A night after two national semifinal games were played at the womens college basketball Final Four, the men took center stage in their national semifinals at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday night. Of the four teams left entering the night, three of the schools had a chance to appear in their first national championship game in Virginia, Auburn, and Texas Tech. Once the dust settled, the two teams left standing will both be making their first trip to title game Monday with a chance to win their first ever championship.
Semfinal #1 Virginia 63, Auburn 62- In what some call a controversial ending to the first game of the night, the Virginia Cavaliers from the ACC got three foul shots from Kyle Guy with less than a second left to edge the Auburn Tigers by a single point. Virginia (34-3) trailed by three at the half, but had taken over late in the game building a 57-47 lead with a little more than five minutes left. Auburn (30-10) wouldn’t go away however, running off 14 straight points including two huge three pointers from Bryce Brown to push into the lead 61-57 with 17 seconds left. Guy hit a tough contested three pointer on the other end to cut it 61-60, before Jared Harper hit one of two from the line for Auburn to set up the crazy ending. Guy took the corner three pointer that came up short as time expired, but there was a whistle for a foul on the Tigers Samir Doughty. The referee ruled that Doughty moved into the airborne shooter and made contact and also took away the shooters landing spot. After adding some time back to the clock and the made free throws, Auburn had just six tenths of a second remaining to get up a shot. A long downcourt pass and desperation catch and heave at the buzzer though came up short. Prior to the three point attempt by Guy, the officials missed a double dribble by Virginias Ty Jerome with 1.5 seconds left that may of ended the game. Auburn had their 12 game win streak ended, and were led by Doughty with 13 points, Brown with 12, and Harpers 11. Jerome led Virginia with 21 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Guy had 15, and De’Andre Hunter added 14 points.
Semifinal #2 Texas Tech 61, Michigan State 51- The team with the most experience in the Final Four or going to national championship games was the Michigan State Spartans. However MSU ran up against the nations top defensive team, as the Red Raiders from Texas Tech also head to their first ever national title game. TTU held MSU to just 32 percent shooting from the floor on the night. After holding a slim two point edge at halftime, the Red Raiders would increase the lead to as many as 13 points midway through the second half with the help of two big three pointers from Matt Mooney. After Michigan State (32-7) got within 52-51 with 2:54 left in the game, Texas Tech scored the last nine points including seven of those points on a jumper, a free throw, and a three pointer from leading scorer Jarrett Culver who had struggled in the first half shooting. Mooney was the game high scorer with 22 points for the 31-6 Red Raiders. Culver finished with 10 points and five rebounds, with seven of those points coming late in the clutch. Cassius Winston led MSU with 16 points. Matt McQuaid had 12, and Aaron Henry chipped in 11 points. Texas Tech will be looking to capture the second national championship in any sport at the school. The only title the Red Raiders have won was a 1993 national title by the womens basketball team led by Cheryl Swoopes. The Spartans were attempting to reach the title game for the first time since a 2009 loss to North Carolina. MSU is the last team from the Big 10 to win a national championship, when they defeated Florida in 2000.
The national championship game is scheduled for a 9:20 tipoff Monday night in Minneapolis. The game can be seen on CBS.
