Virginia may have just epic collapsed its way out of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cavaliers were 1-of-5 at the free-throw line – heard this story before? – in the final minute and ten seconds of regulation.
Ryan Dunn fouled a three-point shooter.
The last free-throw miss, the front end of a one-and-one with 5.3 seconds left by Isaac McKneely, gave NC State, down three, a chance to tie it.
Virginia had three fouls to give, didn’t use them.
That’s inexplicable.
Seriously, that’s on Tony Bennett and his staff.
Even if you have 10 fouls, you foul with three or four seconds left and make them play the make-the-first, miss-the-second-and-rebound game.
Whatever.
State’s Michael O’Connell, of course, hit the three at the buzzer to send the game to OT, and the Pack took the lead for good on an and-one by DJ Burns with 1:43 to go.
The Wolfpack, somehow, some way – the some way: missed free throws, a coaching staff getting paid millions having a collective brain cramp – advanced to the ACC Tournament championship game with a 73-65 win.
NC State is the national-media Cinderella story here, the first time in the expanded ACC Tournament era to make it to the championship game from the first round.
The Virginia story is, it doesn’t feel like this team deserves an NCAA Tournament bid.
It felt like it was in the bag after an 11-2 run over a four-minute stretch that gave UVA a 53-46 lead with 4:19 to go on a McKneely three.
A Reece Beekman dunk with 1:26 to go made it 57-52 Virginia.
Here’s where the game could have ended in the Cavaliers’ favor in any number of ways.
Beekman stole the ball from State big man DJ Burns and was fouled – and a review ruled the foul a flagrant, giving Beekman two foul shots and Virginia the ball.
Beekman, 75.0 percent on the season coming in, missed both ends, then made 1-of-2 after getting fouled on a drive to the basket with 52 seconds left.
Should have been a nine-point game there.
Wasn’t.
This is where Dunn, who you may remember, fouled a three-point shooter in the waning seconds of the Florida State game, fouled Casey Morsell, who, of course, made all three free throws with 43 seconds left to get the score to 58-52.
Next up, Andrew Rohde missed a corner three with 23 seconds left – the shot coming off a double-screen, a double-screen set for a guy who didn’t score in the game; interesting choice there.
This gave NC State one last chance, and a disjointed play led to Morsell missing badly from three with eight seconds left.
McKneely, who had 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 5-of-9 from three, got the rebound and was fouled.
All iMac, an 87.3 percent free-throw shooter on the season, had to do was make one free throw, and the game was over.
But just in case, you’d think the UVA staff would impress upon their guys, if he misses, we only have three fouls, meaning, three to give, so, foul them in the backcourt, force them to inbounds, then foul them again, force another inbounds, foul again, and if there’s any time left, foul again to force a one-and-one with around a second or so left on the clock, down three.
With this mountain to climb, ESPN’s probability calculator had State’s chance of winning the game at this stage at 1.3 percent.
McKneely, of course, missed, State was able to advance the ball up the court, get an open shot for O’Connell, and he connected at the buzzer to send the game to OT.
Any one of several things goes the other way – one more free throw goes in, Dunn doesn’t foul Morsell shooting a three, somebody other than Rohde gets the shot on the last possession, McKneely makes a free throw, Virginia uses its fouls – and the ‘Hoos are in the final.
It wasn’t foreordained that the game was going to go to the Pack. Dunn drove the lane and dunked with 2:02 to go to give UVA a 65-64 lead.
The Burns and-one gave State a 67-65 lead; Beekman missed in the lane; O’Connell, with 45 ticks left, scored on a nice dish from DJ Horne; and after a couple of Virginia misses, the Pack closed the game out at the line, going 4-of-4 in the final 21 seconds.
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Chris Graham
