LOUISVILLE -- Kihei Clark hit three 3-pointers Thursday night, none bigger than the one that tied the game with 5:13 left, setting the scene for Ty Jerome to hit the go-ahead 3 with 3:33 remaining as No. 1-seeded UVa held on for a 53-49 win over No. 12-seeded Oregon to advance to the Elite Eight.
Virginia (32-3) will face No. 3-seeded Purdue Saturday night with not only the South Region title on the line but also the trip to the Final Four next weekend that comes with it.
Jerome finished with a team-high 13 points for the Wahoos while Clark added 12 on a night when both of them racked up six assists each. De'Andre Hunter finished with 11 points in the win.
Oregon (25-13) saw its 10-game winning stream snapped in the loss. Led by 16 points from Louis King and 11 more from Payton Pritchard, the Ducks gave UVa fits on the defensive end as the Cavaliers shot 35.7 percent from the field and 27.3 percent (9-for-33) from deep.
But Virginia also limited the Ducks to just 1-for-7 down the stretch as Oregon went the final 5:41 of the game without a field goal.
The rock fight was evident early, as the team's were tied 7-7 going into the under-12 media timeout. After Kyle Guy, Hunter, and Jerome (a 3-pointer) all made jumpers in the first four minutes, the Hoos missed eight shots in a row and only made two of 11 with 11:55 left in the half.
By the under-8, Oregon had its second lead of the night but it was a 13-10 margin off of a 6-0 run. And it came because the Cavaliers went 1-for-15 in that stretch and missed six in a row.
Trailing 16-13, Clark made the first of his 3s to start a key 13-2 run that ended with his dime to Mamadi Diakite for a dunk that put Virginia up 23-18 with 2:37 left in the half.
Oregon, which got just three field goals over the final 6:58 of the half, scored the first five points of the second. It began a seesaw of sorts between the two teams, as UVa then scored the next five points off a Guy 3-pointer (his first ever at the KFC Yum! Center)—and then a Hunter bucket inside off a Clark assist. Then it was Oregon's turn, as the Ducks scored the next seven points.
But UVa responded, scored five in a row again this time off a Guy 3-pointer and then a Clark drive that make it 40-34 with 11:51 to play. And on cue, the Ducks took their turn and scored the next eight points and took a 42-40 lead into the under-8 media timeout.
The Wahoos made just two of 10 FGs and hadn't scored in 3:54 before Jerome tied the game with a jumper in the lane with 7:42 remaining. King hit another 3, his third in the row for the Ducks as the pressure mounted for UVa. But that field goal, with 5:41 left, was King's team's last.
As he so often was on this night, Clark was there again to save the day. His third 3-pointer of the night tied the game and then Jerome gave Virginia the lead for good. Hunter's bucket inside off a Guy assist with 27.5 seconds left put the Cavaliers up five and they made three of four free throws down the stretch to seal it.
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