When the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Virginia Cavaliers entered the 2018-19 men’s basketball season, neither school had ever played in a national title game or won a national championship. Virginia was the first top seed to lose to a #16 in the tournament, and Texas Tech lost to eventual national champ Villanova in the Elite Eight in the 2017-18 season. Monday night that all changed. De’Andre Hunter scored a career high 27 points (22 in second half and overtime), including a late three pointer in regulation to tie it, as the Cavaliers of Virginia went extra time to defeat Texas Tech 85-77 and win their first ever men’s basketball national championship at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
TTU (31-7) trailed from the outset, only holding a slight 3-2 advantage very early. Virginia led by as many as 10 points in the first half, going up 17-7 on a pair of free throws from Hunter with 9:54 left in the opening 20 minutes. A 16-4 run though by the Red Raiders over the next 4:32 gave Texas Tech a 23-21 lead on a pair of free throws from Kyler Edwards. TTU would lead by as many as four. The Cavaliers came back to even the score late in the half, and then a three pointer in the final two seconds by Ty Jerome gave Virginia a 32-29 halftime lead.
In the second half, UVA built the lead back to nine in the first few minutes. TTU got back within four, but Virginia once again stretched the lead to 10 with an 11-5 run finished off with a Kyle Guy three pointer with 10:24 left to play. Down 59-51 with 5:24 left, Texas Tech made their final push, led by leading scorer Jarrett Culver who didn’t score in the first half. An 8-0 spurt tied the game 59-59 when Norense Odiase converted an unconventional three point play with 3:24 remaining. Guy would extend the UVA lead back to four with a jumper in the lane, before Davide Moretti immediately responded with a three pointer to cut it to 65-64. Culver finally gave the Red Raiders a 66-65 advantage, their first lead since late in the first half when he scored on a nice move in the paint with 35 seconds to play. Odiase rebounded a Cavaliers miss and got fouled then hit two free throws to make it 68-65 TTU with the clock showing 22 seconds. On the other end, Jerome was able to find a wide open Hunter for a corner three pointer that went in nothing but net to tie the score. Culver missed a three pointer with five seconds left, and then after TTU got the ball back after UVA knocked it out, Culver was blocked by the Cavaliers Braxton Key as time expired sending the game to overtime.
TTU scored five of the first seven points of the extra session to take a 73-70 advantage, before UVA turned up the offense and defense over the last three minutes of overtime. Another three pointer from Hunter with 2:09 left gave the Cavaliers a 75-73 lead, and a lead they wouldn’t give back. 2-2 efforts from the foul line in the next three Virginia possessions finished off an 11-0 run for an 81-73 lead with 23 seconds left sealing the win for UVA (35-3). The winners were 12-12 from the line in overtime, accounting for 12 of their 17 overtime points.
Brandone Francis led Texas Tech in their first title game appearance with 17 points. Culver had 15 points (all in second half and overtime), nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Moretti also finished with 15 points, and Edwards finished with 12. The bench came up big for the Red Raiders to help keep them in the game, outscoring the Cavaliers bench 29-6. Hunter added nine rebounds to his game high point total for UVA. Guy had 24 points, while Jerome had 16 points and eight assists. The game featured nine ties and 13 lead changes. Virginia also becomes only the third team in the last 20 years with three or fewer losses to win the national title.
