The unranked Miami Hurricanes shocked the No. 2 team in the nation on Saturday night, defeating Duke 76-74. It was a potential game of the year, and maybe one of the top upsets of the year. With the win, the Hurricanes have won nine straight, including five in ACC play, and improved to 13-3 (and 5-0 in the ACC). The win over Duke means that the Miami Hurricanes are the lone team standing as undefeated in ACC play.
The last time an unranked Miami team has won at Duke when the Blue Devils were ranked was a 90-74 win in January 2015 when Duke was ranked fourth.
Game Recap:
Four players on the Miami Hurricanes had 15 or more points, while holding potential top draft pick Paolo Banchero to 20 points, along with seven rebounds and two assists. Wooga Poplar led the Hurricanes with six rebounds, while Sam Waardenberg had a team-high five assists.
The entire game was very back and forth, with major scoring runs being one of the main keys to the game.
The first half started out fast for the Hurricanes, going on a 14-6 run through the first five minutes. Duke would answer back, however, going on a 20-4 run through the next eight minutes to make it 26-18. Despite this, the Hurricanes would never go away, eventually coming back to tie the game at 32 at the half.
The second half would remain very tight, with neither team having a lead of more than six in the half. The Hurricanes would take a 60-54 lead with 9:14 left in the period, and all seemed like the momentum would go towards the Canes, but Duke would come back and take a 71-70 lead with 1:01 left. All seemed over when Paolo Banchero capitalized on a Hurricanes steal and dunked it home to make it 74-71. However, this Hurricanes team had an answer, scoring two layups in a row to make it 75-74. Despite keeping the game at a winnable pace for Duke, after Isaiah Wong missed the second free throw, Trevor Keels would miss the game-winning three.
Miami had 11 steals in the first half (15 in total); a program record since joining the ACC.
Meanwhile, Duke had a season-high 17 turnovers.
Overall, Miami earned their win by playing hard. The Canes took care of the ball, played great defense and just battled Duke in their building until the last second.
With Miami’s win Saturday night, Jim Larrañaga moves to 7-7 all-time against Duke. This makes him the second most-winningest ACC head coach against Coach K. It’s also Miami’s first Top 5 win since 2016.
Next Up:
The Hurricanes will continue their road trip to Tallahassee to play a reeling Florida State Seminoles team. Then, Miami will have back-to-back road games against North Carolina and the same Florida State team.
(Featured image by Lance King/Getty Images)