BLACKSBURG, Va. – The University of Miami basketball team completed a season sweep of Virginia Tech with a 76-70 victory Tuesday night at Cassell Coliseum.
No. 13/11 Miami (23-5, 14-4 ACC) recorded its seventh consecutive league victory, the program’s longest streak in a decade, behind a co-game-high 17 points and game-best 14 rebounds from third-year sophomore forward Norchad Omier.
After Virginia Tech (16-12, 6-11 ACC), buoyed by a stretch in which it made seven of eight field goals, raced out to a 17-8 edge with 12:23 on the first-half clock, Miami quickly answered. The Hurricanes used a 14-2 surge, featuring a pair of 7-0 bursts, in just 3:57 to go up by three, 22-19, with 8:03 left in the frame.
The Hokies scored the next six points to go back ahead by three, but the Hurricanes outscored them by seven the rest of the session and took a four-point edge, 36-32, into the locker room.
Miami scored the first five points of the second half to take a nine-point advantage, 41-32, with 18:20 to play. Virginia Tech responded by twice trimming the lead back to one, but Miami then hit back-to-back 3-pointers on the way to claiming a game-best 10-point cushion, 57-47, with 9:58 remaining.
The Hokies never got closer than three the rest of the way, as Miami claimed its seventh Quadrant 1 triumph of the year without ever trailing in the second half.
Entering the night as the sixth-best offensive team in the nation according to KenPom, the Hurricanes shot just 42.2 percent (27-of-64) from the field but made up for it with a resounding 14-7 margin on the offensive glass. That led to a 9-3 margin in second-chance points for the victors, who also held the sharpshooting Hokies to just 33.3 percent (9-of-27) 3-point shooting.
In addition, Miami went 15-of-19 (78.9 percent) from the line, including 7-of-8 in the final 45 seconds. At the other end, Virginia Tech went just 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) at the stripe.
Four Hurricanes joined Omier in double figures, as Miami had a quintet of players with 10-plus points for the first time since Feb. 4 at Clemson. Third-year sophomore guard Nijel Pack posted 16 points, while fourth-year sophomore guard Isaiah Wong had 13 on the way to entering the top five on Miami’s all-time scoring list.
Playing in his home state for the final time as a collegian, fifth-year senior guard Jordan Miller notched 11 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing his third double-double of the season. Sophomore guard Bensley Joseph chipped in 10 points off the bench, shooting 2-of-3 on 3-pointers and 4-of-4 on free throws.
Sophomore guard Sean Pedulla co-led all scorers with 17 points for the Hokies, but Miami limited him to a 6-of-15 shooting clip, including a 2-of-9 mark from deep. Senior guard Hunter Cattoor played all 40 minutes for the Hokies and scored 15 points on 5-of-10 3-point shooting. Graduate student forward Grant Basile added 13 points in the setback.
The Hurricanes now return to Coral Gables, Fla., for a two-game homestand to cap the regular season, with the first contest Saturday at 4 p.m. against Florida State, live on ESPN2 from the Watsco Center.
Courtesy of Alex Schwartz of Miami Athletics
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