MINNEAPOLIS -- In what are easily the biggest free throws in school history, Kyle Guy went to the line with 0.6 seconds left Saturday night, calmly stepping up and making all three to put UVa into the national championship game Monday night following a 63-62 win over Auburn.
After he made a 3 with 7.5 seconds left, UVa trailed by two and had a last-second shot coming. Guy got the ball in the corner and was hip checked by AU's Samir Doughty on the shot. He went to the line and made the first two before the Tigers called timeout. And then, he went back out, and calmly hit the third just like the first two: Nothing but net.
"These are moments that every basketball player has dreamed of," Guy said later. "To be able to go to the national championship off that for these guys and Coach (Tony) Bennett, I really don't have the words."
The Cavaliers, up 10 with 5:21 left, lost control of this one when Ty Jerome—who had a game-high 21 points—made what he called a "terrible" mistake in picking up his fourth foul.
With 4:32 to play, the Tigers (30-10) got going, taking a 59-57 lead 3:26 later thanks to a 12-0 run fueled in large part by three 3s from Bryce Brown. The third of those came with 1:55 to play, the game's final field goal until Guy hit the 3-pointer to set up the end-of-game situation.
At that point, after Anfernee McLemore had made a pair of free throws, making it a 61-60 game. Kihei Clark fouled Jared Harper, putting the Tigers on the line for a one-and-one. He made the first but missed the second, and Jerome, rebound in hand, dribbled before being fouled by Doughty because AU was under the limit. After he was fouled again with 1.5 seconds left on the clock, UVa took its final timeout and drew up the play that would eventually put Guy on the line to win it.
Guy finished with 15 points, four assists, and three boards in the win, as Jerome added six assist and nine rebounds to his 21-point effort. De'Andre Hunter scored 10 of his 14 in the second half to go with five boards. Mamadi Diakite, who scored just two points, pulled in six boards and finished with five blocks.
Doughty had a team-high 13 points in the loss while Brown added 12 and Harper 11 as the hot-shooting Tigers hit just 29 percent (9-for-31) from deep.
The Cavaliers (34-3) shot 49 percent from the field in the game including 56.5 percent (13-for-23) in the second half while making seven of their 19 3-point attempts in the win (36.8 percent).
UVa got out to an early 8-7 at the first media timeout. Diakite scored inside to get things going followed by a one-for-two trip to the stripe by Jerome. After Danjel Purifoy scored inside off an offensive board, Clark scored on a drive to put the Hoos up three. McLemore scored on a dunk before the teams traded 3s by Guy and Brown.
But by the under-12, the Tigers were up one thanks to a 9-2 run. A 3 by Brown—the only long-range shot he'd make until the final five minutes— got it started followed by a basket inside from Doughty and then two free throws from him about a minute later before a bucket in the paint from Austin Wiley. Guy scored on a drive to cut the lead to one going into the media timeout.
The Hoos made five of their next seven shots, as they responded with a 6-0 spurt with Jerome finishing through contact, Hunter hitting a mid-range jumper in the lane, and then Jerome finishing through contact again. After McLemore scored on an oop from Brown (AU's first field goal in 4:20), J'Von McCormick scored in transition to cut the lead to one. But then Guy drove and dished to Braxton Key for a dunk to put the Hoos back up three.
After Hunter scored inside to put the Cavaliers up five, Auburn scored the game's next seven points and 11 of the next 14. The run started with a Doughty 3-pointer followed by a pair of free throws from Purifoy and then a bucket in transition by Harper. After Jerome made a 3-pointer off a Hunter offensive board of Jerome's miss from deep, Horace Spencer scored on a drive and then Harper scored again in transition for the Tigers.
The team's traded 3s, one by Jerome and then one by McLemore, over the final 1:03 before the break.
With 14:28 left to play in the night's first semifinal, UVa led by five because the Wahoos came out on 8-0 run to start the second half, with Hunter scoring inside off a dish from Guy and then scoring inside a minute and a half later before Clark snagged and steal and went coast to coast for the layup. The Tigers missed their first eight shots of the half before Clark hit a pair of free throws coming out of the under-16.
The lead was 44-40 with 10:39 to play as the Cavaliers, who had made four in a row from the floor, let the Tigers score the game's next five points: Three off a shot from deep by Harper and then a bucket in transition by Doughty. But Hunter came back for the Wahoos, scoring off an offensive board and then scoring again inside.
After McCormick made two free throws and then hit a leaner, Guy scored on a drive and then hit a mid-range J to give the Cavaliers the two-possession advantage going into the under-12.
UVa had a seven-point lead at the penultimate media timeout thanks to a 6-0 run as the Hoos made six of eight shots. After Doughty hit a 3 for the Tigers, UVa got back-to-back 3s from Clark and then Jerome to match its largest lead of the game.
After Jerome’s leaner in the lane put Virginia up 52-47, Harper airballed a 3 and Auburn called timeout with 6:16 left.
When Bruce Pearl called it, the Cavaliers had pushed the lead to 10 and were on a 7-0 run. UVa appeared to have the game won but that's when Jerome picked up his fourth foul to start what was—again—one of the most improbable finishes in NCAA Tournament history.
The Wahoos will play the winner of Texas Tech and Michigan State on Monday at 9:20 p.m. ET.
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