The Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team followed up their recent upset of No. 11 North Carolina with another dramatic finish, this time against the NC State Wolfpack.
Powered by a late 8-0 run in the final minute, the Hurricanes secured a 77-76 road victory.
With 1:07 left in the game, NC State’s Ven-Allen Lubin scored a layup to capitalize on an 11-0 run, giving the Wolfpack a 76-69 lead and a win probability above 95% according to ESPN.
With 52 seconds left, Malik Reneau put the team on his back, drilling a huge and-one layup to cut the deficit to four. On the next possession, a Dante Allen steal led to a Tru Washington put-back layup, cutting the deficit to two.
After Quadir Copeland missed his one-and-one free throw, Miami head coach Jai Lucas called timeout with eight seconds remaining, needing three to steal a win from NC State.
On the ensuing inbound, Reneau was quickly double-teamed and kicked the ball outside the arc to Tre Donaldson, who drove to the hoop pulling Washington’s defender away from him.
Donaldson then swung the ball out to Washington who took an open look from three and was fouled by Darrion Williams with 2.7 seconds to go.
Through the roaring Lenovo Center, Washington, the junior guard who missed the last three games due to personal reasons, nailed all three free throws to give Miami a one-point lead.
On the ensuing possession, Matt Able missed a desperation half-court heave as the clock hit zero, securing the win for the Hurricanes. Saturday’s win gives UM a massive boost in the ACC standings and hopes to make the NCAA Tournament.
The Canes entered Saturday’s contest looking strong and starting to establish themselves as a NCAA tournament team after spending most of the season on the bubble of making or missing it.
However, the NC State Wolfpack (18-8, 9-4 ACC) were another formidable test the Hurricanes were set to face. The Canes entered the game at 5th in the ACC whereas the wolfpack were 4th. The winner would not only gain a boost in conference standings which would help leading up to the ACC tournament, but also gain merrit in future NCAA tournament seeding.
Wolfpack fans packed the Lenovo Center in Raleigh as the stadium was buzzing by tipoff.
The game went back and forth through the first half as the Canes led by as many as five with around 10 minutes to go, bolstered by a big Reneau layup followed by a Washington triple. However the Wolfpack quickly fought back to garner a 42-37 lead heading into the break.
The second half was even tighter than the first, as the Hurricanes went on an early 11-3 run to tie the game at 48, and eventually snagged the lead at 58-56 thanks to back to back buckets from Donaldson and Reneau.
The game saw 19 lead changes and was tied 14 separate times in an instant classic in Raleigh. The Hurricanes (20-5, 9-3 ACC) now sit fourth in the ACC behind Clemson, Virginia and Duke, all ranked teams that are locked into the tournament.
The Hurricanes will return to the Watsco Center on Tuesday as Miami hosts Virginia Tech at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air on ACC Network.