Virginia Beats Texas Tech in Overtime to Win NCAA Basketball Championship

A year ago, overall Number 1 seed Virginia suffered a huge defeat at the hands of #16 Maryland-Baltimore County in the biggest upset of all time in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. No #16 had ever beaten a #1 in the tournament. The only way to truly overcome such a humiliation was to come back and win the championship in 2019. And with a thrilling victory over Texas Tech in overtime in the championship game on April 8, Virginia did just that, winning its first National Championship.

The Cavaliers were again a number one seed in a region in this year’s tournament, although Duke was the overall top seed this season. But the Blue Devils didn’t make it to the Final Four this year, and Virginia was the only #1 to win its region. It wasn’t easy; the Cavaliers beat Oregon on a three point basket with 3.3 seconds left to advance to the Elite Eight, then had to beat Purdue in overtime to advance to the Final Four. Then, guard Kyle Guy made three free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining after some controversial calls by the officials down the stretch, to beat Auburn 63-62 in the semifinal to advance to the championship against Texas Tech, a team that was also looking for its first National Championship.

For a while, it looked like the Cavaliers would again come up short after blowing a 10 point lead to fall behind by three. A three pointer by Ty Jerome sent the Cavaliers to the locker room at halftime with a three point lead. The Cavalier lead got up to nine points in the second half, but the Red Raiders came back, and had a three point lead until D’Andre Hunter hit a three point jumper with 12 seconds left to tie it and send the game to overtime. Finally, the Cavaliers outscored the Red Raiders 17-9 in OT to prevail 85-77, and put the 2018 debacle in the rear view mirror once and for all.