Virginia Beats Texas Tech in OT to Claim Its First N.C.A.A. Title

MINNEAPOLIS — A year after exiting the court as a picture of embarrassment, the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 in the men’s N.C.A.A. tournament, Virginia left wearing a crown on Monday night.

The Cavaliers defeated Texas Tech, 85-77, in overtime for the university’s first national basketball championship, which carried with it immeasurable redemption.

“Forget last year,” Virginia’s Ty Jerome said. “This is everything you think about as a kid.”

This title game was the first in 40 years between men’s teams that had never been there before. The last one was the showdown in which Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team beat Larry Bird and Indiana State in Salt Lake City.

Monday night’s game did not offer anything near that level of star power. Instead, viewers got a matchup of teams that rely on a throwback style of play — methodical offense, lunch-pail defense and rosters long on experience.

They saw a game for the ages, too, as the teams traded shot after shot down the stretch and into overtime until the Red Raiders could do no more.

“Every time I thought we had it, they made a shot or made a play,” Texas Tech’s Matt Mooney said afterward, staring at the ground as he sat at his locker. “It was a battle. We threw a punch, they threw a punch. They came right back at us every time.”

It was fitting that a De’Andre Hunter 3-pointer from the corner, with 2 minutes 10 seconds left in overtime, put the Cavaliers ahead for good, 75-73.

Hunter, who missed last year’s tournament with a broken wrist, carried the Cavaliers at both ends of the court, harassing the Texas Tech star Jarrett Culver and scoring a career-high 27 points. Hunter did it with resolve, scoring 22 points in the second half after missing seven of his eight shots in the first.

Texas Tech got 17 points off the bench from Brandone Francis and some heroic play down the stretch from the fifth-year senior Norense Odiase to rally from 10 points down in the second half. But Culver, who came alive offensively late, could not deliver quite enough.

He missed two shots in the final seconds of regulation that would have delivered an unlikely title for Texas Tech, which began the season unranked.

To win the championship, Virginia not only had to fend off the determined Red Raiders and win thrillers against Purdue and Auburn in earlier rounds. It also had to beat back ghosts from last year, when it was stunned by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and many questions about whether Coach Tony Bennett’s methodical system was suited to championship basketball.

Bennett, whose father, Dick, took Wisconsin to the Final Four in 2000, had built Virginia into a powerhouse during his 10 years at the university but had advanced beyond the first weekend of the N.C.A.A tournament only twice before this season.

Last season’s disappointment stung like no other.

It lingered below the surface all season for the Cavaliers, who promised that they would be better for the experience.

Kyle Guy, a starting guard, has used a photo of himself, bent over with his head in his hands while U.M.B.C. players celebrated around him, as his Twitter avatar for the last year. And when a reporter recently apologized for asking a question about that game, Guy told him it was not necessary.

“If you have a conflict, try to hit it head on,” Guy, who scored 24 points, explained on Sunday. “That’s the only way you’re going to get past it, and that’s something that I’ve learned over the years: If you shy away from it, that’s where sometimes your anxiety will come in and haunt you. So I just wanted to hit it head on.”

With a pair of pulverizing defenses and coaches who demanded diligent shot selection, the game began along expectations — something that looked like three dribbles and a cloud of sawdust.

Five minutes into the game it was a baseball score: 3-2 in favor of Texas Tech. And it took the Red Raiders more than seven minutes to score their first field goal.

But down the stretch the teams traded blow for blow. The Red Raiders battled back from a 10-point deficit to draw even at 59-59 with 3:28 left when Culver drove and dished to Odiase, who converted a 3-point play.

Mamadi Diakite and Culver calmly sank a pair of free throws, and after Hunter hit a jumper over Culver and Ty Jerome scored on a cut to the basket, the Cavaliers had some apparent breathing room with a 65-61 lead. But Davide Moretti cut into it by hitting a long 3-pointer with 1:31 to go.

Odiase rose up to block Hunter’s shot. That gave Culver a chance to drive to the basket and score with a left-handed shot over Hunter’s strong contest with 35.7 seconds left.

When Jerome missed a short jumper, Odiase was fouled and sank both free throws to give Texas Tech a 68-65 lead. But the Cavaliers came down the court, and after Jerome, driving to the basket, found Hunter in the corner, his 3-pointer tied the score with 12.8 seconds left.

“I thought we just needed one more stop,” Odiase said. “We pride ourselves on getting stops like that. I thought it was over.”

Next it was Culver’s turn, but his 3-pointer was off. Then, as Virginia tried to call a timeout, the ball rolled out of bounds, giving the Red Raiders one more chance with 1.0 seconds left.

But Culver’s turnaround jumper from the corner was blocked by Braxton Key, and the title game headed to overtime for the first time since Kansas beat Memphis in 2008.

Mooney, who carried Texas Tech with 22 points against Michigan State, awoke in overtime, draining a 3-pointer and, while trapped under the basket, lofting a shot that bounced twice on the rim and dropped through.

It put the Red Raiders ahead by 73-72. But Guy sank two free throws, Hunter hit a 3-pointer deep in the corner, and all the Cavaliers had to do was keep making free throws as Texas Tech fouled in a hopeless effort to keep the clock from draining away.

Virginia made all 12 of its foul shots in overtime, finishing off the Red Raiders and the ghosts of last year.