Over the last dozen years, Virginia and Miami have played a lot of close games. Tuesday night’s game in Coral Gables fit right in as the Hurricanes won 66-64.
That score represented the 14th time in the last 16 meetings between the two clubs with a result of less than a 10-point final margin. That stretch dating back to 2011 includes four overtime games (one double OT) and six outcomes decided by a single possession.
The Hoos had been on the better end of those results of late with a six-game winning streak in the series, but the Canes finally snapped that string with Tuesday’s victory.
“I think you saw two great teams battling each other, especially at the defensive end of the floor,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “I was so proud of our guys, we got off to such a great start offensively. … We were very, very happy with the win.”
Indeed, the No. 22 Hurricanes got going early.
No. 6 Virginia scored the first basket of the game, but quickly dug a hole that it spent the rest of the night trying to get out of. Miami uncorked a 12-0 burst in the first 4:29 that included an uncontested offensive rebound tip-in, a wide open transition 3, and a comfortable pull-up jumper among the shots.
That sequence led to a Bennett timeout and left UVA with a 10-point deficit that it reduced at different points, but never fully erased. After trailing 12-2, the Cavaliers got the score to 12-8 and 14-10 but the Hurricanes pulled ahead to a 26-12 lead again. The margin hovered in that range for most of the first half with Virginia cutting it to 6 points once only to trail by 10 at the half.
Early in the second half, the hosts grew their lead to 15 at 41-26 courtesy of an Isaiah Wong triple. He finished with 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists after averaging just 6.5 points in his previous four games against Virginia. The Hurricanes also got double-digit contributions from Jordan Miller (11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists), Norchad Omier (10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots), and Nijel Pack (10 points).
After Wong’s trey added to the lead early in the second half, the Hoos finally a made their first sustained run. A flurry of 3-pointers fueled the mid-half rally.
“We just dug too deep of a hole to start the game and to start the second half,” UVA coach Tony Bennett said. “That’s why we gave some other guys some opportunities and they scrapped and fought, far from perfect, but at least gave us a chance to get back into the game. … It was good to see some lifts from some of the bench. The bench gave us a good lift scoring wise.”
Isaac McKneely made his only shot of the night at the 12:15 mark before Ben Vander Plas followed with a trio of triples. The first came at 11:07 as part of a four-point play when he was fouled on the made shot. He added the other two at 9:49 and 8:54 to suddenly cut the Miami lead to 43-42.
Vander Plas finished with 20 points to lead Virginia. He also had 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
“Obviously it’s good to see some shots fall, especially after the last couple of games of shooting for me,” Vander Plas said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We started off kind of slow and we had to claw back into it. It’s tough playing against a good team like that when you spot ’em some points and don’t start off as sharp as you need to, but I thought guys did a good job of fighting back. Obviously, not the outcome we want but we’re going to get back to work.”
The Canes countered as part of the night’s theme. Two quick buckets kept the scoreboard in their favor and the advantage slowly grew back to double digits at 61-51 after back-and-forth basketball over the next several minutes.
Virginia had one final push in the tank, though. Reece Beekman got fouled while scoring and missed the free throw, but Vander Plas put in the offensive rebound to chop the lead to 61-55 quickly. He added a dunk after a missed Miami free throw and Kihei Clark followed a Miami turnover with a layup that made it 61-59.
Beekman tallied 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists, while Clark totaled 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Overall, UVA shot 36.7% from the field and 26.1% from 3-point range. The Hurricanes landed at 39.6% overall and 31.8% from 3.
Miami held off the final rally – the Hoos got all the way to 65-64 on three Clark free throws – with some shots at the stripe and UVA’s last possession ended in a Beekman turnover during a drive attempt.
That left Virginia at 8-2 after two losses in the last four days against top 25 opponents. Bennett said the recent setbacks just exposed the work his team still has ahead.
“We had a good start, but it’s been some close calls and today we got outplayed too much, too soon and that’s a hole you can’t have on the road or at home,” Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We’ll hopefully have a great Christmas with our families, come back, get to work, and try to become a better team because we’ve got some improving to do. I think all of us coaches knew that. The great start was good, but we shot it so well in that start and sometimes when that shot’s not going in, it kind of exposes are you a sound, tough team. In some areas we are, but in some areas we’re not and we have to push the line in the right direction to be as good as we can.”
shooting problems seems to be a really big problem right now