No. 1 seed Virginia and No. 3 Texas Tech will meet on Monday night in the 2019 NCAA tournament title game in Minneapolis, as two of the country's best defenses will clash for the championship.
Both are known for stifling opponents' offenses and playing games with wildly low scores (the Red Raiders just held Michigan State to 51 points in the Final Four while posting 61 of their own; Virginia and Auburn both scored in the 60s). March Madness might very well end with another low scoring affair—which might lead fans to wonder: what's the lowest scoring championship game in NCAA tournament history?
The first NCAA men's basketball tournament was played in 1939, and two years later, the lowest scoring title game was played. The 1941 championship clash between Wisconsin and Washington State ended at 39–34 for a combined 73 points as the Badgers took the title.
The lowest scoring championship game in the shot-clock era (since 1986) was UConn vs. Bulter in 2011 when Kemba Walker led the Huskies to a 53–41 win to capture the title.
Butler shot just 18.8% from the floor in the loss to the Huskies, who went 34.5% from the field but sunk just 1-of-11 from three-point range. The 2011 title game also marks the only championship in the shot-clock era where the teams failed to score 100 points.
The fewest points scored in any NCAA tournament game is 46, a record set in 1941 when Pittsburgh beat North Carolina 26–20. The fewest scored in March Madness in the shot-clock era (since 1986) is 75, set when Missouri State beat Wisconsin 43–32 in 1999.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as What Was the Lowest Scoring NCAA Tournament Championship Game?.
