By Scott Ratcliffe
Photo by Jon Golden
In an intense ACC battle that featured 14 ties and a dozen lead changes, No. 14 Virginia emerged with an 86-83 victory over a pesky Miami squad on Saturday, on the newly named “Tony Bennett Court” at John Paul Jones Arena.
Bennett, along with several of his former players and a sellout crowd in attendance at JPJ, was treated to an ACC version of an “instant classic.”
With the score tied at 83-apiece in the final seconds, Charlottesville’s own Chance Mallory quickly brought the ball up the floor and drew a foul from 3-point land with 3.6 ticks remaining. It was initially ruled a non-shooting penalty, but replay review determined that he was in the act of a shot attempt.
With the game on the line, the first-year guard calmly stepped to the line and knocked down all three free throws to give UVA a three-point lead. Miami had one last chance to tie, but had a pass intercepted by Thijs De Ridder, who launched the ball into the air in celebration as the final horn sounded.
Six Cavaliers finished in double figures, led by sharpshooting Jacari White’s 17 points, as he knocked down 5 of 8 from long range. As a result, UVA moves to 24-3 on the season, and sits alone in second place in the ACC standings with a 12-2 conference record.
The Hurricanes (21-6, 10-4) scrapped, fought and clawed all afternoon in hopes of pulling the road upset to boost their postseason resume. The Cavaliers, who have won 9 of the last 10 against Miami, had other plans.
UVA extended its season-long winning streak to eight games, and did so with an impressive offensive performance, shooting 58 percent from the field (29 of 50), 12 for 24 (50 percent) from deep and 16 for 18 (89 percent) from the free-throw line.
White and Mallory (12 points, a team-high 6 rebounds, a team-high 6 assists, and 7 for 7 from the charity stripe) did most of the damage for the “Bench Mob,” which was without the services of Devin Tillis (knee). The two combined for 29 of the team’s 33 points off the bench, which outscored Miami’s bench by 13.
Sam Lewis paced the starters with 15 points, while De Ridder had 14, Johann Grünloh added 12 to go along with his 5 blocks, and Malik Thomas finished with 10, all of which came after halftime.
Thomas gave his team a 48-47 advantage with his first triple of the day, and then Mallory followed that up with one from way downtown to cap a 12-3 spurt out of the locker room.
As they did most of the afternoon, the Hurricanes had an answer, as Tre Donaldson countered with a deep one of his own to put his team back on top.
Down by two later in the second half, De Ridder scored on consecutive possessions to temporarily put the Wahoos back in front, 61-59, which sparked an 11-2 Virginia run — topped off by a Mallory layup in transition — that made it 68-61, marking the Hoos’ largest lead of the game.
Miami again responded in a big way, this time with a 12-2 string of points that put the visitors back on top, 73-70, as the clock went under five minutes to play. From there, the lead changed hands five times, with each side giving it all they had to help their team prevail.
Grünloh was the recipient of an easy dunk off a ricocheted near-steal by Miami, giving the Hoos a one-point edge with 2:38 to go.
The Canes briefly regained the advantage on the ensuing trip before Dallin Hall scored his only two points of the contest to make it 80-79 as the clock ticked down under two minutes.
After Miami’s shot attempt was partially blocked on the ensuing possession, White sank his most important 3-pointer of the day on a stepback in transition that made it a four-point affair with 1:16 left.
Miami’s Ernest Udeh Jr. got one to go as the clock went under a minute, and then the ball was awarded to the Canes after De Ridder misfired on a 3-pointer, and Mallory dove for an offensive rebound as the ball went out of bounds with 28.8 on the game clock.
As a result, Miami was able to knot it up on an unreal reverse layup by Malik Reneau to tie the score at 83-all with 7.5 ticks left, setting up Mallory’s game-clinching free throws.
Miami led for the majority of the opening stanza and took a 44-39 lead into the halftime break after closing the first half on an 11-3 run in the final 2 1/2 minutes, including the final 8 points of the period.
The Hurricanes ultimately fell to 14-2 this season when leading at the half.
Virginia lost the rebounding battle, 30-23, including a 12-4 disparity on the offensive end, but outscored Miami 20-12 in transition and survived with the hard-fought victory, with the legendary Coach Bennett and several of his former Wahoos in attendance.
Bennett was honored in a pregame ceremony for his unprecedented contributions to the program, including its first and only national title in 2019.
The visiting Canes, who shot 48 percent on the afternoon (29 for 61) and 50 percent from 3-point range (9 of 18), were led by Donaldson and Shelton Henderson, who each finished with a game-high 18 points. Reneau scored 16 in the loss, while Tru Washington added 15, including a 3-for-3 night from beyond the arc.
Team Notes
Courtesy UVA Media Relations
No. 14 Virginia improved to 24-3, 12-2 ACC
UVA has an eight-game win streak
Ryan Odom’s 24 wins are the most for a first-year head coach at UVA
UVA is 13-1 at home, including a 5-1 mark in ACC contests
UVA has scored 80 or more points in 17 games (most since 21 in 2000-01)
UVA is 63-3 when scoring 80 or more points (15-2 in 2025-26) since 2009-10
UVA (12 3-pointers) extended its school record of making 10 of more 3-pointers to 17 games
UVA was out-rebounded (30-23) for the first time since its ACC opener at Virginia Tech on Dec. 31, 2025
UVA was held to a season-low 23 rebounds, marking its lowest since 23 against Miami on Feb. 5, 2022
For the second time this season and since March 9, 2008, the Cavaliers had six players in double figures
UVA is now 3-2 when being out-rebounded this season
Miami shot 56.7 percent and out-rebounded UVA 18-10 en route to a 44-39 halftime lead
Miami used a 17-2 run to gain a 24-13 lead
UVA dedicated the John Paul Jones Arena court in honor of four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett in a pregame ceremony
Former UVA stars Joe Harris, Malcolm Brogdon, London Perrantes, Anthony Gill and Jay Huff were in attendance
Series Notes
Virginia is 18-13 all-time vs. Miami in the series that dates to 1965-66
UVA has won nine of the last 10 meetings, including a five-game win streak at John Paul Jones Arena
Sixteen of the last 19 meetings between the teams have been decided by 11 points or less
Player Notes
Double Figure Scorers: Jacari White (17), Sam Lewis (15), Thijs De Ridder (14), Chance Mallory (12), Johann Grünloh (12), Malik Thomas (10)
White went 5 of 8 from 3-point range
White has reached double figures in nine games (60 career)
White recorded his first two blocks of the season
Lewis has reached double figures in 15 games (48 career)
Grünloh has reached double figures in seven games
Grünloh (4 blocks) has multiple blocks in 16 games
De Ridder has reached double figures in 20 games
Thomas has reached double figures in 19 games (74 career)
Mallory has reached double figures in 17 games
UVA started Dallin Hall, De Ridder, Thomas, Grünloh and Lewis for the 25th game
Devin Tillis missed the game with a knee injury
UP NEXT
NC State comes to town on Tuesday night for another important ACC showdown. Tipoff at JPJ is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Saturday’s ACC Scoreboard
Virginia 86, Miami 83
Virginia Tech 82, Wake Forest 63
Florida State 70, Clemson 65
North Carolina 77, Syracuse 64
Pitt 73, Notre Dame 68
Louisville 87, Georgia Tech 70
SMU 94, Boston College 70
California 72, Stanford 66
Duke 70, Michigan 63***
*** — Washington, D.C.