Miami Men's Basketball Drops its Fourth Straight, This time to Florida State
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes (4-11, 0-4 ACC) nightmare season continues as they struggle to find ground against the Florida State Seminoles (11-5, 2-2 ACC) and lose its fourth straight matchup and game against FSU 80-65.
If it wasn't clear enough, the season is over for the Hurricanes. The sole focus should be finding a basketball coach who will be able to pull this program out of a hole that many did not expect to see happen.
The first half was a testament to how much this team needs Lynn Kidd despite him being a liability on defense. The entire offense runs through him and without him, the Hurricanes are lost on the court.
The team got into early foul trouble with its two leading scorers, Kidd and Matthew Cleveland, quickly picking up two fouls.
Without them on the floor, the first half saw the Canes struggle to find any offensive output shooting 33 percent from the field and only making two threes. The biggest news is that rising star freshman Divine Ugochukwu was injured and not seen in the second half after going for a steal and landing awkwardly on his left hip.
BREAKING: Miami Freshman Goes Down With an Injury Against Florida State
Cleveland finished the game with 16 points, leading the team in scoring, and has started to find its own way even with the struggles of the team. the best advice Cleveland can give when times are rough like this is to just smile.
In the second half, the Hurricanes found a way to rally back themselves and a desperate home crowd but were disappointed as they left with a little over five minutes remaining on the clock.
In the second half of every game, there is a chance for the Hurricanes to take over and bring back the momentum. The roar of the crowd and the atmosphere was desperate for a Canes comeback and there was once against a chance. Miami was on a 6-0 run and had the chance to cut the lead to four. The Canes clawed their way to another turnover and Paul Djobet ended up with the ball and decided it was time for a little hero ball.
He went up for an impossible shot instead of throwing an easy lob to a trailing Lynn Kidd which would have blown the roof off the Watsco Center who are desperate for a win. Instead, a potential four-point deficit quickly ballooned to a 17-point hole that UM could not climb out of.
Interim Head coach Bill Courtney highlighted this and the other times the team struggled to find ways to get over the hump when they have chances to take over and control games.
"Yeah, that's kind of been a little bit of our season, you have an opportunity to get a way bucket, right? um down six, we get out on fastbreak get a shot block, and they come down and score, Courtney said. "It goes from possibly cutting it to four but it went to eight. Again those group goes-up swings are so important, so vital we take advantage of those situations because the whole momentum shifts. We had the same thing last game. Up seven, three straight turnovers, and beginning to end up with a dunk cut to five. and so again, we have to learn to take advantage of situations."
The Hurricanes will now look to Wake Forest for another home game on Saturday where they hope to snap this losing streak to gain some momentum going into the off-season.
READ MORE FROM MIAMI HURRICANES ON SI:
Matthew Cleveland's Confidence is 'at an All Time High' Entering ACC Play
Key Coaches to Highlight as Miami Basketball Prepares for a New Head Coach
REPORT: No Time Table for the Return of Nijel Pack
Follow all social media platforms to stay up to date with everything Miami Hurricanes-related: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and BlueSky.
