Miami Men's Basketball Drops Fifth Straight as No. 4 Duke Looms in the Wing
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The nightmare season continues as the Miami Hurricanes (4-12, 0-5 ACC) drops its fifth straight game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (12-4, 4-1 ACC) 88-78.
The first half was the same as other halves this season. The Hurricanes show promise in the first opening minutes then Lynn Kidd finds himself in early foul trouble. Without Kidd on the floor, the offense and subsequently the defense drastically dips.
The Watsco Center crowd has been loud despite the losses but they still can't give energy to the team when simple mistakes continue to hold them back. This is highlighted defensively as they don't have any defense and it continues to get worse game after game.
The Hurricanes allowed 50 paint points in this game as the season trend of atrocious interior defense continues. Not only that, Wake Forest's Cameron Hildreth was electric for the Demon Deakes all game. He finished the game with 31 points, 11-16 FG, 6-8 3FG, and the Canes just struggled to stick with him during the game. Anytime a player blinked the ball was already through the net.
Miami finished the game shooting, 40 percent from the field, 30 percent from three-point range, and finishing with 14 turnovers. Matthew Cleveland finished the game with 22 points leading the Canes with star Freshman Jalil Bethea and Austin Swartz following with 13 and 12 respectively.
Bill Courtney knows that losing sucks but this won't change the preparation and the effort the team will give as they have a big task ahead of them.
"Losing sucks," Courtney said after the loss. It is very difficult these kids are working their tails off and deserve to win. It's our job as a coaching staff and their jobs as players to figure out a way. We were right there tonight. We couldn't get a stop but keep encouraging us. Give credit to Wake Forest."
The Hurricanes now have the projected No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick in the Duke led Cooper Flagg to worry about who is also coming off a career game. There are still 15 games to go this season, but the countdown begins for the new era of the Miami Hurricanes.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.