University of Miami falls 86-83 at No. 14 Virginia in ACC thriller
The University of Miami went toe-to-toe with No. 14 Virginia on the road Saturday, tied the game with seven seconds remaining, but fell short 86-83.
Hurricanes guard Tre Donaldson was called for a foul on a three-point attempt by the Cavaliers’ Chance Mallory, and the freshman made three free throws with 3.6 seconds left to seal the win.
Virginia extended its winning streak to eight and the Hurricanes (21-6, 10-4 ACC) had their four-game winning streak snapped. Despite the loss, Miami remains in third place in the ACC behind Duke and Virginia.
Donaldson and Shelton Henderson each scored 18 points, while Malik Reneau added 16 and Tru Washington had 15 off the bench.
Asked what he saw on the foul call against Donaldson, UM coach Jai Lucas said: “We can’t put ourselves in position for that to happen. We have to be a lot smarter and show our hands in that situation. You can’t even give them the opportunity to make the call. You’d rather have him try to bank it in or just miss it.”
It was an exciting game from start to finish.
“Like I told the team, this was like a Sweet 16 or Elite Eight type of game, things happen,” Lucas said. “One possession here, one possession there. You wish you had some back. But we were right there. We battled. We did everything we talked about before the game.”
Virginia is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the nation, and Miami limited the Cavaliers to four offensive rebounds. They won the rebounding battle by seven and had fewer than 11 turnovers. The Hurricanes also made 16-of-17 free throws, their best shooting percentage from the line all season.
“There’s nothing to be upset about, my team played good, I’m just frustrated we weren’t able to pull it out at the end,” Lucas said.
Reserve Jacari White led six players in double figures with 17 points for the Cavaliers (24-3, 12-2 ACC), who improved to 13-1 at home and beat the Hurricanes for the ninth time in their last 10 meetings.
Virginia shot 58 percent from the field and 50 percent (12 of 24) from 3-point range in a tightly contested game that featured 14 ties and 12 lead changes. The Cavaliers, who trailed by 11 in the first half, held on to second place in the league behind No. 3 Duke.
Sam Lewis had 15 points, De Ridder scored 14, Mallory and Johann Grunloh each tallied 12 and Malik Thomas had 10 points for Virginia. Mallory added six assists and six rebounds and Grunloh blocked five shots.
The Hurricanes went on a 17-2 run early in the game to take a 24-13 lead.
With the game tied at 39-39 with 40 seconds left, Washington hit his third 3-pointer of the half before Timo Malovec converted on a fastbreak layup to give Miami a 44-39 lead at the half.
Virginia started the second half with a 12-3 run, seizing a 51-47 lead on Mallory’s long 3-pointer. An 11-2 run capped by Mallory’s transition layup gave the Cavaliers a 68-61 cushion with 8:54 remaining.
Miami stormed back with a 12-2 run, pulling ahead 73-70 on Reneau’s dunk with 5:06 to play.
After the Hurricanes cut it to 83-81 on Ernest Udeh Jr.’s putback with 51 seconds left, De Ridder missed a three-point attempt.
Reneau’s reverse layup with seven seconds left tied it at 83-83 before Donaldson fouled Mallory on a 3-point try. The Hurricanes never got a shot off after that as De Ridder’s steal ended the game.
UM is back on the road Tuesday night against Florida State, which beat Miami 65-63 in Coral Gables on Jan. 20.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.