It Doesn’t Matter Who the Miami Hurricanes Play…Tre Donaldson Will Still Cook (& Georgia Tech Found Out the Hard Way)

Tre Donaldson heard Georgia Tech was in town and basically said: cool. Hold this career-high.

Donaldson led the Miami Hurricanes to a win that got close late but still felt like Miami had the remote the entire time. He finished with a career-high 27 points, dropped a double-double (10 assists), and committed only one turnover because apparently he enjoys playing point guard on expert mode.

And even with Miami stacking wins like it’s an everyday chore, Jai Lucas made it clear the league doesn’t hand anybody anything.

“Wins are hard to come by,” Lucas said, “especially in the conference and the league.” He even pointed out how much tougher the ACC feels this year: “It’s so much better this year… with the quality of player, but also with the quality of player, coaches become better too.”

“At this point,” it’s starting not to matter who Miami plays, and Georgia Tech had to learn that the hard way.

Now to be fair, the Yellow Jackets absolutely made it a game. They didn’t show up to Coral Gables to be a background character. They clawed back from being down as many as 14 in the second half, hit a momentum three, and got the score down to five points late (77–72) with 4:03 remaining.

That’s fight. That’s pride. That’s “we are not letting y’all tweet jokes at us.”

Lucas told you Georgia Tech always does this.

“My big thing for the team was they always fight back,” he said. “They’ve been down almost every game that they’ve been in… and they always come back and make it competitive. And today was no different.”

But Miami still looks like the ACC’s most annoying type of team right now.

Not annoying because they’re lucky.

Annoying because they’re consistent.

Miami’s streak keeps growing, and the reason it feels so unfair is because they don’t play like a team chasing wins. They play like a team building an identity. Donaldson put it best when he broke down what’s driving this run:

“All glory goes to God,” he said, before crediting his coaches and teammates for putting him in the right situations. When the advantages show up, he says the job is simple: “Being able to execute, get it there on time and on target… and get these guys in areas where they thrive.”

That’s a point guard talking like a CEO.

And honestly, that’s the biggest question hanging over this whole stretch:

What can anyone do to stop them?

Georgia Tech Made It Close… But Miami Still Felt in Control

This game had two versions.

Version One: Miami playing like the team everybody’s starting to fear.

Version Two: Georgia Tech throwing hands and making it uncomfortable.

Miami jumped on them early, going into halftime up 47–33, and for a while it looked like another “Hurricanes by 15” type of afternoon. Miami was getting good looks, moving the ball, and operating like a team that expects to win the same way every night.

But Georgia Tech did not cooperate with the script.

Lucas saw why it got weird.

“I just felt like we just had a few too many lapses, offensively and defensively, that kind of helped them… and helped them get back in the game,” he said. “But they did a great job of competing.”

He also clocked the adjustment that changed the whole feel.

“He changed up his whole game plan,” Lucas said. “He went really small, spread the court, did stuff a little bit different than they have played… it’s a testament to him.”

To Georgia Tech’s credit, they dropped 39 points in the second half, they were trying to win this game. For the final shooting splits, they did shoot well finishing shooting 46% from the field (24-for-52), and were basically automatic from the line: 18-for-20 (90%). That alone is why the game got tight, because free throws are the great equalizer in college hoops. You can be outplayed for 28 minutes, but if you keep getting to the stripe and hitting everything, eventually you’re right back in somebody’s living room.

To add more, Georgia Tech said f**k it and shot 50% from three (6-for-12), which is normally how you steal games on the road.

And Miami still survived it.

That’s the thing. Georgia Tech had production, not vibes, and it still didn’t f**king matter during this game. Their players played their a** off as Kowacie Reeves Jr. led them with 21 points on 9-for-15 shooting. Meanwhile, Baye Ndongo added 16 points and 7 rebounds and then Lamar Washington went full quarterback mode with 17 points and 12 assists, plus a perfect 8-for-8 at the line, but the s**t didn’t matter.

Miami just didn’t fold.

And Lucas framed it the simplest way possible.

“You know, the hardest thing to do is win,” he said. “No matter how you get it done.”

