On March 16, 2018, during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the University of Virginia (Virginia; also UVA) Cavaliers played a college basketball game against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Virginia and UMBC competed for the right to face ninth-seeded Kansas State, which had already won their first-round game against Creighton earlier in the day.

[12][13] On March 10, 2018, UMBC won the 2018 America East tournament after Lyles made a three-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to defeat top-seeded Vermont in the championship game.

[14] The win handed the Retrievers an automatic NCAA tournament berth, their second appearance ever and their first since 2008, when they suffered a 66–47 loss to Georgetown in their opening game.

In a rebuilding year under head coach Tony Bennett, Virginia had entered the season unranked but proceeded to win the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season championship outright by four games over pre-season AP No.

1 Duke, finishing 17–1 in conference play including Bennett's first win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

They then capped an improbable ascendancy by defeating North Carolina in the ACC tournament championship, finishing the regular season 31–2.

[19] Two days before the UMBC game, the Cavaliers lost their future NBA lottery pick, forward De'Andre Hunter, to a season-ending left wrist fracture.

The injury led the New York Daily News to change their pick from Virginia winning the national championship to not advancing out of the Sweet Sixteen.

The game was televised nationally as part of NCAA March Madness on TNT and announced by Charlotte native Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, and Grant Hill, with Tracy Wolfson as their sideline reporter.

UMBC did not lead until just before the midpoint of the half, before a Virginia steal tied the game up for the second time.

The Cavaliers, who led the NCAA during the season in scoring defense at 53.4 points per game, were outscored by the Retrievers 53–33 in the final twenty minutes.

UMBC's Jairus Lyles, who scored 28 points while battling through cramps late in the second half, was named the game's most valuable player.

11 seed Loyola-Chicago, won the region by beating Kansas State 78–62, becoming the fourth 11-seed ever to advance to the Final Four.

Assistant coach Eric Skeeters took over the Delaware State program, while director of recruiting Griff Aldrich took over Longwood.

Aldrich then led Longwood to their first ever Division I postseason appearance in the 2019 College Basketball Invitational, and was named a finalist for the Joe B.

UMBC, meanwhile, lost to Vermont in the championship game of the America East conference tournament, ending their hopes for an immediate return to the tourney.

In a show of sportsmanship, the official UMBC athletics Twitter account celebrated Virginia's dramatic victory over Purdue in the Elite Eight.

[32] ESPN called Virginia's 2018–19 championship run "the most redemptive season in the history of college basketball.

[34] Following the championship game, veteran CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz (who also called Virginia's upset loss to UMBC in the previous year's first round tournament game), called Virginia's win the "all-time turnaround title".

However, unlike with Virginia's shot at redemption, Purdue would fail to fully clinch their chance that season, losing 75-60 to the team that were known as the defending champions at the time, the UConn Huskies.