In front of a near sellout crowd at the Watsco Center, the Canes had their chance to notch a season defining victory on Tuesday night. What ensued, instead, was downright ugly.
Just yesterday, Virginia took over as number 1 in the AP poll and found themselves ranked as the number 1 overall seed in the preliminary bracket revealed by the tournament selection committee. But, despite the national praise, the Cavaliers were also beatable, a fact proven just this past Saturday in a home 61-60 loss to rival Virginia Tech. The Canes were coming off their own disappointing loss, a road game to Boston College which they led by 6 points with 6:17 left, before failing to score for the remainder of the game. On Tuesday night Miami had a chance to wash the bad taste out of their mouth and pick up what would surely be one of the biggest wins of the college basketball season.
Instead, Virginia scored first and never once relinquished the lead, as Canes fans had to sit through the bleak, defensive struggle, which saw the Canes shoot just 38.3% from the field. Chris Lykes was about the only player who showed up offensively for the Canes, scoring 19, while turning it over only twice, but his effort wasn't enough to overcome the stifling Virginia defense.
How bad of a loss is this really, for a team that is playing without their best player, and still stayed within 9 against arguably the best team in the country? On paper it doesn't seem so bad, but it's how the Canes looked on the court that makes it much more demoralizing. Losing by 9 to Virginia is like losing by 20 to Duke. Virginia doesn't want to outgun their opponents, they want to suffocate them. Tonight, Miami was suffocated.
Right off the bat, Virginia jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Miami fought back, and with just over 9 minutes left in the half, Sam Waardenburg hit a huge three that cut the Cavaliers lead to 1. That was the closest the Canes would get for the remainder of the game. After Waardenburg's three, the Canes didn't score for over 7 minutes, as Virginia went on a 13-0 run. Against many teams, a 14 point deficit is surmountable. Against Virginia, you may as well put a tally in L column. The Canes entered the half down 11, and posted only 16 points.
After the break the Canes came out hot, going on a 10-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 3. For awhile the Canes kept the Cavaliers within reach, before an 11-2 run by Virginia opened up a 13 point lead and sealed the deal.
There is fight in this Miami team, there is no question about that, but aside from Chris Lykes and some huge minutes off the bench from Ebuka Izundu, the Canes looked lost offensively. Virginia does that to teams, but in front of a home crowd that was foaming at the mouth for an upset, it's disheartening to see a performance that looked so... flat. The Canes held Virginia to only 59 points, 9 points below their season average, but considering the Canes were never able to threaten, it's hard to judge how many more points Virginia could have scored.
De'Andre Hunter had a game-high 22, as he provided huge minutes off the bench for the Cavaliers. Kyle Guy added another 13 and Jack Salt led the team with 7 rebounds. In the loss, Ebuka Izundu had 8 points and 5 boards, while Amp Lawrence led the way with 7 boards, but went 0-7 from the floor.
What does this mean for the Canes as March Madness quickly approaches? Really not much, but a win here would have been huge. The remaining 5 games of the regular season are winnable and it all starts on Saturday when they host Syracuse, a team that is sitting squarely on the bubble. For a team that was ranked as high as 6th earlier in the season, winning the next 5 would be huge for their psyche as they head into tournament season and inch closer to getting Bruce Brown back. The loss to Boston College was beyond frustrating, and Tuesday night the Canes did not look like a team that had recovered from it.
Here's to hoping Saturday is better.
Just yesterday, Virginia took over as number 1 in the AP poll and found themselves ranked as the number 1 overall seed in the preliminary bracket revealed by the tournament selection committee. But, despite the national praise, the Cavaliers were also beatable, a fact proven just this past Saturday in a home 61-60 loss to rival Virginia Tech. The Canes were coming off their own disappointing loss, a road game to Boston College which they led by 6 points with 6:17 left, before failing to score for the remainder of the game. On Tuesday night Miami had a chance to wash the bad taste out of their mouth and pick up what would surely be one of the biggest wins of the college basketball season.
Instead, Virginia scored first and never once relinquished the lead, as Canes fans had to sit through the bleak, defensive struggle, which saw the Canes shoot just 38.3% from the field. Chris Lykes was about the only player who showed up offensively for the Canes, scoring 19, while turning it over only twice, but his effort wasn't enough to overcome the stifling Virginia defense.
How bad of a loss is this really, for a team that is playing without their best player, and still stayed within 9 against arguably the best team in the country? On paper it doesn't seem so bad, but it's how the Canes looked on the court that makes it much more demoralizing. Losing by 9 to Virginia is like losing by 20 to Duke. Virginia doesn't want to outgun their opponents, they want to suffocate them. Tonight, Miami was suffocated.
Right off the bat, Virginia jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Miami fought back, and with just over 9 minutes left in the half, Sam Waardenburg hit a huge three that cut the Cavaliers lead to 1. That was the closest the Canes would get for the remainder of the game. After Waardenburg's three, the Canes didn't score for over 7 minutes, as Virginia went on a 13-0 run. Against many teams, a 14 point deficit is surmountable. Against Virginia, you may as well put a tally in L column. The Canes entered the half down 11, and posted only 16 points.
After the break the Canes came out hot, going on a 10-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 3. For awhile the Canes kept the Cavaliers within reach, before an 11-2 run by Virginia opened up a 13 point lead and sealed the deal.
There is fight in this Miami team, there is no question about that, but aside from Chris Lykes and some huge minutes off the bench from Ebuka Izundu, the Canes looked lost offensively. Virginia does that to teams, but in front of a home crowd that was foaming at the mouth for an upset, it's disheartening to see a performance that looked so... flat. The Canes held Virginia to only 59 points, 9 points below their season average, but considering the Canes were never able to threaten, it's hard to judge how many more points Virginia could have scored.
De'Andre Hunter had a game-high 22, as he provided huge minutes off the bench for the Cavaliers. Kyle Guy added another 13 and Jack Salt led the team with 7 rebounds. In the loss, Ebuka Izundu had 8 points and 5 boards, while Amp Lawrence led the way with 7 boards, but went 0-7 from the floor.
What does this mean for the Canes as March Madness quickly approaches? Really not much, but a win here would have been huge. The remaining 5 games of the regular season are winnable and it all starts on Saturday when they host Syracuse, a team that is sitting squarely on the bubble. For a team that was ranked as high as 6th earlier in the season, winning the next 5 would be huge for their psyche as they head into tournament season and inch closer to getting Bruce Brown back. The loss to Boston College was beyond frustrating, and Tuesday night the Canes did not look like a team that had recovered from it.
Here's to hoping Saturday is better.
