Men's Basketball Associated Press

Virginia Rolls Past Miami 84-62 to Advance to ACC Tournament Title Game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Ugonna Onyenso scored 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting, Thijs De Ridder and Sam Lewis each scored 16 points and No. 2-seeded Virginia beat No. 3-seeded Miami 84-62 on Friday to advance to the 2026 T. Rowe Price ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game for the first time since 2023. 

Mailk Thomas scored nine of his 15 points in the second half for the Cavaliers, who improved to 29-4 under first-year coach Ryan Odom. 

Tru Washington scored 13 points and Shelton Henderson added 12 for Miami, which shot just 39 percent from the field and was outrebounded 35-24. 

No. 10 Virginia broke open a tightly contested defensive game with a 13-2 run over the final 2:47 of the first half for a 38-23 lead at the break. Chance Mallory closed out the run with a running 3-pointer to beat the buzzer following a Miami turnover. 

The Hurricanes never recovered. 

The lead grew to 18 points six minutes into the second half as Miami struggled to find lanes to attack the basket against the taller Cavaliers. Miami couldn't hit from deep, missing 10 of its first 11 shots from behind the 3-point line. 

Miami made a run and closed within 53-42 after Noam Dovrat hit two 3s and Henderson followed up a miss on a fastbreak with a two-handed dunk. But Thomas took over and scored eight of Virginia's next 10 points to push the lead back to 18 points with eight minutes left. 

Virginia's lead reached 26 points late in the second half. 


 

Of Note 

  • Virginia will be making its 11th trip to the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game. The Cavaliers are 3-7 all-time in the ACC title game. 

  • The Cavaliers have won the ACC Championship three times previously – 1976, 2014 and 2018. 

  • Virginia improved to 3-1 all-time in the ACC Tournament against Miami and 49-67 overall in ACC Tournament play.  

  • Virginia’s 22-point win is tied for the fifth-largest margin of victory in an ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinal. The win is the largest in an ACC semifinal since 2016, when North Carolina beat Notre Dame 78-47. 

  • Virginia finished with five players scoring in double figures, paced by 17 from Ugonna Onyenso off the bench.  

  • Onyenso added four blocks in the contest, moving his tournament total to 12. The all-time record for a single ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament is 14 by Tim Duncan of Wake Forest in 1995.  

  • Onyenso’s four blocked shots are tied for the third-most ever in an ACC Tournament semifinal contest, happening on seven previous occurrences, most recently in 2017. 

  • Virginia won the rebounding battle 38-26 on Friday night.