Virginia Tech Comes Oh-So-Close In 67-66 Heartbreaker vs. Miami

For the fourth time in league play, Virginia Tech came up short by one possession of a victory, falling short to Miami, 67-66, Tuesday night in Coral Gables.

💔 pic.twitter.com/Nufdwk5oHJ
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 18, 2026

Virginia Tech (17-10, 6-8 ACC) lost via a go-ahead free throw from Miami (21-5, 10-3 ACC) guard Tre Donaldson — who scored 32 points — that occurred with 12.5 seconds to go. Hokies guard Ben Hammond's subsequent drive attempt at the horn was no good, cementing another one-score loss for Virginia Tech — and a potential obituary for its NCAA Tournament aspirations.

"Had a shot," said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. "Should have won the damn game."

The majority of the statistics on Tuesday were even, with some leaning Tech's way. Virginia Tech was active on the boards, shaving the deficit against Miami to just two (33-31). It outpaced the Hurricanes by a significant margin in distribution, logging 20 assists to Miami's seven.

Yet, Miami grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to Virginia Tech's seven and produced 19 points off turnovers to the Hokies' seven.

Moreover, the Hurricanes forced fouls to get to the line, logging 13 free-throw attempts. In contrast, Virginia Tech struggled to generate foul-worthy plays in the eyes of the referees, ending the outing with just three free-throw attempts.

Virginia Tech's effort appeared to beature moderate balance; forward Amani Hansberry led the way with 16 points, supplemented by 12 and 10 points from guards Jailen Bedford and Ben Hammond.

Though wing Neoklis Avdalas was quiet from the field, scoring just two points on a 1-for-3 clip, he was active in transition, notching eight assists in a day that was quite productive sans scoring.

Still, Virginia Tech's deficit on points off turnovers — plus its free-throw disparity — proved costly. Down the stretch, the Hokies didn't commit a costly inbounding turnover, as they did against SMU to set up Mustangs guard Boopie Miller's walk-off half-court game-winner.

Virginia Tech simply missed its shots at the end. The Hokies went scoreless from the field for the final 2:34, falling short from the field when the game called for it. The Hokies produced a decent effort, shooting 50% from the field (28-for-56) and 40% (8-for-20). In many facets of the game, it either equalized or outperformed Miami.

For much of the game, the two teams had engaged in a close-quarters rockfight that was narrowly separated for nearly the entire game. Though Miami grabbed a 12-5 lead at the first media timeout of the first, Virginia Tech countered with a 13-4 run in the next 4:04 to snag a two-point lead.

From there, the two teams went back and forth, combining for 10 ties and 12 lead changes. With seven minutes and 13 seconds remaining, Avdalas found Hansberry wide open for a driving lay-in that was then countered by a stepback triple from Miami guard Tre Donaldson.

After a pair of driving lay-ins by Donaldson gave the Hurricanes a two-point lead, Virginia Tech countered with a Christian Gurdak jump shot to knot the game at 61-all entering the U-4 media timeout.

Following consecutive Tobi Lawal scores, Donaldson did it again, hitting a step-back jumper and a pull-up triple to tie the game again, now at 66.

Then, with 12 seconds left, Donaldson barrelled down the lane and drew a foul on Lawal, the forward's fifth. That forced a foul out and for Gurdak to enter in Lawal's stead. Donaldson hit one of two at the line, giving Virginia Tech a chance to claim the game with 3.8 seconds remaining.

After Avdalas inbounded the ball, Hammond received the feed and darted towards the lane, reaching the three-point line with a hair over two seconds to go.

With around 1.2 seconds remaining, Hammond lifted up a potential game-winning lay-in while falling to the floor. But the attempt went slightly long careeming towards the left end of the rim. Though Bedford came back up for a putback attempt, the clock had already hit triple zeros, securing the Hurricanes' victory and cementing another heartbreaker for Virginia Tech.

Though the Hokies failed to stop the Hurricanes at the stripe or in the paint — and it failed to stop Donaldson. The guard proved to be a thorn in Tech's side in the second half, producing a performance eerily reminiscent of Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie's against the Hokies on Jan. 7.

That day, Okorie logged 26 of his 31 points in the second half. For Miami, Donaldson scored eight points on 4-of-10 shooting in the opening half, before exploding down the stretch and logging 24 second-half points on a 9-for-14 clip.

That, and Donaldson scored the Hurricanes' last 15 points.

Discounting Donaldson's numbers (13-for-24 from the field, 3-for-7 from long range), the remainder of the team shot 14-for-37 (37.8%) from the field and 1-for-9 (11.1%) from long range.

Virginia Tech's contest against the Hurricanes was one it needed to claim to sustain its NCAA Tournament hopes. While the Hokies aren't out of it yet, they'll need a deep run in the ACC Tournament to keep alive their homes of dancing in March.

The reason for Tech's unlikely odds to make the NCAA Tournament are both self-inflicted and also partially out of its control. The Hokies have struggled with injury, most notably with ankle injuries to Lawal and guard Tyler Johnson. Lawal missed nine games earlier in the season, while Johnson has not played since Dec. 21, with his status remaining up in the air on a game-to-game basis.

Still, the Hokies have dropped half of their league games by three points or fewer, placing them behind the 8-ball due to games they had a serious chance to win but couldn't close out.

Virginia Tech's next contest comes back at home. The Hokies will host Wake Forest on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 12 p.m. ET, with coverage for the contest being available on the ACC Network. Virginia Tech played against the Demon Deacons on Jan. 3, with Wake Forest winning 81-78 off guard Nate Calmese's game-winning three-pointer with 6.5 seconds remaining.

More Virginia Tech Basketball News