In front of an electric home crowd and halftime football team tribute, the Canes delivered their biggest win in years. What’s not to love out of this night?
What. A. Game.
The Miami Hurricanes punched in their biggest win of the 2025-26 season under first year head coach Jai Lucas on Tuesday night, taking down #11 North Carolina 75-66 from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables. From start to finish, it was a performance by Miami filled with pure physicality and grit to bring home this win.
Miami controlled the interior for most of the game, outscoring UNC 46-28 in the paint, and the team was able to take control of momentum early by forcing turnovers and taking advantage of them on the offensive side. The Canes shot an efficient 47% on the game and were able to shut Carolina down in the second half, forcing them out of rhythm and allowing them to score just 26 points in the final 20 minutes.
Four of Miami’s five starters tonight scored in double figures, with both of their big men in Malik Reneau and Ernest Udeh Jr. leading the way with double doubles. Reneau finished the game with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists on top of that, while Udeh Jr. had his highest scoring game of the season with 15 points (5 dunks) and 10 rebounds. Both men were an issue all night for the Tar Heels in the paint.
Miami also got their usual from their primary guards in Tre Donaldson and Shelton Henderson, with Donaldson scoring 14 points, and Henderson extending his double-digit scoring streak to 9 games, ending his night with 12 points of his own.
Carolina came into this game ranked 11th following a huge win over #4 Duke this past Saturday, but they were just no match for Miami’s physicality tonight.
If you’re a Hurricanes fan, I’m not sure how you cannot be looking forward to the future after this one.
The win for Miami marks the programs first win over a ranked opponent in over 2 years, with the last victory coming over #16 Clemson on January 3rd, 2024. One could argue that tonight is the team’s biggest win since the Elite 8 against Texas in 2023, and this comes just one year after finishing 7-24 in the most devastating season of Miami basketball history.
The amount of work Coach Jai Lucas and his staff have done so far for this program cannot go unnoticed, as Miami now sits at 19-5 (8-3 ACC), with an 81% chance to make the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN.
Next up for Hurricanes, they look to keep their momentum going on their road to March Madness as they travel north to Raleigh for a matchup against North Carolina State on Saturday at 4:00 on ESPN2.
(Photo Credit: Christian Proscia, NewEraPrep)
