For more than a few seconds — 6.7 to be exact — it looked like Virginia Tech would be headed home, trailing in a two-point game and spending the rest of March watching college basketball from the couch.
With Clemson’s Nick Honor and Hunter Tyson crashing to double-team the Hokies’ Sean Pedulla, Darius Maddox slipped free five feet away from the inbound. Maddox raced about 67 feet upcourt to the left wing on six dribbles — the fifth one behind his back — after catching the pass from Nahiem Alleyne.
He leaped and hoisted a prayer — just as he had against Miami on Feb. 26 — with 1.1 seconds left. Roughly 3,000 fans in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., froze in place. The Clemson bench turned its head and squinted in worry. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, locked arms while Keve Aluma put his right arm up.
Bang.
“He does it every other week,” Tech head coach Mike Young said of Maddox’s buzzer-beater. “He did it like two weeks ago [against Miami], so it’s old hat for him.”
Clemson fans thrashed — some buried their face in their hands — while Maddox turned away from the bench and stared into the crowd without saying a word. The Hokies jumped up and down while rushing to greet their hero. Untucking his shirt and pounding his chest, Maddox was mobbed by his teammates under the basket before the celebration moved to mid-court.
“I loved the feeling,” Maddox said. “It’s amazing, especially to win a game in an atmosphere like this is great.”
For those who watched, it was difficult to remember what happened before or after Maddox’s shot drained into the bottom of the net. It gave No. 7-seeded Virginia Tech (21-12, 11-9 ACC) a 76-75 second-round overtime victory over No. 10-seeded Clemson (17-17, 8-12 ACC) in a must-win game to keep the Hokies’ season NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
For the first half, it looked like VT would cruise to a win as it took an 11-point lead into the intermission, only to squander a margin that was as many as 14 points at the 9:14 mark in the second half.
But with one shot, the missed opportunity to win the game at the buzzer at the end of regulation vanished. The potentially disastrous ending to the Hokies’ season, one of which likely rides on the result of tomorrow’s game against No. 2-seeded Notre Dame, was erased.
A game that Virginia Tech could — and maybe should — have lost becomes remembered by arguably one of the greatest shots in school history, one that potentially saved the season, and college basketball this year.
The shot wouldn’t have been possible without Justyn Mutts’ made free throw with eight seconds left in overtime, nor would it have been had the Tigers’ PJ Hall not missed the first of his two foul shots with seven seconds left.
After Hall made the second, Clemson quickly called timeout to set up its defense. And that’s when Young made the decision to hold Aluma on the bench — a two-time All-ACC honoree and arguably the Hokies’ best player — in favor of a five-guard lineup.
He sent Storm Murphy, Hunter Cattoor, Alleyne, Pedulla, and of course, Maddox out to the floor. That’s when Young decided he was going for the win.
“I think we probably caught Clemson [head coach Brad] Brownell — not that it would have affected anything, maybe it would have switched — [but] I think we caught him by surprise when we went with the five guards,” Young said. “I’ve never done that.”
According to Young, the play wasn’t even drawn up for Maddox. But when Maddox was free, he made the only play he could. He gave his team a sure chance of getting a shot up.
“He’s one of those that has an innate ability to make a play with the ball in his hands off the bounce, catch it and shoot,” Young said.
It was the shot that overshadowed the bench’s 23 points after only scoring 14 on Saturday. David N’Guessan posted nine points and six rebounds, while Murphy hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 19 seconds left in regulation
The moment is one that’s fitting for the season Virginia Tech is going through. Losers of seven of its first nine ACC games, the Hokies rebounded to win nine of their last 11 regular season games, becoming the first ACC team to start their conference schedule 2-7 and finish with a winning conference record.
Tech has found new way after new way to win, and if Wednesday was any indication, there are more solutions to come in a season that once looked lost only for the team to rebound and give itself a fighting chance on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“He’s a good one,” Young said about Maddox. “Glad he’s a Hokie.”
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I greatly enjoyed this profound article on Darius Maddox’s PRAYER to send the University of Virginia Tech to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center.
Are you just trying to be cute? The “University of Virginia Tech”?
Sorry but neither the shot vs Miami nor the shot last night were “prayers”. He had good looks from standard distance on both. And he’s a 50%+ shooter on those shots.
A prayer is what Miami hit vs VT.
3,000 fans in Brooklyn. Would have had 10,000 in Greensboro. Another doofus move by the ACC.
Yep, the conference should has moved the tournament to Greensboro given the fact that NYC still has a lot of Covid-19 restrictions. It shows how smart and active our commissioner is.
Nah, restrictions are gone in NYC. That’s not it.
Looking at the Big East Tourney going on simultaneously, it looks pretty full. The issue is no one cares much about the ACC in NYC. Yep, Syracuse is in NY but unless they are contenders, so what?
Did they move it because of the NC “bathroom situation”?
According to the score in the background, that lead photo of Maddox shooting a 3 is not the game winner.
13:17 left in half. Good pull.
Game Summary:
VT CLE
76 75 Final Score
————————————
36 24 From Three Point Shots
28 40 From Two Point Shots
12 11 From Free Throws
Biggest VT Lead: 14 (46-32)
Biggest CLE Lead: 2 (74-72)
Last Tie (of 3): 69-69
Last Lead Change: VT 76, CLE 75
It Was Over: VT 76, CLE 75
WOW. JUST. WOW.
20 Wins.
Hope springs eternal.
Notre Dame tomorrow!!!
WOOOOO!!!!!!!!
21 wins and counting I hope . Not 20
20 wins. Look at the Home Page. This article has it wrong.
We started 10-10, and have won 10 of 12 since. 20-12.
I don’t think this team can play two good offensive halves against decent competition. That 2nd half was awful. Ill-advised passes, missed FTs (How does Cattoor miss 3 FTs in a row? That’s like a 1 in 55 chance for a 74% shooter.) In 15 minutes we scored 17 points. Fortunately, they missed a lot of shots until the 5 min mark.
But, it was nice to get a win and to keep playing. Just wish I could have enjoyed the 2nd half and OT more until the last shot. Maye we can put a whole game together against ND.
I agree with this sentiment. On a night when Clemson struggled offensively VT had the opportunity to put this game away in the second half but couldn’t hit shots. The frustrating part is watching the team continue to try and shoot their way out of it instead of getting to the basket. They had some really sloppy stretches with missed FT’s and bad turnovers when a 5 or 6 point run would have likely put the game out of reach.
Glad they were able to pull it out with the clutch shot from Maddox and hopefully this provides a spark that propels them to a few good consecutive halves of offensive basketball. The way this team is playing defense they will go far if they can make open shots.
The first half started with pounding it inside repeatedly and that opened up the outside shooting for later. The second half, the emphasis on taking it inside disappeared. To me that was the difference and it snowballed into a bunch of crazy, careless mistakes with the ball. Glad we won and I hope they learn something from it and beat Notre Dame tonight.
Thanks for the article. One correction, Maddox shot was NOT a prayer. He had a good look and perfect squared up form.
Agreed.
That word really jumped out at me, too. A halfcourt heave is a prayer. An open look from the 3-point line is a great chance to win the game, and our hero did it!
Correct!
+1
100% agree.