UM runs out of magic, loses 70-66 to Georgia Tech in ACC tournament quarterfinals
The magical March run is over for the University of Miami men’s basketball team.
The Hurricanes were the ACC tournament darlings after becoming the first No. 13 seed ever to reach the quarterfinals, and they nearly pulled off another shocker on Thursday. They led fourth-seeded Georgia Tech at halftime and trailed by two with 32 seconds to go but fell short, 70-66.
Georgia Tech’s hard-nosed guard Jose Alvarado scrambled to save a ball out of bounds in the closing seconds, wiggled his way out of a Miami trap and made a long pass to an open Jordan Usher, who dunked for the decisive final points.
Miami ends its injury-plagued season with a 10-17 record, 5-15 against conference opponents.
“The last four games we played the best basketball we played all season,” UM coach Jim Larranaga said. “I told the guys I am very, very proud of them and the effort they gave. It was a heck of a fight. We gave it all we had up until the final buzzer. What killed us were the turnovers in the second half.”
The Yellow Jackets lead the conference in forced turnovers, and they picked off the Canes 18 times on Thursday, leading to 16 points.
They also held UM’s leading scorer Isaiah Wong to 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting. He shot a couple of air balls late in the game and missed free throws he normally makes. Wong was coming off back-to-back 20-point games against Pitt and Clemson.
“We just couldn’t get Isaiah going,” Larranaga said. “One, he was being guarded by Alvarado, the conference Defensive Player of the Year, who puts a lot of pressure on you. Two, Alvarado got a lot of help on Isaiah’s drives. Third, the third game in three days, him missing free throws was an indication to me that he was a little bit fatigued.”
The Hurricanes led 33-29 at halftime, and it seemed they were on their way to a third upset in a row after eliminating No. 12 seed Pitt and No. 5 seed Clemson. The fact they kept it so close with Georgia Tech was remarkable, considering UM lost by 27 to the Yellow Jackets three weeks ago.
Nysier Brooks, UM’s 7-foot center and resident chef, was sizzling like a saute pan in the first half. He had 16 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. The Yellow Jackets had no answer for the 24-year-old redshirt senior, as he dominated around the rim.
But Georgia Tech double-teamed Brooks in the second half, and he scored just three more points to finish with 19. Miami led 51-47 with 12 minutes to go but went eight minutes without scoring a field goal.
Senior guard Kam McGusty picked up the slack for UM, scoring a game-high 25 points, including the final 10 for Miami.
Despite the loss, and disappointing regular season, McGusty said he was proud of the team.
“For the first time in a couple weeks I felt everybody’s good energy,” McGusty said. “Everyone was having fun again. We had a long stretch where we lost six, seven games and it was very tough for us mentally and physically. But we brought good energy the past few days, we were the loudest during warmups and in the hallways.”
The Hurricanes had just six healthy scholarship players available in the last part of the season, plus walk-on Willie Herenton, who played significant minutes this week.
“Getting to the quarterfinals with so many players missing just goes to show the promise we had coming into this year,” McGusty said. “We went from being projected to be one of the best teams in the ACC to having to play a walk-on in big minutes. Don’t get me wrong, Willie does a great job, and I always tell him he’s the best walk-on in the country. I appreciate his effort, but things took an unexpected turn. We got into a hole and just started to figure things out a little too late.”
COVID knocks Duke Out
Florida State advanced to the ACC tournament semifinals after a Duke positive COVID test canceled their Thursday quarterfinal game. The 10th-seeded Blue Devils had a positive test and were not cleared to play the No. 2 seeded Seminoles, who now get a triple-bye into Friday’s semifinals. Duke’s season is over, ending a streak of 24 consecutive NCAA appearances since 1996.
“I just think that preparing yourself of the unexpected is what we’ve been trying to do all year long,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 6:01 PM.