By Scott Ratcliffe

No. 2 seed Virginia will be playing for an ACC championship after taking care of business against No. 3 seed Miami, 84-62, on Friday in the semifinals of the conference tournament in Charlotte.

The 10th-ranked Cavaliers (29-4) finished the first half strong Friday night, building a double-digit halftime lead before cruising to victory over the Hurricanes (25-8) in the second half.

UVA will face top-ranked, top-seeded Duke in Saturday’s ACC championship game. The Blue Devils eliminated No. 5 seed Clemson in the nightcap, 73-61.

The Wahoos got off to a sloppy start against Miami, but wound up shooting 53 percent from the field and 42 percent from long range en route to the easy win, including knocking down 8 of their 13 3-point attempts after halftime.

After enjoying a big game in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over NC State, reserve center Ugonna Onyenso led the Cavaliers with 17 points Friday. The big man was one of five Hoos in double figures, as Thijs De Ridder (team-high 6 rebounds) and Sam Lewis (4 for 5 from 3-point land) each scored 16 points, while Malik Thomas put up 15 (2 for 3 from deep) and Chance Mallory added 12 to go along with a team-best 6 assists and 5 boards.

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!

Virginia trailed by two before using an 8-0 run to take a 23-17 lead late in the opening period before closing the half on a 13-2 run, punctuated by a Mallory steal and buzzer-beating triple, sending his team into the break with a comfortable 38-23 advantage.

The Hurricanes went on a 10-3 spurt midway through the second half to get back within 11 before the Hoos blew the lid off, answering with a 9-2 run of their own to push the lead back to 18, 62-44, forcing Miami head coach Jai Lucas to burn a timeout with 7:49 remaining.

Thomas highlighted the run with a 3-pointer and a wide-open dunk in transition.

The Canes did all they could to hang around before another 13-2 Cavalanche put the game on ice. During the spurt, Lewis drilled a triple in front of the UVA bench, and less than a minute later, Mallory sank one from the same corner before Lewis capped the evening with an NBA-range bomb, prompting Ryan Odom to pull his starters with 2:29 to play with a loud ovation from the Cavalier fans in attendance at the Spectrum Center.

Onyenso once again got the bulk of the minutes down low (27), as starter Johann Grünloh was nursing the wrist injury he sustained in Thursday’s victory and only played 11 minutes.

The 7-footer from Nigeria, who came into the contest averaging 6.4 points per game, finished just a point shy of his season high on a near-perfect 8-of-9 shooting, while racking up 4 more blocks — his 12th outing of the campaign with at least 4 swats — to lead the charge defensively.

The Cavaliers held the Hurricanes’ top two scorers — Malik Reneau (19.2 ppg) and Tre Donaldson (16.8) — to eight points apiece Friday on a combined 4-for-12 shooting performance (0 for 4 from long distance).

Virginia connected on 31 of its 59 field-goal attempts, 11 of 26 from beyond the arc and 11 of 12 from the charity stripe (92 percent). The Hoos snagged 38 rebounds (12 on the offensive end), winning the battle of the boards by a dozen, scoring 11 points off of Miami’s 7 turnovers.

Tru Washington (13 points) and Shelton Henderson (12) led the Hurricanes, who shot just 39 percent on the evening (22 for 57), including 20 percent (4 of 20) from long range. Miami is a projected 7-seed in next week’s Big Dance.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• No. 10 Virginia improved to 29-4
• The Cavaliers advanced to their 11th ACC Tournament final
• UVA has won 29 or more games for the ninth time in school history
• UVA is 13-3 away from home, including a 5-1 mark on neutral courts
• Odom’s 29 wins mark his career high for wins in his 12-year head coaching career (28 at VCU in 2024-25)
• Odom’s 29 wins are the second-most by a first-year ACC head coach (Bill Guthridge 34 in 1998)
• Odom has advanced to the conference championship game in each of the last four seasons (Utah State 2023, VCU 2024 and 2025 and UVA 2026)
• UVA has scored 80 or more points in 20 games (most since 21 in 2000-01)
• UVA (11 3-pointers) has made 10 of more 3-pointers in a school-record 20 games, surpassing the 13 games by the 2018-19 national champion
• UVA’s 26-point lead at 80-54 marked Miami’s largest deficit of the season (19 vs. Florida)
• UVA closed the first half on a 13-2 run to gain a 38-23 lead
• UVA is 24-2 when leading at the half
• UVA held Miami to a season-low 23 points in the first half
• UVA won the rebound battle 38-26, improving to 26-1 when outrebounding its opponent

All-Time in the ACC Tournament

• Virginia is the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament for the sixth time (1982, 1983, 2007, 2016, 2023) and first since 2023
• UVA has posted a 10-5 mark as the No. 2 seed in tournament, advancing to the ACC Tournament final (and losing all four contests) in 1982 (Greensboro), 1983 (Atlanta), 2016 (Washington, D.C.) and 2023 (Greensboro) and 2026 (Charlotte)
• The Cavaliers are 49-67 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 10-15 in Charlotte, reaching the title game in 1990, 1994 and 2026
• UVA captured ACC Tournament titles as the No. 6 seed in 1976, No. 1 seed in 2014 and No. 1 seed in 2018
• UVA is 11-17 in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament
• UVA’s last appearance in the tournament final was in 2023

Series Notes

• Virginia is 19-13 all-time vs. Miami in the series that dates to 1965-66
• UVA has a four-game win streak in the series and has won 10 of the last 11 meetings
• The Cavaliers are 3-1 against the Hurricanes in the ACC Tournament, including a 2-0 mark in the semifinals

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Ugonna Onyenso (17), Thijs De Ridder (16), Sam Lewis (16), Malik Thomas (15), Chance Mallory (12)
• De Ridder has reached double figures in 26 games
• Onyenso (4 blocks) has multiple blocks in 22 games
• Onyenso has four or more blocks in 11 games
• Onyenso set the record for most blocks in a single ACC Tournament at 12, surpassing 11 by NC State’s Mohamed Diarra in 2024• Onyenso matched a career high with eight made field goals
• Onyenso has reached double figures in six games (8 career)
• Thomas has reached double figures in 24 games (79 career)
• Lewis has reached double figures in 19 games (52 career)
• Mallory has reached double figures in 19 games
• UVA started Johann Grünloh, Dallin Hall, De Ridder, Lewis and Thomas for the 32nd game

UP NEXT

The Hoos will face Duke in the ACC Championship on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!