Miami Basketball Shoots Past Boston College
The Hurricanes moved to 14-2 on the season, knocking off Boston College 88-72. The victory also moved Miami to 5-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball standings, just one spot behind conference leader Clemson at 6-0.
Head coach Jim Larranaga's squad played well for the vast majority of the game. Here's how the game broke down in terms of categories that led Miami to victory.
Hot Shooting
Miami guard Isaiah Wong was on fire. He went 3-4 from behind the arc and also knocked in 4-5 from inside the three-point stripe. The key for Wong would be versatility. Boston College would come at him hard, and Wong would drive by and get into the paint. Of course, leaving space between the defender and Wong did not work out well either.
Miami will have left just about any game it played with a high percentage chance of winning with Wong playing like that offensively. It’s a great bounce back game after he went 1-11 during the 76-70 road loss at Georgia Tech.
Wong had help from the shooting department, as guard Jordan Miller also poured in 19 points from 2-5 shooting from deep and 6-12 from his final shooting statistics. The team, honestly, was just on fire and many of the Hurricanes had a great shooting night.
How about a tremendous 12-18, for 66.7%, from behind the arc, as a team? Hard to lose when that has happened. Overall, Miami was 32-53 for 60.4% from the floor. Again, that was fantastic as the Canes did a good job of passing to open shooters as well as making tough shots under duress.
Unselfish Play
How did Miami shoot so well? Spreading the basketball. Watching the Canes move the ball to a player with an advantage, and then that player creating a shot or knocking down an open look, happened numerous times.
It’s an old adage in basketball, but the team that passed the basketball the best usually won. Last night, Miami was an example of that coming to fruition.
Rebounding
The Canes won the battle of the boards despite Norchad Omier getting his third foul early in the second half. Miami’s bench, as well as the guards, held their own in getting to the ball after a miss. Miami won the rebounding edge by a final tally of 30-22.
There was one area to work on, as well.
On-Ball Defense
While not a major concern, there were some lazy defensive possessions after Miami gained a lead during the first half, as well as a few spots during the second half. Wong even got beat pretty bad when he didn’t stay low in his stance and a Boston College player blew right by him.
For the Canes to make a deep NCAA Tournament run, those are the types of plays that can make a difference for which squad wins or loses.
Overall, Miami’s performance last night showed a team that’s starting to gel and one that took the Georgia Tech loss personally. The Canes are a basketball team to be reckoned with now, and should be again when NCAA Tournament time comes.
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