Takeaways from Miami’s win 77-76 over NC State
With Miami trailing by two with three seconds remaining, guard Tru Washington nailed three free-throws to send the Hurricanes home with a 77-76 win over North Carolina State. This game featured 14 ties and 19 lead changes.
Those final free throws culminated an 8-0 run by the Canes in the last 52 seconds of the game.
“He’s been in big moments,” coach Jai Lucas said of Washington. “In that moment there was no doubt – maybe a little bit! – I knew he’d make at least two of them. Once the first one went in the way it did, I knew he was making all three because he has that confidence.
“Man, life in the ACC – it’s a rollercoaster. Exciting game. I don’t know what other way to put it.”
In the first half, Miami (20-5, 9-3 ACC) led by as many as five, 22-17, with just under 10 minutes left following a Malik Reneau layup and a Tru Washington 3-pointer. NC State (18-8, 9-4 ACC) took the lead with five minutes remaining and held a 42-37 advantage into the break.
“It just comes down to little details – first half we stayed close enough,” Lucas said.
The Wolfpack hit a three out of the half to extend their lead to eight before the Hurricanes went on an 11-3 run to tie the game at 48-48. The Hurricanes utilized a Tre Donaldson jumper and a Reneau lay-in to take their first lead of the second half, 58-56.
Following a flagrant foul on Darrion Williams, Donaldson hit both free throws to push the lead to 69-65 before NC State went on a 11-0 run to take a 76-69 advantage. A Reneau and-one and a Washington layup cut the lead to two before Washington got fouled on a 3-point attempt. The junior gave Miami the lead with 3.7 second as he hit all three free throw attempts.
“We hit a lull in the second half, they took over and made a run,” Lucas said. “I’m just excited for our guys because they battled and competed the whole night. They just kept chipping way and we were able to pull it out at the end.”
Reneau finished with a game-high 26 points as Shelton Henderson added 17 points and nine rebounds. Donaldson registered 14 points as Washington finished with 13 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Miami dominated the paint, 56-32, and cleaned up the glass, outrebounding NC State, 40-29, including 20 offensive boards.
“I’m just happy for my team,” Lucas said. “I haven’t had a lot of success in this building. I always tell people this is one of the hardest buildings in the ACC. It is. I put it right up there. When you’re at Duke – look at the crowd tonight. This is one of the hardest places to play. I put it up against anybody, so I’m just happy we were able to survive.”
The Hurricanes will take on Virginia Tech next on Tuesday at 8 pm.
*Lucas’ parents are Durham, NC natives and the coach says he had “15 to 20” family members he brought to the game.
Here are five takeaways from UM’s win over NC State:
Reneau ignites UM offense
Despite frequent double teams and nonstop defensive attention, Miami forward Malik Reneau was elite. He scored a game-high 26 points, using his stature and nifty footwork to carve out space near the basket.
This was Reneau’s seventh straight game with at least 15 points.
Offensive rebounding was a huge advantage
One of the areas that favored Miami the most in this game was rebounding. The Hurricanes entered as the fifth-best rebounding team in the conference, while the Wolfpack were ranked the sixth-worst.
Miami relentlessly crashed the boards on Saturday and finished with a 20-8 offensive rebounding advantage. This led to 20 second-chance points for the Canes.
“We came in the game with a plan,” Lucas said. “We always base our game off three things: Points in the paint, offensive rebounds and winning the free throw battle. We were able to offensive rebound and 56 points in the paint, which is bigtime. But we didn’t get the amount of free throws we need. Need to be closer to 30, 34, and make 19 or 20 a night. That makes up for nights where we don’t shoot the three great, closes the gap when (opponents) shoot better and things like that.”
Former Miami signee lights it up
NC State freshman Matt Able provided a scoring punch off the Wolfpack’s bunch, scoring 17 points – 15 of which were in the first half. The impactful first-year guard has played a key role off NC State’s bench, leading its reserve unit in scoring.
Able’s performance is especially bittersweet for the Hurricanes, as he was once a Miami signee. He pledged to UM in August of his senior year and signed with the program in November, but coaching change and a miserable 2025 campaign for the Hurricanes led to Able requesting a release from his letter of intent.
“He’s bigtime,” Lucas said of Able. “When I got there he was committed, didn’t really have a prior relationship with him and I tried to recruit him, he came on a visit, spent time with him. He just decided he wanted to go somewhere else. But he’s a stud. He’s going to be a stud no matter where he is, because he’s made of the right stuff.”
Free throw shooting continues to struggle
The Hurricanes entered the day ranked as the fourth-worst free-throw shooting team in the ACC, and their struggles from the charity stripe hurt them against NC State (even though Washington nailed the three most important ones).
In the narrow win, Miami shot 10-of-20 from the line. Freshman Shelton Henderson, who was productive with 17 points, could’ve had an even better game had he made more than one of his four attempts from the line.
Will Miami enter the Top 25?
With the win, Miami is now 20-5 this season and 9-3 in ACC play. It didn’t receive any votes in last week’s AP Top 25 Poll, but that may change after its greatest week of the season. The Hurricanes defeated a ranked UNC squad on Tuesday and followed that with a huge win over the Wolfpack, who are slotted in as a seven-seed in Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracket projection.
“We are getting there, are not there yet,” Lucas said. “We are still a new team, and these experiences are huge for us because we have to go through them to help us down the stretch. We still have a gauntlet left in the ACC. Each one of these games just adds to our data bank and helps us to become our best version hopefully towards the end of February going into March.”
