Look out, No. 1 Indiana. The University of Miami is gaining on you.
The Hurricanes (21-3, 12-0 ACC) continued their unexpected climb up college basketball’s national rankings Monday, moving up one spot to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 behind the top-ranked Hoosiers.
UM has won 13 consecutive games, one short of the school record, and owns a three-game lead in the ACC standings heading into Tuesday night’s meeting with Virginia at the BankUnited Center.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” said senior forward Kenny Kadji. “It’s insane on campus. In Miami, everybody is talking about you.”
The Hurricanes have Kadji to thank for that.
The 6-foot-11 native of Cameroon preserved UM’s win streak by scoring a team-high 12 points and hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds left in a 45-43 victory at Clemson on Sunday night. Kadji’s clutch basket helped the Hurricanes overcome a woeful shooting performance and the team’s lowest point total of the season.
“We were really lucky to escape with a win,” center Julian Gamble said. “Clemson played a great defensive game, and we weren’t really hitting the shots that we usually make. But the ability for us to go in there and scrap out that win shows that we have that level of toughness and we can win every type of game that you throw at us.”
Miami won both its games on the road last week and boasts a 7-0 record in conference away games. That’s as many road victories as UM managed in the past four seasons combined.
The Hurricanes’ 12-0 start in ACC games is the best start by a conference member since Duke went 16-0 in 1998-99. UM supplanted Duke at No. 2 in the Associated Press poll after the Blue Devils were upset by unranked Maryland on Saturday.
A win Tuesday night against the Cavaliers (18-7, 8-4) would give UM its 14th straight victory, tying the school record set first in 1946-47 and matched in 2001-02. The 13-game winning streak is the fourth-longest active run in Division I behind Akron (17), Memphis (16) and Louisiana Tech (15).
With a three-game lead and six games left in the regular season, the Hurricanes can clinch their first ACC regular-season title and earn the top seed in the conference tournament by going 4-2 down the stretch. UM, which last lost on Christmas Day, has never finished better than fourth in the regular season since joining the ACC in 2004.
The Hurricanes have other things to shoot for besides an ACC regular-season title, including seeding in the NCAA Tournament. As it stands today, most NCAA bracket projections list Miami as a No. 1 seed.
But Gamble, a sixth-year senior, said his teammates aren’t taking anything as a given.
“I’ve heard a couple of rumblings about people saying that it’s been getting to our heads and [UM’s players are] being a little arrogant or cocky maybe,” Gamble said. “But that’s not our approach at all. We’re a very humble group on and off the court. Coach [Jim Larranaga] won’t let that get to our heads and let us become big-headed. We know we have a lot more work to do.”
Besides Virginia, UM will also face the challenge Tuesday night of a two-day turnaround after playing Clemson on Sunday.
“Every game here on out is going to be a tough game for us,” Gamble said. “We have a huge target on our back like we’ve had in these recent weeks. We plan on getting teams’ best shot.”
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