Virginia beats Texas Tech to claim first national title in men’s basketball

The Virginia Cavaliers are national champions for the first time in program history.

Texas Tech was seeking to become the first men’s Division I basketball champion from the state of Texas since Texas Western won the title in 1966.

But the Miners still stand alone in that regard after Virginia topped the Red Raiders in overtime, 85-77.

Neither Virginia nor Texas Tech had ever appeared in the championship game before. Additionally, Texas Tech was the first team from the Lone Star State to appear in the title game in 35 years. (Houston lost to Georgetown in the final in 1984).

The Cavaliers completed an incredible story of redemption by winning the title just a year after becoming the first one-seed to fall against a 16-seed when they lost to UMBC in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

Future NBA lottery pick De’Andre Hunter scored 27 points for Virginia against Texas Tech, hitting a game-tying three-pointer with about 12 seconds to go.

Texas Tech star and fellow future lottery pick Jarrett Culver would get two looks at the basket in the final five seconds of the game, but he was unable to hit either jumper, sending the game into overtime.

Culver finished with 15 points but was only 5-22 from the field and did not connect on a three-pointer (0-6 in the game).

In the extra session, Virginia would begin to pull away thanks to another three from Hunter and some clutch free throws from Ty Jerome (16 points, 8 assists) and Kyle Guy, who scored 24 points of his own.

The Cavaliers would go on to outscore the Red Raiders 17-9 in overtime to claim the national title.

The Cavaliers finished the season with a 35-3 overall record while the Red Raiders will end their 2018-19 campaign with a mark of 31-7.

Oddsmakers have already installed Virginia as the 2020 title favorite at 5-1 odds as of Monday night.