CHARLOTTE — The moments will become a little bigger for 10th-ranked Virginia and Miami when they meet in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Friday night.
Both teams survived in the quarterfinal round, coming up with clutch plays down the stretch in their respective games.
“These guys have weathered storms, and they understand how to win in big moments,” 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 defeating the sixth-seeded Cardinals 78-73 in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Now the Hurricanes will have a chance to avenge their only other loss since January — an 86-83 setback at Virginia on Feb. 21.
The rematch could be entertaining as well.
“It’s going to be a war,” Miami forward Malik Reneau said. “It’s going to be a hard-nosed basketball game, and we’ve got to be ready to play all 40 minutes — relentless 40 minutes.”
Second-seeded Virginia (28-4) held off seventh-seeded North Carolina State 81-74 in Thursday’s first quarterfinal.
The stakes are rising for Virginia and Miami.
“We try to stay connected and together as much as possible,” Virginia guard Jacari White said. “A big game is a big game. But it’s still just — it’s basketball, at the end of the day. All we’ve got is us, and we focus on that a lot.”
Miami is trying to reach the ACC tournament final for only 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 kind of molded us to where I feel at this part of the season (is) where you want to be playing your best basketball,” Lucas said.
Even in defeat, Miami put up the most points in a regulation game vs. Virginia this season. The Cavaliers generally are stingier on defense.
“That’s our thing, defense,” forward Thijs De Ridder said. “We are a defensive-mindset team, and we just want the ball and play off — every time we play good defense, it mostly turns into good offense.”
Virginia received eight blocked shots from Ugonna Onyenso vs. the Wolfpack, matching the second-highest total in a game in ACC tournament history. He was called on for about 16 minutes of court time in the first half, well above his average.
“For him to step up and be able to go that long in this game says a lot about his physical fitness and the impact that he had within the game was huge,” Odom said.
The Cavaliers also prevented NC State from registering any fast-break points on Thursday.
Miami’s Reneau had 18 of his 24 points against Louisville in the second half.
“I trust in myself a lot, and also my teammates trust in me to go get a basket at any moment,” Reneau said. “Just having that feeling that my team is behind me when we need a basket, a go-to basket, it gives me the utmost confidence to go do that.”
