top-seeded Virginia capped its redemption tour with an 85-77 overtime win over third-seeded Texas Tech on Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium, remarkably sculpting a year of UMBC-inflicted misery into a lifetime of glory, forever quieting their critics and validating their methodical system.
“To be able to hug each other with confetti going everywhere and say we did it, it’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever felt in basketball,” said Final Four Most Outstanding Player Kyle Guy, who scored 24 points. “To battle through everything we’ve battled through and come out on top is a fantastic feeling.”
Soon-to-be lottery pick De’Andre Hunter became the latest Cavalier to elevate into all-time NCAA Tournament lore, scoring 22 of his career-high 27 points after halftime. The star sophomore forced overtime on a corner 3-pointer with 12.5 seconds remaining, then hit another to put the Cavaliers up for good with just over two minutes left in the extra session.
“We were destined to win,” Hunter said. “We had to.”
Destiny is a disservice to their will, their poise, their character, their skill.
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No one can question this Virginia group ever again
Virginia (35-3) became the second team to win a national championship without facing a single 1- or 2-seed in the tournament, but no team has ever chartered a path more intimidating, carrying the 16th-seeded scars threatening to top their obituaries.
Weeks ago, greater embarrassment loomed than the infamous loss which sparked death threats. The Cavaliers trailed by 14 to Gardner-Webb, before calmly stomping the 16-seed back into the ground. Oregon led late in the Sweet 16, and Virginia held the Ducks without a field goal over the final 5:44. Purdue’s Carsen Edwards switched bodies with Steph Curry, and the Cavaliers survived on Mamadi Diakite’s buzzer-beater. When Auburn reeled off a 14-0 run in the final minutes of Saturday’s semifinal, Virginia needed a last second-foul call, Guy’s pressure-packed free throws and Ty Jerome’s double-dribble to be ignored.
Every champion needs breaks. Every champion takes advantage of them.
“I said, ‘You guys faced pressure that no team in the history of the game has faced,’ ” coach Tony Bennett said. “ ‘That, I think, has prepared you for this moment to be able to handle the pressure or the intensity of a national championship game.’ ”
Playing a Texas Tech (31-7) team which had won its first five tournament games by an average of 14 points — holding opponents to less than 56 points per game — Virginia scored the most points on the Red Raiders all season, hitting 11-of-24 3-pointers, and maintaining its resolve even after blowing an eight-point lead in the final six minutes.
Big 12 Player of the Year Jarrett Culver (15 points, 5-of-22 shooting) nearly made up for a miserable outing with a spin move to put Texas Tech up one with 35.1 seconds left, a lead soon stretched to three.
The oft-insulted Virginia offense had one chance to beat the nation’s most fearsome defense, to accomplish what Ralph Sampson and decades of Cavaliers couldn’t. Ty Jerome (16 points, eight assists) drove to the hoop, then bypassed an open layup for a wide-open Hunter in the corner.
The defensive matchup so many mocked for its lack of aesthetic appeal provided five minutes no one could miss, the first overtime in the title game in 11 years.
Texas Tech briefly took a three-point lead, but Hunter’s final 3 swung the momentum, with Virginia holding on by making all of its 12 free throws in overtime. It gave college basketball a first-time champion for the first time in 13 years, the first top-scoring defense in six decades to win it all.
“Forget last year, this is everything you dream of since you’re a little kid,” Jerome said. “I’m not even thinking about UMBC right now. I’m just thinking this is a dream come true.”
“It wasn’t like a rush to get to this championship game and then win it so the season could be over so we could prove all you guys wrong. It was more just we grew even more united, and we enjoyed every part of the season.”
The confetti fell. Guy ran around like Jim Valvano, looking for someone to hug. His teammates already found each other. They laughed and danced and jumped to thousands serenading them to the tune of “U-V-A.”
For this moment? Virginia could’ve waited forever.
Virginia has always taken joy in taking its time.
No program in college basketball is more disciplined, more willing to see what the next second will bring. No players are more patient, more perfectly suited to turn a tormented existence into an extraordinary one, to find their greatest source of pride from their greatest humiliation.
