Paul Atkinson, Jr., scores season-high in homecoming, leads Irish to 68-64 win over UM
University of Miami basketball coach Jim Larranaga walked into the Watsco Center for Wednesday night’s game against Notre Dame and immediately saluted the student section, which was overflowing before tipoff.
UM students, known to be apathetic about basketball through the years, have fallen in love with the resurgent Hurricanes over the past few weeks. They cheered their lungs out and did all they could to energize the Canes, but couldn’t do anything to stop Notre Dame forward Paul Atkinson, Jr.
Neither could the Hurricanes, and that is a big reason they lost 68-64 to the Irish.
Atkinson, a 6-9 Yale grad transfer who attended Fort Lauderdale’s Westminster Academy, scored a season-high 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting, many of them on uncontested layups and dunks. He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. He showed why he was voted Ivy League Player of the Year while with Yale.
Heading into Wednesday’s game Atkinson, a former Miami Herald All-Broward selection, was averaging 11.7 points per game. His season-high was 19 and he had scored 15 by halftime against Miami.
UM coach Jim Larranaga said the Hurricanes’ strategy of limiting Notre Dame’s three-point shooting worked in the first half, as the Irish went 1-of-15 from beyond the arc, but it left Atkinson open under the basket with too much room to roam and he took advantage.
“Our strategy to begin the game was to keep Notre Dame from hitting threes because they’re a terrific three-point shooting team, but Atkinson was terrific,” Larranaga said. “We picked our poison, our defense got stretched out and that left him in single coverage with a lot of room to maneuver and get easy baskets. Our help defense was a step slow for some reason.”
It was not the first time Atkinson played the Hurricanes in Miami. His first homecoming was in 2018, when Yale played UM in the HoopHall tournament at American Airlines Arena. The Bulldogs rallied from 15 down in the second half that day to beat the Canes, and the game-tying layup in the final minutes was scored by Atkinson.
“I’ve been here before, played Miami back at Yale,” Atkinson said. “This isn’t the first time being home. It’s not something out of character. I just played my game. The guards found me a lot today, I was the man open today. I got a lot of layups. Just a team effort.”
As it happens, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey first met Atkinson in person at the Watsco Center.
“The first time I met Paul was here at this game (UM vs. Notre Dame) last year because remember he committed to us and we didn’t have a visit. It was all Zoom and I never met him,” Brey said. “He comes in and does that.”
Notre Dame led by as many as 14, but the Hurricanes kept chipping away and the crowd went wild when UM point guard Charlie Moore (who else?) stole the ball and went the length of the floor for a layup to close the gap to six with 30 seconds to go. A pair of Isaiah Wong free throws with six seconds left got UM within four, but the Canes ran out of time.
Wong led UM with 18 points, Moore and Anthony Walker had 12 each. The team’s leading scorer, Kam McGusty, had an off night with seven points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Miami dropped to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the ACC. Notre Dame is 15-7, 8-3.
Wednesday’s game was a battle of two teams with similar storylines. Both are surprise ACC teams who were dismissed in the preseason conference poll – the Irish were picked eighth and the Hurricanes 12th. The two teams play a similar style with good shooters and few turnovers. And they were the only two ACC teams other than Duke to get votes in the AP poll this week.
Both teams struggled from beyond the arc in the first half, but the Irish led 30-28 at halftime. Miami had trouble driving the lane and its first trip to the free throw line was with 4:17 to go in the game.
“It’s a long season, all teams have ups and downs, and this was one of our down times,” Wong said. “We have to forget about this game. We know we have a great team.”
The Hurricanes play on the road at Virginia on Saturday.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 10:11 PM.