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

By Adam Childs | Apr 9, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Kyle Guy #5 of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrate his teams 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders to win the the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 29: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils rebounds against the Virginia Tech Hokies during the second half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 29, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

8. Duke 75 – Virginia Tech 73

Virginia Tech won their only matchup during the regular season, but that should have had an asterisk by it because Duke was without Zion Williamson. The Hokies were trying to prove that it didn’t matter if Williamson played or not they could still play with and beat the Blue Devils.

They definitely showed they could play with them, but came up just short in their efforts to show that they could beat them. The game was back and forth in the first half with neither team being able to pull away or lead by more than five points. Virginia Tech was able to go into the break up four after holding Duke to just 34 first-half points.

The second half was much of the same until Duke was finally able to start to pull away as they took an eight-point lead with 8:47 left to go in the game. Virginia Tech would not go away but they just couldn’t get over the hump and get the game tied. But it wasn’t for a lack of effort and a few inches.

The Hokies would have the ball out of bounds with 1.1 seconds remaining and tried an alley-oop to Ahmed Hill. He caught it and tried to lay it in, but came up inches short of the ball going in. It would have sent the game to overtime, but it was not meant to be.

Duke escaped with another narrow win and Virginia Tech showed they belonged. The game meant even more for the Hokies as rumors spread that head coach Buzz Williams was leaving. Those rumors proved to be true as Williams just recently took the Texas A&M job. It was a tough way for a promising season for the Hokies to end, but they didn’t go down without a fight.

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