ORLANDO, Fla. — Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone Thursday afternoon, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA tournament.
Five years to the day after losing to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County — the first time a No. 1 seed was taken down by a No. 16 — the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in their past four NCAA trips, this time as 13th-seeded Furman won 68-67.
Virginia hasn’t won an NCAA tourney game since its 2019 title triumph over Texas Tech.
Clark’s bad pass was intercepted by the Paladins’ Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation. Reece Beekman’s deep shot for 3 at the buzzer then bounced off the rim, and that was it for the Cavaliers.
Four years ago, Clark was a freshman star who helped Virginia to the program’s lone NCAA championship. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.