CORAL GABLES, Fla., Sporting Alert – No. 12 Miami bounced back from its heavy defeat at North Carolina on Saturday with a 64-61 upset victory over No. 3 Virginia in college basketball top 25 action on Monday night.
“We got knocked down big time on Saturday and you’ve got to get back up and fight to show what you’re made of,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said.
“I thought we did that tonight against an outstanding Virginia team.”
Davon Reed connected on 5-for-6 from 3-point range and shot 6-of-8 from the floor overall to score 21 points to lead the way for the Hurricanes (22-5, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference).
With the game sitting close heading down the stretch, Reed made two free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining to increase Miami’s lead and it turned out to be the final score as the hosts improved to 4-2 against Top 25 teams this season.
Senior guard Sheldon McClellan added 11 points and fellow senior Kamari Murphy grabbed 11 rebounds for the Hurricanes, who shot 52.6 percent from 3-point range on 10-for-19 shooting, as they rebounded from the 25-point hammering at North Carolina over the weekend.
“Among the captains we said we can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Reed said about the defeat to the Tar Heels. “That game hurt but it’s in the past.”
He added: “We needed to be the aggressors from start to finish tonight and we were. We knew what was at stake and we responded.”
Malcolm Brogdon tied a career high with a game-high 28 points for Virginia in a losing effort, as no other Cavaliers (21-6, 10-5) player managed to reach double-figures in scoring.
Brogdon went 12-of-18 from the floor and didn’t miss a shot in the second half until the final seconds of the game when his 3-point attempt hit the rim with 23 seconds left.
Brogdon made four 3-pointers and attempted seven from long-range.
As a team, Virginia shot 5-of-16 from behind the arc while shooting 43.1 percent from the field overall in the defeat.
The Cavaliers were losing for the second time in three games.
“We fought hard in the second half, got on the offensive glass, played pretty spirited,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said.
“I thought in the first half we were out on the edge with our transition defense. We were on our heels and they were really attacking.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Up next for Miami (FL) is another difficult battle against No. 11 Louisville at home on Saturday while Virginia hosts No. 7 North Carolina in what is expected to be another thrilling battle in the ACC.
Top 25 College Basketball Scores
Scores on February 22
No. 11 MIAMI (FL) 64, No. 3 VIRGINIA 61
No. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 97, No. 17 IOWA ST. 87
No. 25 TEXAS 71, KANSAS ST. 70
