Virginia Basketball vs. Miami Game Preview, Score Prediction
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Just three days after suffering their first loss of the season, the No. 6 Virginia Cavaliers (8-1, 1-0 ACC) face another tough challenge as they hit the road to take on the No. 22 Miami Hurricanes (11-1, 2-0 ACC) on Tuesday night in Coral Gables. UVA will look to bounce back after Saturday's loss to Houston, but the Canes will certainly be playing with an edge as they try to put an end to a six-game losing streak in the series against the Wahoos.
Read on for a full preview of Virginia at Miami, including details on the game, stat comparisons, an opponent scouting report, game notes, and a score prediction.
Game Details
Who: No. 6 Virginia Cavaliers (8-1, 1-0 ACC) at No. 22 Miami Hurricanes (11-1, 2-0 ACC)
When: Tuesday, December 20th at 8:30pm ET
Where: Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida
How to watch: ACC Network
How to stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
How to listen: SiriusXM 146 or 194, SXM App 956 | Virginia Sports Radio Network - click here for affiliates
All-time series: Virginia leads 15-12
Last meeting: Virginia defeated Miami 74-71 on February 19th, 2022 at Miami
Stat Comparison
Opponent Scouting Report: Miami
2022-2023: 11-1, 2-0 ACC
Notable results: vs. Providence 74-64 W, vs. Maryland 89-70 L, vs. Rutgers 68-61 W, at Louisville 80-53 W, vs. Cornell 107-105 W, vs. NC State 80-73 W
Although Virginia swept the two-game season series against Miami last year, it was the Hurricanes who went on to make a long run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, while the Cavaliers were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the NIT. From that Elite Eight team, Jim Larrañaga lost three starters in Kameron McGusty, Charlie Moore, and Sam Waardenburg, but the Canes returned Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller and added two key transfers in Norchad Omier and Nijel Pack.
Things have been going fairly well for the Hurricanes through the first 12 games of the season, with the exception of an 18-point loss to Maryland on a neutral floor in late November. Since then, Miami is on a seven-game winning streak, including victories over UCF, Rutgers, Louisville, and NC State. Miami cracked the AP Top 25 last week and is now ranked No. 22, but Tuesday night's matchup against Virginia presents the first big opportunity for the Canes to prove themselves after that loss to the Terrapins one month ago.
6'3" guard Isaiah Wong decided to return to Miami for his senior season after initially declaring for the NBA Draft. As expected, Wong has been the Hurricanes' leading scorer and primary playmaker on the offensive end of the floor. He is shooting a career-high 46.1% from the field and averaging 16.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Wong has developed his passing game significantly, averaging 4.4 assists per game (up from 2.0 last season) and has been a factor on the defensive end, coming up with just under two steals per game. Reece Beekman is likely to still be hampered by his hamstring injury in this game, but it will be pivotal for Virginia that he at least play his usual lockdown defense in the matchup against Wong.
A Virginia native, Jordan Miller is playing his fifth season of college basketball and his second at Miami after spending his first three years at George Mason. A 6'6" guard, Miller has become a matchup problem as he has developed his three-pointer, more than doubling his attempts and shooting a career-high 34.1% from beyond the arc. Miller is averaging 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
A transfer from Arkansas State, 6'7" forward Norchad Omier has shown thus far that he is definitely up to the challenge of playing at the ACC level. Omier is averaging a near double-double at 13.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and is a very productive interior scorer, shooting 62.9% from the floor.
Miami won the sweepstakes for Kansas State guard Nijel Pack, one of the hottest names in the transfer portal this offseason. He is not shooting as well from three early in the season, down to 32.8% from 43.6% last season with the Wildcats. But, the 6'0" guard is still having a tremendous impact for the Hurricanes, averaging 11.3 points and 3.0 assists per game. His battle with Kihei Clark is definitely a matchup to watch in this game.
Miami essentially runs a six-man rotation with 6'5" guard Wooga Poplar (8.3 ppg) providing another scoring option and 6'2" guard Joseph Bensley serving as a sharpshooter off the bench, hitting on 42.4% of his three-pointers. 6'9" forward Anthony Walker gets around nine minutes per game, but the Hurricanes mostly run a smaller lineup with Omier as the tallest player on the floor, a look that Virginia has seen quite a bit early on this season. A lot of teams are opting for rosters that lack a tradition tall center and Miami is one of them. Kadin Shedrick had a very efficient game against Houston, making seven of his eight field goal attempts for 16 points, but he was somewhat underused in Virginia's offense despite his effectiveness operating out of the pick and roll. Expect UVA to lean more heavily on Shedrick in this game if he shows that he can press that advantage against a smaller team again. Otherwise, we will likely see Tony Bennett again opt to match the opponent with small-ball lineups featuring Ben Vander Plas at center, although Vander Plas desperately needs to break free from his current shooting slump.
Game Notes
- Tuesday's matchup marks the first time Virginia and Miami meet as ranked opponents since March 11th, 2016
- This is also the first matchup between any two ranked ACC teams since February 15th, 2021
- UVA currently has a six-game winning streak against Miami and a three-game winning streak against the Hurricanes in Coral Gables
- Virginia owns a 15-12 all-time record against Miami dating back to 1965, but the Hurricanes have a 7-4 advantage against the Cavaliers in games played in Coral Gables
- Tony Bennett is 12-6 all-time against Miami
- Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga was on the UVA men's basketball staff from 1979-1986 under head coach Terry Holland
- Tuesday marks just the second true road game of the season for Virginia, who is 3-0 in games away from Charlottesville and 1-0 in true road games so far this season
Prediction
It's still early in the season, but this game has significant ramifications for Virginia's season-long goals. This road contest at Miami qualifies as a Quad 1 game and opportunities like this will be in short supply in the ACC given how weak the bottom half of the conference appears to be. It's also crucial that the Cavaliers get their momentum going again after suffering their first loss of the season on Saturday and show that they can beat good teams even if Reece Beekman isn't 100% healthy. Miami will be eager to end its six-game losing streak to UVA, but the Cavaliers will be even more hungry to get back in the win column after the loss to Houston.
Virginia showed early in the season that it had an offense capable of outscoring even top-tier opponents like Baylor, but that offense has not shown itself over the last few games. Against a Miami offense that ranks 12th in adjusted offensive efficiency, the Cavaliers will need to execute a lot better on the offensive end than they did against Houston. I think the Hoos will rediscover their early-season shooting magic on Tuesday night in Coral Gables as an early Christmas present and knock off the Canes to get back on track.
Score prediction: Virginia 75, Miami 72
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