Miami Hurricanes Basketball: #3 Virginia Escapes With a 89-80 Double-OT Win Against Miami

The #3 Virginia Cavaliers won their first game in seven tries in Miami on Saturday, in one of the crazier games that you’ll see this college basketball season. The Cavaliers jumped out on the Canes and had an 18-point lead heading into the half, but the resilient Hurricanes came back and had plenty of opportunities to pull off the major upset against the undefeated Cavaliers.

Opening up the game, the Hurricanes ran off the first 4 points of the game, but Virginia followed that up with a 19-5 run to aid them in having a 38-20 lead over the Hurricanes in the first half.

Shooting threes, which has been a roller coaster ride for Miami lately, was a problem again in the first half on Saturday against a Virginia team that is one of the best defensive teams in the country. Miami went 2-9 on threes in the first half, while Virginia knocked down 5 of their 7 attempts from behind-the-arc.

In the second half, the Canes came out scorching and hit three of their first four three attempts during a 1-3 run that cut the Virginia lead to 6 with 15 minutes left in the second half.

Omar Sherman led the rally for Miami with 3 threes in the second half, once which cut the Virginia lead down to 4 with 9:41 left to go in the second half. Sheldon McClellan then got fouled after a defensive rebound and shot the first free-throws of the game for the Hurricanes after 31 minutes of play (!!!!).

After the Hurricanes cut down the Virginia lead to two,  Marial Shayok hit a corner three to put Virginia back up by 5 with 8 minutes left to go.

After an Angel Rodriguez runner to cut the Virginia lead to 3, the Canes missed two crucial front end of one-and-ones down the stretch that could’ve given them a lead over the Hoos.

After another missed free-throw by the Hurricanes (there was a lot of them), Mike Tobey cleaned up a missed three by Malcolm Brogdon and put it back in to give the Cavaliers a 54-48 lead with less than 4 minutes left to play in the game.

Despite missing 7 free throws down the stretch, the Canes were down 54-53 after an Angel Rodriguez 3-point play that also fouled out Virginia’s second leading scorer, Malcolm Brogdon.

Coming out of a timeout, London Perrantes, who hadn’t missed a shot against the Hurricanes in his career, hit his fourth three of the game to put UVA up by 4 again. On the next Miami possession, Rodriguez answered back with a step back three to get Miami back within one.

Right after the Rodriguez three, his counterpart and now Cane killer, London Perrantes, hit his 5th three of the game to put UVA back 4.

After McCllelan hit two free throws to get Miami within 2 with 26 seconds left to play, craziness ensued Justin Anderson, Virginia’s leading scorer, then went to the line for a one-and-one. Anderson hit the first, but missed the second one. Unfortunately, Virginia came up with the offensive rebound and Darion Atkins got fouled and headed to the line. Askins then misses the front end of the one-and-one, but UVA again secured the offensive rebound against Miami.

Perrantes, who scored a career-high 17 points (his previous career-high came last year against the Hurricanes), hit two free throws to put Virginia back up by 4.

Burnett then hits a layup for the Hurricanes with 7 seconds to go in regulation. The Hurricanes then foul Evan Nolte, who was 6-8 on free throws before Saturday’s game, and he missed two huge free throws to give Miami a chance.

Rodriguez pushed the ball and was fouled from behind the three-point line and had the chance to tie the game with .9 seconds left to go.

Angel, with ice in his veins, knocked down all three free-throws and tied the game at 63, and the Hurricanes forced overtime against the #3 team in America after being down 18 at the half.

After an incredible end to regulation, the Hurricanes again rallied the first four points, the Hurricanes were again unable to close out the Hoos.

Rodriguez had 6 points in the first overtime, but a Justin Anderson three with 12 seconds left in the first OT tied the game at 71 and forced a second OT. Yeah, this game was insane.

In the second OT, Sheldon McCllelan led off the scoring with a three-pointer that put Miami up 74-71, and again the Canes failed to close out Virginia.

Justin Anderson was held in check in regulation by Miami, but a great overtime performance helped Virginia put the Canes away, 87-80.

Rodriguez had 23 of his 25 points for the Hurricanes, but it wasn’t enough as Miami loses 3 of 4 and starts off ACC play 0-1.

There was a lot of positives and negatives (free throws) that came out of this game. Miami can’t fall behind 18 against any team, much less a top-3 team in the country if they want to win games. They also can’t miss 7 free throws down the stretch and expect to win.

It was a hell of a game and a valiant performance by the Hurricanes and they’ll have to get ready for Boston College next Saturday afternoon at the BankUnited Center.