Can Miami Fight Off The Irish On The Road To Avoid A Season Collapse?
Taking a look where the Miami Hurricanes stand today, there's no doubt that this season has been disappointing after making the Final Four last year. However, there are simply some things you can't control and other's that you couldn't predict.
Whether it be the injuries that have banged up key starters or constantly dealing with foul trouble and turnovers, Miami sits at just 12-6 on the season and 3-4 in ACC play. While not entirely eliminated from NCAA Tournament contention, it's an uphill battle for them that needs to start with a win this evening.
Jim Larrañaga and company travel to South Bend to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, a team that holds the second-worst overall record in the conference and has already been beat by this Miami team this year.
Unfortunately, what we've seen from Miami this year shows us that nothing is a guaranteed win. Notre Dame was able to beat Virginia, so there's no saying they couldn't beat any ACC team on any given night.
Leading the way for the Irish is freshman guard Markus Burton, who since playing at Miami when he scored six points has recorded 11 straight double-digit scoring outings (17.3 PPG in that stretch). Outside of Burton though, nobody else on the team is averaging double-digit points this season.
With that being said, the key to this game for Miami needs to be let anyone but Burton beat them. Miami averages nearly 20 points more per game than the Irish, so the odds play in their favor. Assuming Miami is fully-healthy going into tonight's game, there shouldn't be much of a problem.
However that is not the case, as Norchad Omier missed the Hurricanes' last game at Syracuse which proved to be the difference in an Orange win. Given the status of this Notre Dame team, Miami may very well hold him back from returning tonight.
Regardless of how much better Miami looks on paper, they still need to get the job done on the road. If Coach Larrañaga wants to build confidence in his team going forward, a big win is needed to jump start this team going into the month of February.
Prediction: Miami 77 Notre Dame 69
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You can find Liam on Twitter @theleftyliam where he shares news on University of Miami basketball and football as well as opinions