Tre Donaldson Hit the “Win the Game” Button

Every good team has a tone-setter. Miami’s tone-setter right now is Donaldson, and he played this one like he had the cheat codes.

When Georgia Tech cut it to five, Donaldson didn’t start playing frantic. He didn’t start hunting hero shots. He started hunting the only thing that matters.

Do you remember what was going through his mind when it got tight late?

“Win the game,” Donaldson said.

That was it. No TED Talk. No poetry. Just the mission.

“My biggest thing is just win the game no matter what it takes to win it.”

Lucas basically confirmed that this is just who Tre is when it’s time to close.

“He’s got that gene at the end of the game,” Lucas said. “He loves those moments. And he’s delivered.”

And Lucas didn’t say it like a compliment. He said it like a fact you should write down and stop debating.

“In those moments, I trust him,” Lucas said. “I trust him to make the right plays… he executed perfectly out of the time out. But, you know, in those moments, he’s going to have the ball.”

That trust gets even crazier when you look at the one-turnover detail.

“It’s a testament to him because the ball is in his hands a lot,” Lucas said. “With that much usage, it’s easy to have more than one turnover… and he’s done a good job of just taking care of it and putting the ball in the right places at the right time and just executing the plan.”

That’s not a coach hyping a guy up, it’s a coach lettinig everyone in the world know that Tre’s game is the f**king reason the offense works!

Donaldson’s stat line backs it up, and no one can talk s**t about it iether, 27 points, 10 assists, 1 turnover, and he kept putting Georgia Tech in rotation, getting downhill, collapsing the defense, and creating clean looks. Miami as a team shot 50% overall (27-for-54) and hit 8 threes (8-for-22), and they kept moving the ball even when the pressure rose.

And the part Miami fans should love most is what Lucas said about the last four minutes when it got tight.

“Just to keep battling and keep throwing punches,” he said. “We had to… adjust and adapt on the fly within the game… especially when it’s kind of crunch time.”

Then he gave the real truth: Miami couldn’t just defend their way out of it.

“This wasn’t a game where we could just rely on our defense,” Lucas said. “We had to score to get separations, and they were able to do that.”

Ernest Udeh’s “Lab Work” Is Starting to Show

And while Donaldson owned the big moments, Ernest Udeh Jr. gave Miami a steady anchor and then gave you the most honest explanation possible for why his free throws are improving.

“It’s mental,” Udeh said. “Getting up there, not thinking too much… just shooting the same way every time.”

No gimmicks. No magic. Just repetition.

He talked about being “in that lab countless times,” with constant work before practice, after practice, game days, mornings, whenever they can. And the point is simple: when the game tightens, you trust the reps.

That mindset also shows up in how Miami finishes games as a group. Udeh explained why Miami didn’t flinch during Georgia Tech’s run:

“We don’t hold,” he said. “Each possession… do what we’re supposed to do… execute what we’re supposed to run.”

Lucas also put Udeh’s value in plain English.

“It opens everything else when you have somebody that’s such a lob threat,” he said, “and can put pressure on a rim and a defense.”

Then he said the quiet part loud:

“And his rebound has been the most impressive thing.”

And even with nine straight wins, Lucas refused to let anybody get comfortable.

“I didn’t even know we were that deep on a winning streak,” he said. “The building can’t be comfortable.”

Then he basically kicked the door in and started talking defense.

“I’m excited we won,” Lucas said, “but I’m disappointed in our defensive effort. We gave up 48 points in the second half. That’s unacceptable against anybody. I don’t care if you win by 10 or not.”

That’s why Miami’s streak feels different. Not because they never get tested. Georgia Tech tested them. Hard.

But Miami doesn’t play to survive runs. They play through them.

And when you’ve got a point guard who can drop a career high, stack assists without turnovers, and reduce late-game pressure to two words…

“Win the game.”

…yeah. It’s starting not to matter who Miami plays.

And if you think nine straight means Miami figured it all out, Lucas already told you to relax.

“It’s not because we’ve won nine games that we’ve got something figured out,” he said. “We got through today, and tomorrow’s a new day. We got reset, and then find a way tomorrow to win tomorrow.”