Watch Coach L dance after Miami’s historic 102-95 triple OT win over Virginia Tech
A lot of University of Miami basketball fans may have gone to sleep and missed history late Wednesday night.
The Hurricanes beat Virginia Tech 102-95 on the road in triple overtime. It was Miami’s first-ever triple-overtime victory and the longest Atlantic Coast Conference game in 17 years. UM coach Jim Larranaga, whose coaching career spans four decades, said on the post-game T.V. interview that he believed it was the first triple overtime victory in his career.
Freshman guard Isaiah Wong, who was named ACC Freshman of the Week on Monday, scored a career-high 27 points with 12 rebounds. Point guard Chris Lykes had 23 points, Kam McGusty scored 21 and forward Keith Stone added 12 points and 18 rebounds.
McGusty scored five of his 21 points in the third overtime and made clutch baskets late in the game. Miami went 29-of-32 from the free throw line – 90 percent.
After the game, the UM players showed Larranaga with water in the locker room, and then they and the coach broke into a dance.
“I thought we played a great first half, really shared the ball, scored 41 points and defended them very well,” Larranaga said in a post-game T.V. interview. “However, in the second half we fouled too often and gave them a chance to make a comeback with no time running off the clock. But then, in the late stages of the game, I put out Isaiah Wong at the point and Isaiah was able to drive the ball to the basket, got fouled and make all his free throws, and that is basically what forced the first overtime.
“Then, we kept it rolling and it was a very good team effort in the second and third overtime.”
The Canes (14-12, 6-10 ACC) won their third straight game after losing seven of the previous eight. Tyrece Radford led the Hokies (15-11, 6-9 ACC) with a career-high 26 points.
The last ACC game that went to triple overtime was Dec. 20, 2003 when Wake Forest, led by Chris Paul, won 119-114 over North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 12:40 AM.