March 12, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Miami (FL) Hurricanes forward Malik Renault (5) carries the ball and the Louisville Cardinals guard Jevon Hadley (1) and forward Sananda Proulx (13) defend at Spectrum Center in the second half. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images CHARLOTE — The moment will get a little bigger when No. 10 Virginia and Miami meet in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Friday night.
Both teams survived the quarterfinals, producing clutch plays in their respective matches.
“These guys have weathered the storm and understand how to win when it matters,” Virginia coach Ryan Odom said of his team.
Third-seeded Miami (25-7) avenged Saturday’s home loss to Louisville in the regular-season finale by beating the sixth-seeded Cardinals 78-73 in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Now the Hurricanes have a chance to avenge an 86-83 loss at Virginia on Feb. 21, their only loss since January.
I think a rematch would be fun too.
“It’s going to be a war,” Miami forward Malik Renault said. “This is going to be a tough basketball game. We have to be ready to play relentlessly for 40 minutes.”
Second-seeded Virginia (28-4) defeated seventh-seeded North Carolina State 81-74 in the first quarterfinals Thursday.
The danger is growing in Virginia and Miami.
“We try to stay connected and be together as much as possible,” Virginia guard Zachary White said. “A big game is a big game, but it’s still just basketball. All we have is us and we focus a lot on that.”
Miami is looking to advance to the ACC Tournament finals for the second time. The Hurricanes didn’t even qualify for the event last year.
“The experience we’ve gained throughout the season to get to this point has shaped us into where we want to play our best basketball in this part of the season,” Lucas said.
Despite the loss, Miami scored the most points in a regular game against Virginia this season. The Cavaliers are generally more stingy on defense.
“That’s our job, defense,” said forward Thijs De Ridder. “We’re a defensive-minded team. We just want to have the ball and make the playoffs. Whenever you play good defense, most of the time it translates into good offense.”
Virginia had eight blocked shots against Ugonna Onyenso vs. the Wolfpack, the second-highest total in a game in ACC tournament history. He was asked for about 16 minutes of court time in the first half, which was well above his average.
“For him to be able to go that long in this game says a lot about his stamina and the impact he had in the game was tremendous,” Odom said.
The Cavaliers also prevented NC State from registering a fast break point on Thursday.
Miami’s Renaud scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half against Louisville.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself, and my teammates also believe that I can score a goal at any time,” Renault said. “Just feeling like my team is behind me when I need a basket gives me the utmost confidence to be able to do that.”
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
