GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Jordan Miller had 18 points and nine rebounds for No. 14 Miami, which held off Wake Forest's furious comeback for a 74-72 victory in the quarterfinals of the New York Life Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday.
ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong had 17 points and five assists and Norchad Omier had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Miami - the top seed for the first time since 2013 when the Hurricanes won the ACC title game.
Tyree Appleby had 24 points behind five 3s for ninth-seeded Wake Forest (19-14), which fell just short in rallying from an 18-point second-half deficit. Cameron Hildreth added 17 points.
Daivien Williamson, whose buzzer-beater beat Syracuse and effectively ended coach Jim Boeheim’s 47-year coaching career on Wednesday, missed a half-court heave at the buzzer that would have won the game.
The Hurricanes (25-6) move on to Friday's semifinals, where they'll face the winner of No. 21 Duke vs. Pittsburgh game that was slated for Thursday afternoon.
The Hurricanes broke open a five-point game at halftime behind Wong and Miller.
Miller buried a 3-pointer from the left wing off a Wong feed, and Wong followed with a turnaround jumper from the foul line to push the lead to 13. A few moments later, Wong increased the lead to 17 when he knocked down a step-back 3 from the top of the key after Wake Forest big man Andrew Carr got caught in a defensive switch.
But Wake Forest refused to quit, clawing back to within six with 3:17 remaining behind a 11-2 run highlighted by 3-pointers from Williamson, Bobi Klintman and Appleby.
Wake Forest then trimmed the lead to 74-72 with 3.3 seconds left on a Hildreth 3 from the wing.
Wooga Poplar was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Williamson's heave from half-court at the buzzer hit the backboard and bounced away allowing Miami to escape with the win.
Miami led 34-29 at halftime, scoring 13 points off Wake Forest turnovers.
The Demon Deacons had a chance to cut the lead to two at the break, but Hildreth didn't get another half-court shot off in time at the buzzer.
BIG PICTURE
Wake Forest: Came into the tournament having lost four of their five final regular-season games and couldn't put together the run they needed in Greensboro despite a great comeback. The Demon Deacons have good size, but their big men need to do a better job of commanding the ball in the low post and show they have the ability to score close to the basket. Instead, bigs like Matthew Marsh are mostly relegated to being used as screeners in half-court sets.\
Miami: The Hurricanes can beat a team in so many ways and proved that against Wake Forest. Wong was surgical in setting up teammates for quality shots when he wasn't scoring nearly at will. Miami has to do a better job of making clutch free throws down the stretch to close out games.
Thursday Quarterfinal Notes – Game 1
- Top-seeded Miami (25-6) advances to Friday evening’s 7 p.m. semifinal game versus the winner of Thursday’s second quarterfinal game between No. 4 seed Duke (23-8) and No. 5 seed Pitt (22-10). The Hurricanes lost 68-66 at Duke on Jan. 21, then stormed past the Blue Devils 81-59 in the Feb. 6 rematch at Coral Cables. Miami split a pair of close games versus the Panthers, losing 71-68 at Pittsburgh on Jan. 28 and winning 78-76 in last Saturday’s regular-season finale to clinch the top seed in the New York Life ACC Tournament.
- The Hurricanes improved to 19-17 all-time in the ACC Tournament, including a 12-7 mark in Greensboro, where they claimed the championship in 2013. Miami has reached the semifinals for the fifth time since joining the ACC in 2004-05 and for the second consecutive year.
- Miami is now 12-2 in the tournament when playing a lower-seeded team and 5-9 in quarterfinal games.
- The Hurricanes are 3-0 versus Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament.
- The Hurricanes are 13-10 in the ACC Tournament under current head coach Jim Larrañaga.
- The Demon Deacons (19-14) reached the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2009, when they lost to Maryland in Atlanta. Wake Forest is 45-65 all-time in the ACC tourney and 18-27 in tournament games played in Greensboro.
- Miami’s Norchad Omier (14.1 ppg, 10.0 rpg) is in position to become the only Division I player to average 10 or more points and 10 or more rebounds per game in each of the past three seasons.
- Through Miami’s win over Wake Forest, Omier and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot (16.5 ppg, 10.8 rpg) are two of only five Division I players at both thresholds this season and last.
- Four of the eight games in the 2023 New York Life ACC Tournament have been decided by three points or less. The record for portion of all games decided by three or fewer points is 57.14% in 1959, 1967 and 1970.
- The No. 1 seed is now 18-0 versus the No. 9 seed in the ACC Tournament, including a 15-0 mark in the quarterfinals.