The 25 Seconds That Changed Virginia’s March Madness Story

LOUISVILLE, KY. – It took just 25 seconds. 25 stressful, hope-testing, fear-raising, agonizing, improbable, thrilling, exhilarating, euphoric seconds. But, yes, just 25 seconds changed Virginia’s March Madness story from another breakdown into a breakthrough.

The Cavaliers, after all, trailed by two points entering the final 25 seconds of regulation against Purdue on Saturday. What unfolded in those moments, however, rescued the season after a 80-75 win in overtime, changed the national narrative around the program, and elevated UVA to the biggest stage in college basketball at the Final Four.

“Feels great,” Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter said. “We knew that was going to be the thing coming into this year, Coach told us about it. We knew what this team was capable of.”

The chain of events to make it a reality is still almost unbelievable even if watched countless times.

First, the Hoos sent a double team at Purdue’s Carsen Edwards above the top of the key. Jack Salt left his man and joined Kihei Clark to try to force the ball out of Edwards’ hands in a one-possession game. Edwards, however, reversed course, dribbled away from the double team, and got Clark sliding away from him just enough. Before Salt could catch up or before Clark could reverse his momentum, Edwards pulled up for a 3-pointer. In what turned out to be a critical piece of the story, however, he launched that shot with 23.1 seconds to go and 10 seconds on the shot clock. 10 precious seconds.

Edwards – gasp! on this night when he had 42 points – missed. With UVA trapping and scrambling with its other three defenders, no one got a body on the Boilermakers’ Grady Eifert. He ran untouched from the top of the key and grabbed an offensive rebound just in front of Salt. He fired a pass out to Ryan Cline out at the NCAA Tournament logo. Salt fouled Cline.

Tick, tick, tick. 16.9 seconds left.

There was a tiny bit of fortune in there that Edwards didn’t spring free for a return pass. Cline finished the season as a 69.7% free throw shooter, while Edwards ended at 83.7%. Cline had not been to the line on the night, while Edwards already had made all four of his attempts. Cline swished the first to extend his team’s lead to 70-67 and one more free throw would have left UVA in a dire situation. He missed the shot long. Ty Jerome grabbed the rebound, circled out of the lane, and brought the ball up the court. Jerome got a ball screen at halfcourt from Salt.

Tick, tick, tick. 12.1 seconds left.

It’s a 3-point game. Purdue center Matt Haarms switched on to Jerome after the ball screen. He had space to let one of his legendary deep 3-pointers fly, but didn’t shoot as the Hoos appeared to be prepared for a final set. By the time players settled, however, Nojel Eastern recovered from the ball screen and then gave a foul on purpose as Jerome started into a dribble attack move. Boilermaker coach Matt Painter had decided to foul up three as many coaches do as a strategy choice late.

“I’ve been in this situation a couple years ago in the NCAA Tournament, it was about 18 seconds to go, and you’re up 3, and you think it’s too much time,” Painter said. “So we wanted to foul, but we didn’t want to foul right away, because we didn’t want them at ten seconds. Think about them getting that basketball and instead of having it for three or four seconds, them having it for nine seconds. Now you can lose that game by that 3. So at that point, I thought we got it at a really good time.”

Tick, tick, tick. 5.9 seconds left.

Jerome stepped to the line and swished the first side of a one-and-one to cut the lead to 70-68. At that point, UVA stood at a perfect 8 for 8 at the free throw line in the second half. Virginia planned to make the second free throw and had a sub at the table to prevent a quick inbounds pass. The Hoos wanted to cut the lead to one point and apply pressure for a possible turnover or quick foul. Only, Jerome missed off the front of the rim.

Somehow, Mamadi Diakite’s arm rose above a scrum of bodies in the middle of the paint. No one really jumped high off the floor. Diakite’s arm just appeared out of nowhere and tapped the rebound backward. Really far backward. Really, really far backward.

“I’ll be honest, I thought the game was over,” UVA’ Jay Huff said. “And then all of a sudden, Mamadi got the tip-out, Kihei made the amazing pass back to him. Just going nuts.”

