No Lykes? No problem. UM beats Virginia Tech 71-61, dedicates win to Kobe Bryant
The most remarkable thing about the Miami Hurricanes’ 22-point first-half lead over Virginia Tech Tuesday night was that they got there with leading scorer and point guard Chris Lykes injured on the bench.
Miami led by 19 at the half (tying its largest halftime lead of the season), never lost the lead and came away with a much-needed 71-61 victory over the Hokies.
UM coach Jim Larranaga told his players before the game to play in memory of NBA icon Kobe Bryant, who died Sunday in a helicopter crash. There was a moment of silence in the arena in honor of Bryant.
“This win was huge for us,” center Rodney Miller said. “We had a tough streak of losses. We needed this for our confidence. Coach L has done a good job of keeping us together. With the death of Kobe Bryant, he told us to dedicate this game to Kobe, how hard a worker he was, to go out and bust our tail. We did a good job of that.”
Virginia Tech chipped away at the lead in the second half with outstanding play by redshirt freshman guard Tyrece Radford, and got to within four in the final minute. But the Canes hung on with clutch plays by freshman Harlond Beverly, who scored six points in the final 50 seconds and finished with 13 points and six assists in place of Lykes.
“It was a very good team effort,” said Larranaga. “We shared the ball much better tonight. We were very concerned coming in with their ability to make threes. They made eight of 22, but didn’t absolutely kill us.”
”Harlond (Beverly) and Isaiah (Wong) are growing into ACC guards. They are getting more and more playing time. Harlond played 31 and Wong 29. As they gain more minutes, they gain more confidence.”
The Canes were 1-6 in January heading into Tuesday’s game, coming off back-to-back blowouts by Duke and North Carolina, and the sight of Lykes in sweats for the second game in a row was enough to discourage the UM fans at the Watsco Center.
But Kam McGusty and Keith Stone returned to the lineup after injuries, and that seemed to energize the Hurricanes. McGusty missed the game at North Carolina with back spasms and Stone had been out the previous six games with a knee injury.
Freshmen guards Beverly and Wong started the second consecutive game for UM, and Beverly distributed the ball well in Lykes’ absence.
Radford was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and he grabbed eight rebounds. DJ Vasiljevic led UM with 18 points and seven rebounds. Rodney Miller had 11 points and eight rebounds, Isaiah Wong added 10 and Anthony Walker seven.
“Some of the success (the Hokies) were enjoying was from their defense that led to fast breaks and threes,” Larranaga said. “In the final minute, we got a couple of steals, we made the free throws and got the ball back. We always talk about having poise at the end of close games, and we did that.”
UM improved to 11-9, 3-7 ACC and plays next on the road at Pitt on Super Bowl Sunday. Virginia Tech dropped to 14-7, 5-5 ACC.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 10:08 PM.