Miami Hurricanes stun No. 11 North Carolina 75-66, students storm the court
Jai Lucas had a simple message for his University of Miami basketball team heading into Tuesday’s home game against the 11th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels: “It’s time for us to put our stamp on the season.”
They put their stamp and an exclamation mark.
A season-high crowd of 7,355 decked in orange rocked the Watsco Center as the unranked Hurricanes led start to finish and stunned Carolina 75-66. It was Miami’s first win over a ranked team in more than two years, since a Jan. 3, 2024 victory over Clemson.
Throngs of jubilant UM students, urged on by guards Tre Donaldson and Shelton Henderson, stormed the court and celebrated as they waved giant Hurricane warning flags.
The ACC has been warned: the Canes proved they can conquer a conference blue blood, continuing their remarkable turnaround under first-year coach Lucas, going from last place in the ACC to a projected NCAA Tournament team.
Lucas opened his post-game remarks by thanking the fans, especially the students.
“The student section was electric,” he said. “This is what I envisioned this building being, and what we have to make it moving forward. I was glad everyone came out and saw the team. They compete. They play hard. They’re exciting and fun to watch. I think everybody got to see that.
“It’s not over. This ain’t the championship or anything, but hopefully this will get us down the stretch because we have a tough stretch coming up.”
Although it wasn’t the championship, Lucas admitted that it was a relief to finally get a win over a ranked team, the kind of quality victory that will help look good on Miami’s resume come Selection Sunday.
“[Our team is] resilient, and has shown that all season, and to finally get one over a ranked opponent feels good,” he said.
Miami’s football team was honored at halftime. Coach Mario Cristobal and running back Mark Fletcher took the mic and pumped up the fans. But this night belonged to the basketball team.
The Hurricanes won by doing what they have been doing all season, dominating the glass, getting to the free throw line, and outscoring the opponent in the paint.
“The most exciting thing to me is we were who we are,” Lucas said. “We didn’t do anything special. We didn’t do anything different. You look at our box score and it’s what it usually is, 46 points in the paint, 12 offensive rebounds, doubled them in free throws. This is Miami basketball. [Even though] it was North Carolina and a big environment, we stayed true to our identity.”
Four UM players scored in double figures and two recorded double-doubles.
Malik Reneau stood out on both ends of the floor with 16 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ernest Udeh Jr., the Hurricanes’ hulking and energetic center, stepped up big with 15 points (most of them on dunks) and 10 rebounds. Donaldson, the fiery guard, added 14 points and five assists and Shelton Henderson pitched in 12 points, two steals and two blocks.
Dante Allen played 33 minutes and had nine points and four assists.
Udeh had a hunch he was in for a big night after the shootaround.
“I had a great feeling about [Tuesday],” Udeh said. “We do this thing in our shoot around, shoot halfcourt shots, and [Tuesday] was my first make. I just knew we were in the right place. The energy felt great in warmups and the pregame talks. The only thing left for me was to go out on the court and let my energy speak for itself.”
Lucas praised Udeh for his performance, particularly for finding another gear when he was getting tired late in the game.
“Ernest is one of the people I’m probably on the most, he’ll tell you that,” Lucas said. “I had to get on him in the timeout because he was getting fatigued and then he came out and got three huge offensive rebounds right after that timeout and he got the lob. He closed the game for us. His growth since he’s been here has been amazing.”
One of Miami’s biggest tasks on Tuesday was containing UNC standout freshman Caleb Wilson, who was coming off a 23-point night in a win over Duke. They held him to three points in the first half and 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting for the night.
“We gave him as many looks as possible,” Lucas explained. “We trapped him. We went zone on his catches, just did a bunch of things to kind of confuse him and then we wanted to put him in a bunch of actions on the other end and wear him out.”
Wilson went to the locker room during the second half with an apparent left hand injury and returned with his hand heavily taped. UNC coach Hubert Davis downplayed the injury following the game. Asked about it, he replied: “There is no situation.”
Miami (19-5, 8-3 ACC) held the Tar Heels to 26 points, 26.5 percent shooting, and 1-of-14 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes.
The Hurricanes raced to a 10-point lead in the early minutes as Reneau scored 10 of Miami’s first 22 points. North Carolina (19-5, 7-4 ACC) responded with an 11-2 run to trim the lead down to one but Miami responded and took a three-point lead into the half, 43-40.
“Down the stretch we executed real well,” Reneau said. “We held some of their top guys to bad percentages. Our defense speaks for itself.”
Davis dismissed the suggestion that his team had a hangover from the big win over Duke last Saturday.
“I respectfully disagree with the hangover [from the Duke game],” he said, saying it was turnovers, lack of rebounding and lack of energy at times that cost the Tar Heels.
Asked what this game means for the Miami team and what it showed about the Hurricanes, Davis said: “I’m the head coach for the University of North Carolina and I answer questions about the University of North Carolina. That’s my job. Miami is a good team, they played better than us and are deserving of the win.”
Jarin Stevenson led UNC with 13 points and Henri Veesaar added 11.
UM guard Tru Washington, who missed the previous two games while dealing with a personal matter, was back in uniform and on the bench but did not get in the game.
The Hurricanes hit the road next for a 4 p.m. Valentine’s Day game against N.C. State
This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 11:01 PM.