“I made the first on purpose (laughter),” Jerome said. “And I don’t know. There was so much going through my mind. I didn’t really miss it on purpose. I short-armed and Mamadi did a good play by hitting it.”

A foot race would determine the Hoos’ fate. Clark started his sprint below the 3-point line on Virginia’s side and noticeably kicked in another gear to pull away from two other players who also gave pursuit. His speed there played a key role in this rollercoaster sequence. He finally grabbed the ball near Purdue’s 3-point line. That’s nearly 60 feet away from where UVA needed to go.

“That was a favorable tip-out. That’s what you want. You want the ball to go away from their basket,” Painter said. “A 3 can beat us. As a coach, when that happens, you’re like get the basketball, guard the arc. … The ball’s so far out when it goes past half court that you’re not thinking that.”

Tick, tick, tick. 3.8 seconds left.

Clark took two quick dribbles – one to turn his body and one to center the ball and avoid Eastern. He also used the chance to quickly survey the entire floor. He had Guy to his left and Jerome to his right, both near the halfcourt line. Three Purdue players were spread across the floor near both at the logo level. Behind that, Haarms was shaded a step toward Salt while Diakite was straddling the 3-point line on the right side. Clark fired a one-handed pass off the dribble over the defense toward Diakite.

“Carsen went back to Ty Jerome,” Painter said. “We were talking about it in the, you know, walking here. He went to Ty Jerome because the last thing I wanted was him to get the ball. We had the ball in the guy’s hands that we wanted. Clark had the ball. So now he has the ball. With that being said, he made an unbelievable play to find Diakite, and then Diakite had the wherewithal to shoot it immediately. … Those intermediate shots right there, those catch and shoots at 12 feet in between are difficult.”

“It was great. Ty was clapping. I was like throw it to Ty. We’ll get one up there,” Bennett said.

“Kihei made the play of the century and Mamadi being ready to shoot. Actually, let me add, he looked me off first or looked Kyle off first and then looked me off,” Jerome said smiling. “I wasn’t thinking. I was just screaming for the ball. I was screaming at Kihei. I said a lot of words and was clapping my hands really fast.”

Tick, tick, tick. 2.0 seconds left.

The pass had equal parts mustard and moxie. That dart covered 2/3 of the court in about a second. Diakite prepared to shoot with the ball in flight. So he caught the pass on the hop, meaning in the air and then on to both feet. That allowed him to be into a shot motion immediately thanks to Clark’s accuracy.

“As soon as I caught it and was dribbling, I saw him right away,” Clark said.

Tick, tick, tick. 0.9 seconds left.

Diakite’s hands first touched the ball with 1.0 on the clock, but with a nod to artistic license, let’s say his shot motion started a beat later. After all, Virginia fans know what can happen on that basket in Louisville with just 0.9 seconds to go. A little more than 12 months earlier, UVA had defied defeat when Hunter banked in a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining to shock the Cardinals. This time, it was Diakite. He popped off the floor quickly and lofted a soft shot high over the defense of Haarms as he rotated into the area and put his hand up.

“I was in the middle there, because Salt was still back there as well,” Haarms said. “So they were both on the box. So I had to make a decision when I saw it go to Diakite, say hey, this is going to have to be a tough one. He makes a great individual play.”

“I just, I was celebrating, but I didn’t want to celebrate too much, because I didn’t know if it counted or not,” Hunter said. “So I was waiting to see if it counted.”

Replays showed that Diakite released the ball just before the backboard lit up and the horn blared. The shot fell through the net and pandemonium spontaneously erupted all around an already super-charged Yum! Center. That buzzer beater immediately joined tournament lore.

“I don’t know. It happened,” Diakite said. “I was the person who was designed to take it. And I don’t know. I took it, and it went in. I was happy and ready for the next five minutes. I don’t know how to talk about it. It was unbelievable. I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t know.”

Five minutes later, after the teams traded go-ahead buckets for more drama in the final minute of overtime, Virginia celebrated its first trip to the Final Four in the Tony Bennett era.

Tick, tick, tick. Just 25 seconds is all it took.