Second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be on the line Saturday afternoon when Miami visits No. 14 Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (23-3, 11-2 ACC) and the Hurricanes (21-5, 10-3) trail only No. 3 Duke in the league standings.
Virginia is 12-1 at home and is riding a seven-game winning streak. The Cavaliers have won eight of the last nine meetings with Miami, which is 6-1 on the road and riding a four-game winning streak.
The teams extended their streaks in very different ways earlier this week. Miami held off Virginia Tech on Tuesday for its second consecutive one-point win, while Virginia reached 90 points for the sixth time this season in a 26-point blowout at Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers cruised to a comfortable 94-68 win after running out to a 59-27 halftime lead against the Yellow Jackets. Thijs De Ridder scored 22 points and Malik Thomas added 17 as Virginia made 14 3-pointers and outrebounded Georgia Tech by a 51-34 margin, including 20 offensive boards.
“That start was something we’ve been looking for, for a couple games,” Virginia guard Dallin Hall said. “Obviously, you don’t know if it’s going to be to that degree, but our intensity, our energy, the way we shared the ball, the pace we played with, and defensively we were dictating what they were doing offensively.”
Hall recorded his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 assists.
“That was fun,” Hall said. “I love when the basketball is skipping around. That’s exactly what it was. We were finding the open man, and getting stops really allowed us to get out and run to be in those positions.”
Miami trailed the Hokies 34-31 at the half before rallying. Tre Donaldson scored the Hurricanes’ final 15 points and finished with 32. He made the game-tying 3-pointer with 1:18 left and sank the decisive free throw with 12 seconds remaining.
“I was telling the guys — he was unconscious,” Miami coach Jai Lucas said of Donaldson’s heroics. “… I’m blessed to be able to call him my point guard night in and night out. He’s always in the gym, first one there, last one out, extra reps all the time. So him making that shot — it’s Tre.”
Donaldson said the unranked Hurricanes still have more to prove.
“We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied,” he said. “We have a chip on our shoulder. We’re not going to talk about it. Just continue to push, get better as a team and prove everybody wrong and go hunting and get what we deserve.”
De Ridder leads four Cavaliers scoring in double figures with 15.9 points plus a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game. Malik Reneau (19.7) and Donaldson (16.4) are the leading scorers for the Hurricanes.
Virginia forward Devin Tillis is questionable after leaving Wednesday’s win with an apparent right knee injury. After missing the first four games of the season while recovering from knee surgery, the senior transfer from UC Irvine has averaged 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 39.2% from 3-point range in 22 games (one start).