What was another five minutes? What was another heart-racing, life-altering, legacy-defining finish?
The Cavaliers could wait forever, a team unlike any other. Now, more than ever, the national champion stands alone.
In the first meeting of first-time title game participants in four decades, top-seeded Virginia capped its redemption tour with an 85-77 overtime win over third-seeded Texas Tech on Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium, remarkably sculpting a year of UMBC-inflicted misery into a lifetime of glory, forever quieting their critics and validating their methodical system.
“To be able to hug each other with confetti going everywhere and say we did it, it’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever felt in basketball,” said Final Four Most Outstanding Player Kyle Guy, who scored 24 points. “To battle through everything we’ve battled through and come out on top is a fantastic feeling.”
Soon-to-be lottery pick De’Andre Hunter became the latest Cavalier to elevate into all-time NCAA Tournament lore, scoring 22 of his career-high 27 points after halftime. The star sophomore forced overtime on a corner 3-pointer with 12.5 seconds remaining, then hit another to put the Cavaliers up for good with just over two minutes left in the extra session.
“We were destined to win,” Hunter said. “We had to.”
Destiny is a disservice to their will, their poise, their character, their skill.
see also
No one can question this Virginia group ever again
Virginia (35-3) became the second team to win a national championship without facing a single 1- or 2-seed in the tournament, but no team has ever chartered a path more intimidating, carrying the 16th-seeded scars threatening to top their obituaries.
Weeks ago, greater embarrassment loomed than the infamous loss which sparked death threats. The Cavaliers trailed by 14 to Gardner-Webb, before calmly stomping the 16-seed back into the ground. Oregon led late in the Sweet 16, and Virginia held the Ducks without a field goal over the final 5:44. Purdue’s Carsen Edwards switched bodies with Steph Curry, and the Cavaliers survived on Mamadi Diakite’s buzzer-beater. When Auburn reeled off a 14-0 run in the final minutes of Saturday’s semifinal, Virginia needed a last second-foul call, Guy’s pressure-packed free throws and Ty Jerome’s double-dribble to be ignored.
Every champion needs breaks. Every champion takes advantage of them.
“I said, ‘You guys faced pressure that no team in the history of the game has faced,’ ” coach Tony Bennett said. “ ‘That, I think, has prepared you for this moment to be able to handle the pressure or the intensity of a national championship game.’ ”
Playing a Texas Tech (31-7) team which had won its first five tournament games by an average of 14 points — holding opponents to less than 56 points per game — Virginia scored the most points on the Red Raiders all season, hitting 11-of-24 3-pointers, and maintaining its resolve even after blowing an eight-point lead in the final six minutes.
Big 12 Player of the Year Jarrett Culver (15 points, 5-of-22 shooting) nearly made up for a miserable outing with a spin move to put Texas Tech up one with 35.1 seconds left, a lead soon stretched to three.
The oft-insulted Virginia offense had one chance to beat the nation’s most fearsome defense, to accomplish what Ralph Sampson and decades of Cavaliers couldn’t. Ty Jerome (16 points, eight assists) drove to the hoop, then bypassed an open layup for a wide-open Hunter in the corner.
The defensive matchup so many mocked for its lack of aesthetic appeal provided five minutes no one could miss, the first overtime in the title game in 11 years.
Texas Tech briefly took a three-point lead, but Hunter’s final 3 swung the momentum, with Virginia holding on by making all of its 12 free throws in overtime. It gave college basketball a first-time champion for the first time in 13 years, the first top-scoring defense in six decades to win it all.
“Forget last year, this is everything you dream of since you’re a little kid,” Jerome said. “I’m not even thinking about UMBC right now. I’m just thinking this is a dream come true.”
“It wasn’t like a rush to get to this championship game and then win it so the season could be over so we could prove all you guys wrong. It was more just we grew even more united, and we enjoyed every part of the season.”
The confetti fell. Guy ran around like Jim Valvano, looking for someone to hug. His teammates already found each other. They laughed and danced and jumped to thousands serenading them to the tune of “U-V-A.”
For this moment? Virginia could’ve waited forever.
