The No. 3 seed Miami Hurricanes fell to the No.2 seed Virginia Cavaliers 84-62 in the semifinals of the ACC tournament in Charlotte, N.C. on Friday evening.
Miami struggled to get going on offense from the opening tip as Malik Reneau and Tre Donaldson were held to just 8 points each on a combined 4-14 from the field. Tru Washington led UM with 13 points.
The win for UVA marked their second win over the Canes this season, advancing themselves into the ACC Championship Game as they will take on the winner of Duke vs. Clemson on Saturday night.
The game started out close, as Miami briefly held a 17-15 lead with just over six minutes remaining. But after a pair of scores from Ogbonna Onyenso, UVA took the lead and never gave it back.
Donaldson picked up his second foul, and the Hurricanes offense was out of sorts for the rest of the half. Miami had six turnovers in the last seven minutes of the half, and only three made field goals.
As for the Cavaliers, their offense exploded.
Onyenso was 5-5 off the bench for 10 first half points. He converted several putbacks off of offensive rebounds, galvanizing the UVA side to keep pushing forward.
Guard Chance Mallory capped off the 23-6 run to end the half with a buzzer beating three pointer off of a Donaldson turnover, putting the Cavaliers up 38-23 at halftime.
Donaldson quickly picked up a third foul to start the second half, summing up the night for the Hurricanes. Miami simply couldn’t find its footing no matter the situation.
UM briefly made things interesting, cutting the lead to 53-42 with ten minutes to go after back-to-back threes from Noam Dovrat and some strong drives from Shelton Henderson, who finished the game with 12 points.
However, Virginia immediately responded with another run of their own, taking a 62-44 lead off of multiple Malik Thomas threes. The Cavaliers never looked back from this point, coasting to another win over the Canes.
Rebounding was a struggle for the Hurricanes, as UVA had 38 rebounds compared to UM’s 28.
“I thought that was our main problem, the glass was a huge reason why we were able to battle with them in the first matchup,” UM head coach Jai Lucas said postgame. “They outrebounded us today and were the more physical team.”
The 22 point deficit marked the biggest loss of the season for Miami, a team that has been in close games all season.
“We just didn’t punch back today like we have all year,”said Lucas.
Despite the loss, Miami will still be headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2023 according to most experts.
The Canes will await the Selection Sunday show on Sunday at 6 p.m. on CBS to see where they will be for the tournament, expected to be a 7 or 8 seed.