Students returned to the University of Miami this week following a long winter break, and so did Malcolm Grant’s shooting touch. Grant, who had struggled with his game since his brother’s death in December, was back to his old self as the Hurricanes won their Atlantic Coast Conference home opener 76-73 over Clemson.

Wednesday night’s game began with a pair of three-pointers by Grant and ended fittingly, with the ball in the senior guard’s hands after he intercepted a Tanner Smith pass in the waning seconds.

Grant led his team with 16 points, four assists and two steals. He was 4 of 7 from three-point range and was one of five UM players in double figures, along with Kenny Kadji (14), Trey McKinney Jones (12), DeQuan Jones and Durand Scott (10 apiece).

“It’s a big relief,” Grant said of getting his rhythm back. “I want to thank Coach L [University of Miami coach Jim Larranaga] for talking to me so much and telling me so many great stories to relax me, and also my teammates and my family back home. I felt relaxed out there, felt like I’m back.”

Grant had struggled since his 36-year-old brother, Yatti, died of a heart attack last month. He said he was trying so hard to play well in his brother’s memory that he put too much pressure on himself. But he prayed before Wednesday’s game, and his touch came back to him when he hit his first three-pointer in the first minute. He hit his second a minute later, and the Hurricanes then went on a 13-0 run to take a 19-8 lead.

“Everyone was excited to see him make those two shots,’’ Larranaga said. “Malcolm is huge for us, and when he’s hitting threes, it stretches the defense and helps everyone else.’’

Freshman Miami guard Shane Larkin had his Baseball Hall of Fame father, Barry Larkin, in the crowd of 4,420. He went scoreless until the final 5.4 seconds, but then, like his father did so many times for the Cincinnati Reds, he came through in the clutch.

The Hurricanes were leading 74-73 after seven straight Clemson points in the final minute. Smith, who finished with 23 points for the Tigers, made an old-fashioned three-point play to quiet the crowd that had just celebrated a Rion Brown dunk on an alley-oop. Grant then missed a layup, and Reggie Johnson was called for a foul, leading to a pair of free throws by Milton Jennings. McKinney Jones slipped and lost the ball out of bounds, and Jennings scored inside to close the gap to one.

Larkin, who battled a stomach flu all week, was fouled and calmly made both ends of the one-and-one to give UM (10-6, 1-2 ACC) its three-point cushion.

“Shane made the biggest free throws of the game,” Larranaga said. “We put him in there at that point because we have a great deal of confidence in his free-throw shooting.’’

In the first half, it looked like UM might run away with the game. They dazzled the audience with thunderous dunks, fast-break layups and a SportsCenter-worthy over-the-shoulder pass from Grant to Kenny Kadji for a dunk.

The Hurricanes made eight of their first 11 shots (72 percent) against a defense ranked 19th in the nation in points allowed (58.6 ppg). But then Smith caught fire, found open threes and the Tigers closed the gap to 42-39 by halftime.

Clemson was 6 of 12 from three-point range in the first half. UM held them to 0 for 8 in the second half, and that proved the difference. The Tigers took a four-point lead with 7:03 to go in the game, but UM fought back and held on for the win.

Clemson freshman point guard T.J. Sapp grew up in Fort Lauderdale and had a lot of friends and family in the stands. He finished with two points on 1-of-5 shooting in 19 minutes.