Virginia seemed to take control with a late 7-0 run that had the ‘Hoos up 67-63 with 19 seconds left, but they left two chances to put the game away on the table – McKneely missed the front end of a one-and-one with 35 seconds left that could have put Virginia up five, and Clark missed the front end of the two-shot foul with 19 seconds left. The Cavaliers would shoot 4-of-13 from the floor the rest of the way.įurman (28-7) stormed back to take the lead with a 19-4 run, capped by an and-one by SoCon player of the year Jalen Slawson, who was as good as advertised, with 19 points and 10 rebounds on the day, at the 5:02 mark that put the Paladins ahead, 57-54. To that point, Virginia was shooting just under 50 percent – 20-of-41 – from the floor. Virginia (25-8) led by as many as 12, twice, in the second half, the second time after back-to-back threes by Isaac McKneely put the Cavaliers up 50-38 with 11:54 to go.įurman coach Bob Richey went to a 1-3-1 zone a minute later after reinserting his leading scorer, Mike Bothwell, who had picked up his fourth foul earlier in the half. I hope it finds its way back before I head back home. It feels as if my soul left my body when that shot went through the net. The roar of the crowd at the Amway Center after the Pegues’ three dropped through the net is still here with me. That one was actually closer than I expected it to be.īut the way things turned out, Virginia didn’t deserve this one, Furman did. Reece Beekman rimmed out a 40-footer after Virginia finally used that final timeout. The shot put the Paladins up for the final time. Pegues caught the pass from Hien and in one motion lifted up from 27 feet, over Clark.Īs you are well aware, he drained the three with 2.2 seconds left. It’s awful to see Clark’s career end with maybe the dumbest pass in NCAA Tournament history.Ĭlark, trapped in the backcourt, with a timeout in his pocket, and, worst case, he gets fouled and goes to the free-throw line, for some reason decided to heave a pass, with all his might, from the baseline, in the direction of Kadin Shedrick, who was in the UVA frontcourt.įurman center Garrett Hien, playing centerfield, made the steal, got the ball to guard JP Pegues, who had been struggling all day with his shooting – 2-of-8 from the floor, 0-of-3 from three, 4-of-7 at the line. Kihei Clark was the author of most important pass in Virginia basketball history, without which there would be no 2019 national championship banner.
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