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Virginia Basketball: Takeaways from thrilling Final Four win over Auburn

By Lukas Harkins

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: The Virginia Cavaliers huddle prior to the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal against the Auburn Tigers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: The Virginia Cavaliers huddle prior to the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal against the Auburn Tigers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 06: Guy #5 of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 06: Guy #5 of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Virginia basketball, despite holding a 10-point lead late, needed a miracle to defeat Auburn. The Cavaliers are now 40 minutes away from the national title.

Will winning in March ever be easy for Virginia Basketball? It wasn’t last season and it certainly hasn’t been this year, either. Despite entering the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed, the Cavaliers have not had an easy road so far. They have been tested in every single game and there were moments in almost every contest where their fans were rightfully nervous. Yet, despite all this, Virginia is just one more game away from cutting down the final nets in Minneapolis as the national champions.

But this current situation would not have been possible without finding a way, somehow, to get past the Auburn Tigers in the Final Four. For all 40 minutes, that was one of the best games in the entire NCAA Tournament. For almost the entirety of the game, neither team was able to create any separation from the other due to excellent defense by both units. With 5:22 left to play in the game, though, Ty Jerome capped off a 6-0 run to put the Cavaliers up by 10 points.

Considering Virginia’s well-documented stifling defense, many thought that his 3-pointer was potentially the game-sealing shot. But then Auburn rattled off a ridiculous 12-0 run over the following five minutes to take a three-point lead. It was not until Kyle Guy dropped in a crazy 3-pointer from the corner with 7.5 seconds left that the Cavaliers were able to score again and even that shot only put the team back within one point.

That was just the start of the madness. Following that shot by Guy, the Cavaliers immediately fouled Auburn and sent their best foul shooter to the line. Jared Harper, who had made his previous 17 free throws, went just 1-for-2 from the stripe and pushed Auburn’s lead to two. As it turns out, though, that wasn’t enough as Guy was fouled on a 3-point shot with 0.6 seconds left and he calmly buried all three shots to send Virginia to the National Championship Game.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1114687781895147520

Kyle Guy = March Madness legend.

That was certainly one of the main storylines from this game but it wasn’t the only one. Let’s dive deeper into the game and take a look at three of the biggest takeaways from Virginia basketball’s thrilling victory over Auburn.

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