UM falls out of AP Top 25, seniors Reneau, Donaldson, Udeh earn ACC honors
A week after finally breaking into the AP Top 25, the University of Miami men’s basketball team dropped to first team out as the ACC tournament gets underway this week in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Hurricanes, who had been ranked No. 22, ended the regular season at 24-7 after a 1-1 week with a road win over SMU followed by a three-point home loss to Louisville. They got 60 votes in the AP poll this week compared to 153 votes last week.
Louisville, meanwhile, climbed back into the rankings at No. 24 with a 22-9 record after the win over the Hurricanes. UM is No. 29 this week in the KenPom rankings and No. 32 in the NCAA NET rankings with a 5-5 record against Quad-1 opponents.
The Hurricanes did get good news on Monday: All three seniors earned All-ACC honors. Forward Malik Reneau was voted first-team All-ACC, guard Tre Donaldson made the All-ACC second-team and center Ernest Udeh, Jr., was named to the ACC All-Defensive team. Guard Tru Washington finished third in voting for the 6th Man Award.
Miami first-year coach Jai Lucas finished second to Duke’s Jon Scheyer for ACC Coach of the Year. The Canes have had a drastic turnaround from last season under 37-year-old Lucas. Miami is the most improved team in the nation by percentage of wins, going from 7-24 to 24-7. Scheyer got 51 votes and Lucas got 19.
Miami, which did not qualify for the ACC tournament last year after finishing in last place in the league, is the No. 3 seed this week. The Canes will play in the Thursday 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 6 seed Louisville (22-9) and the winner of Tuesday’s opening round game between 11 seed SMU (19-12) and 14 seed Syracuse (15-16). Thursday’s UM game will be shown on ESPN or ESPN2.
After the close loss to Louisville on Senior Day Saturday, Lucas said he would like another shot at the Cardinals this week.
“Ready to turn the page, the [regular] season is over with, it didn’t impact our seeding,” he said. “Nobody likes to lose, but we got a lot of good film that we can use and hopefully we get an opportunity to play them again on Thursday.”
Three senior transfers have led the way for the Canes. Malik Reneau, who came from Indiana, is the top scorer with 19 points per game. Michigan transfer Tre Donaldson averages 5.9 assists and TCU transfer Ernest Udeh, Jr., is the leading rebounder with 9.4 per game.
“Like coach said, we had a great season, other than the losses, and now we have to get better at the stuff we need to improve,” Donaldson said. “It’s win or go home.”
ACC tournament schedule (All times Eastern)
Tuesday, March 10
First Round
2 p.m. – No. 10 Stanford vs. No. 15 Pitt (ACC Network)
4:30 p.m. – No. 11 SMU vs. No. 14 Syracuse (ACC Network)
7 p.m. – No. 12 Virginia Tech vs. No. 13 Wake Forest (ACC Network)
Wednesday, March 11
Second Round
Noon – No. 7 NC State vs. Stanford-Pitt winner (ESPN/ESPN)
2:30 p.m. – No. 6 Louisville vs. SMU-Syracuse winner (ESPN/ESPNU)
7 p.m. – No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 9 California (ESPN2/ESPNU)
9:30 p.m. – No. 5 Clemson vs. Virginia Tech-Wake Forest winner (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Thursday, March 12
Quarterfinals
Noon – No. 2 Virginia vs. Wednesday Noon winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
2:30 p.m. – No. 3 Miami vs. Wednesday 2:30 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
7 p.m. – No. 1 Duke vs. Wednesday 7 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – No. 4 North Carolina vs. Wednesday 9:30 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
Friday, March 13
Semifinals
7 p.m. – Thursday afternoon winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – Thursday evening winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
Saturday, March 14
Championship
8:30 p.m. – Semifinal winners (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 2:10 PM.