Five days after Louisville walked into Coral Gables and notched a 92-89 win, the Hurricanes got their revenge Thursday afternoon in Charlotte, beating the Cardinals 78-73 in the ACC tournament quarterfinals behind a huge second half from Malik Reneau.
The win pushed Miami to 25-7 on the year and into Friday night's semifinal against No. 10 Virginia, a team that beat the Hurricanes 86-63 last month.
AND THAT’S HOW 🙌 DO IT pic.twitter.com/S258FSLBoA
— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) March 12, 2026
Miami defeats Louisville 78-73
Louisville led 38-37 at the break after a bruising first half, but Miami won the game with defense and better late-game execution. The Hurricanes scored 17 points off 13 Louisville turnovers, finished with nine steals and eight blocks, and held the Cardinals to 6-of-24 shooting from 3-point range. Miami also outscored Louisville 41-35 in the second half.
Reneau finished with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting and scored 18 of those after halftime. He went 7 of 9 at the foul line and kept punishing Louisville around the basket as the Hurricanes started to take control. Tru Washington gave Miami a huge lift off the bench with 17 points, while Tre Donaldson added 14 points and six assists. Ernest Udeh Jr. chipped in nine rebounds, and Shelton Henderson added nine points and eight boards.
Early in the second half, Miami's defense tightened up. Dante Allen turned a steal into a three-point play, and the Hurricanes opened up with a 49-41 lead. From there, Louisville kept hanging around, but Miami never really let the game get fully away.
Louisville made one final push in the closing minutes. J'Vonne Hadley's steal helped cut the deficit to one with 1:23 left, but Miami answered immediately. Reneau made a layup, then Washington came up with the biggest defensive play of the day, stealing the inbounds pass and knocking down two free throws to push the lead back to five with under a minute left. Henderson then closed it out with a steal and a two-handed dunk.
Ryan Conwell did everything he could to keep Louisville alive, finishing with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Hadley added 19. Louisville shot 48% overall, but the poor 3-point shooting and the turnovers were too much to overcome, especially against a Miami team that scored 44 points in the paint and 16 more on the break.
The Hurricanes are now one win away from the ACC title game. The next test is Virginia on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. Miami will need a much better performance than the one it gave in last month's 23-point loss, but after Thursday, the Hurricanes at least gave themselves that shot.