Virginia Cavaliers vs Miami Hurricanes Match Player Stats On Mar 04, 2020

Kihei Clark broke a tie by sinking two free throws with eight seconds left, leading No. 22 Virginia to a 46-44 victory over Miami on Wednesday night in Coral Gables, Fla.

Clark was fouled, rather inexplicably, by Miami freshman Harlond Beverly, near midcourt. Since it was Miami's seventh foul, Clark went to the line for a one-and-one.

After Clark made both foul shots, Miami's Dejan Vasiljevic had a chance to send the game to overtime, but he just missed on a drive to the hoop as the ball hit the backboard and bounced off the rim.

Jay Huff led Virginia (22-7, 14-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 17 points -- all of them in the first half. Huff, coming off a game in which he had a career-high 10 blocks, didn't swat any on Wednesday.

Mamadi Diakite added 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Virginia, the reigning national champions, won its seventh consecutive game, matching its longest streak of the season.

Miami's leading scorer this season, guard Chris Lykes, scored a team-high 16 points but had to leave the game with 12:11 left in the second half. Lykes was accidentally elbowed in the face by teammate Sam Waardenburg, who was trying to block a shot on the play.

The Hurricanes (14-15, 6-13) lost their third consecutive game.

Virginia -- along with Louisville, Florida State and Duke -- has already clinched a double bye in next week's ACC tournament. With the latest win, the Cavaliers kept alive their hopes for the top seed in the tournament.

The Cavaliers got off to a 17-11 lead with 3:55 left in the first half, with all 17 of the points coming from Huff. To that point, Huff had made 7 of 9 shots, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range. The rest of the Cavaliers had shot 0-for-8, and Miami was shooting 5-for-18.

It wasn't until Clark hit a 3-pointer with 3:20 left in the half that someone other than Huff scored for the Cavaliers.

Miami cut Virginia's lead to 24-23 on a jumper by Lykes at the buzzer. Lykes had 14 points in the half.

In the second half, Miami's Keith Stone hit a 3-pointer with 2:17 left to tie the score 44-44. Neither team scored again until Clark delivered the winning points from the foul line.

--Field Level Media