Hurricanes extend win streak to eight, stay atop ACC with 88-87 thriller over Syracuse
The Miami Hurricanes, the surprise team of the ACC, made their biggest statement of the season Wednesday night, overcoming Syracuse’s stifling vaunted zone defense and an 18-point deficit to survive a thriller 88-87 at the Watsco Center.
The game went down the wire. Syracuse forward Cole Swider drilled a three-pointer at the final buzzer, but Miami eked out the win. It was the first time in 11 meetings that Miami scored more than 70 points against the Orange.
It was the Hurricanes’ eighth win in a row, and improved their record to 12-3 and 4-0 in the ACC.
Charlie Moore led Miami with a season-high 25 points, six assists and five rebounds. Kameron McGusty scored 19, Isaiah Wong had 14 (all in the final 10 minutes), and Jordan Miller chipped in 11.
“Charlie Moore, I can’t say enough about him,” UM coach Jim Larranaga said of his point guard, a sixth-year senior who transferred from DePaul. “He’s been the difference maker in our offense. He scored 25 points in a variety of ways, but what he’s really sensational at is getting other guys involved. He’s like our Tom Brady, I don’t know anything about football except Tom Brady’s a great quarterback and he gets all his team to function as a team. That’s what Charlie is doing. It’s been contagious.
“Look at our two passes at the end of the game. Kam McGusty touchdown passes to Jordan Miller for a dunk, to Isaiah Wong for a layup. Those are game-winning plays. When you win by one every basket is important.”
Miami entered the game as one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the ACC along with traditional powers Duke, North Carolina and Louisville. The Canes were eager to prove that they belonged among those college basketball bluebloods.
They struggled in the first half, shut down by Syracuse’s suffocating zone, and trailed by as many as 18 before intermission. Miami tried to penetrate into the paint, but kept running into 7-foot center Jesse Edwards. The Canes missed 11 of 12 shots during one stretch and went 4-of-14 from three-point range for the half while the Orange went 9-of-15 from distance. Wong went into halftime frustrated and scoreless.
It appeared that Miami’s win streak was over.
But the Hurricanes made adjustments at halftime, switched to their man-to-man offense and looked like a different team in the second half. They knocked down six three-pointers over five minutes to take their first lead of the night, 50-48, with 14:51 to go. The critical long-range baskets came from Sam Waardenburg (back from COVID protocols), McGusty, Moore, and freshman Bensley Joseph.
A 9-0 UM run stretched the lead to 63-55. Syracuse closed the gap to two, but Miami had another burst and a Moore three made it 80-74 with a minute to go. The Hurricanes scored 58 points in the second half.
The crowd, which included a large Syracuse contingent and until that point appeared to be favoring the visiting team, erupted with a roar for the Hurricanes. By the end of the game, everyone in the building was on their feet and Miami fans were ecstatic.
“We were a little passive in the first half against the zone, we had to make some adjustments, and were able to do that at halftime offensively and defensively,” Larranaga said. “We came out very aggressive defensively, trying to force some mistakes that got us a nice little run to start the half, cut it from 14 to three and were able to finish strong.”
Moore said he never lost faith in his team. Even when they were down by 18, he told his teammates to stick together, pick up their defensive energy, and stay calm. They listened.
Waardenburg said the victory demonstrated that this Hurricanes team is made up of players who trust each other.
“We got down in the first half and we all trusted Coach would put in a good game plan at halftime, we trusted in one another that we’d work even harder and that’s something we’ve emphasized through this stretch, to trust each other,” he said. “It also showed our fight. We’re clearly a very talented team, great scorers, but that second half doesn’t happen unless you’re willing to fight.”
Waardenburg said the team was uncomfortable in the zone offense, just passing it around the perimeter, so they went back to their man offense and got better ball movement and ball screens and were able to kick it out for threes and Wong was able to attack the baseline.
The game was a battle of two of the most veteran and well-respected coaches in college basketball – Larranaga, who has been coaching since the late 1970s, and Jim Boeheim, the second-winningest coach in Division 1 history, in his 46th year at Syracuse.
Larranaga knew that his team was in for a challenge unlike any it had faced thus far this season.
“When you prepare for an opponent, sometimes you can focus on one or two or even three guys, but with Syracuse, they have five guys in double figures,” Larrañaga said before the game. “They have a lot of different ways to score the ball. They’re an outstanding shooting team from three and from two. So, they can spread your defense out and they can also drive you. They’re very good in around the basket. They’re just, really, a complete offensive team.”
Two of Syracuse’s most dangerous players are Boeheim’s two sons. Buddy Boeheim was averaging 19.5 points per game and coming off a 27-point performance against Virginia. Jimmy Boeheim, a transfer from Cornell, was averaging 14.7 points per game.
Buddy finished with 9 points, Jimmy with 7.
Syracuse had four shooters all shooting better than 32 percent from 3-point range in Joseph Girard (47.4 percent), Jimmy Boeheim (40 percent), Swider (33.3 percent) and Buddy Boeheim (32.6 percent).
Girard led Syracuse with 26 points, Jesse Edwards had 22 and Swider had 20.
“They have a lot of size. They’re bigger at every position than us and that’s what makes the zone so challenging,” Larrañaga said. “(Boeheim has) actually made an adjustment; he’s added a 1-3-1 zone to his arsenal. So, you’ve got to be prepared for the 2-3 and you’ve got to be prepared for the 1-3-1. You have to be prepared for their size and the length that they play that zone with because they play it differently than anybody else that we’ll play all season.”
Syracuse dropped to 7-7 (1-2 ACC)
Miami will travel to Durham, N.C., this weekend for a Saturday 8 p.m. game against second-ranked Duke, live on ACC Network from Cameron Indoor Stadium.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 11:16 PM.