March Madness: Ranking the Top 10 games of 2019 NCAA Tournament

2. Virginia 80 – Purdue 75 (OT)

This game produced the wildest ending and before that the craziest three-minute stretch of basketball in the tournament. During that three-minute stretch in the second half, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards would score 11 points, including three three-pointers. Combine that with a jumper by Trevion Williams and that would be 13 points for the Boilermakers in quick fashion.

Luckily for Virginia, they were able to almost match that offensive explosion as they scored eight points during that time, including threes by Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy. That stretch of the game had people comparing it to a video game. Neither team could miss and it was just the start of a very entertaining and nerve-racking end to the South Regional Final.

Virginia (35 years) and Purdue (39 years) were both battling to end long droughts between Final Four appearances. What we got was the best game of the tournament. We got the first buzzer beater of the tournament and an entertaining overtime.

Edwards, who snapped out of his shooting slump to start the tournament, would take almost half of the Boilermakers shots and score over half their points. Edwards would hit 10 three-pointers and score 42 points, the only Purdue player in double figures for the game. At times it looked like he was the only Boilermaker playing the game, but with him shooting like that it didn’t matter.

Kyle Guy led the way for the Cavaliers with 25 points and Ty Jerome would add 24. But the biggest basket of the game came when Mamadi Diakite would hit the game-tying shot as time expired after Guy missed a free throw and Diakite tapped it back. Kihei Clark would run it down on the other side of the half court line and after few dribbles fired it to Diakite, who shot the ball almost on the run and the shot fell.

Many would question if the Boilermakers should have fouled on purpose up three, but the Cavaliers still had to execute perfectly to force the overtime. They did and they got the job done in overtime as Edwards couldn’t get a three to fall late and then turned the ball over to effectively end the game.

Virginia was able to finally put their past tournament history to be with their Final Four run. This win helped them forget about their loss to UMBC last year and prove that they are one of the elite teams. It also ended Purdue’s surprise run in the tournament, one that many people thought would end much sooner. Either side you were on it was a great game and the best game of the tournament until the Final Four happened.