UM hangs on to beat Louisville on the road, Cardinals on longest skid since 1940-41
As of last week, there were only two ACC opponents Miami Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga had never beaten on the road – Wake Forest and Louisville. In the span of five days, he and his team beat them both.
Miami, playing with the poise and unselfishness that has become its hallmark this season, conquered the Cardinals 70-63 at the KFC Yum! Center Wednesday night.
With just over two weeks left in the regular season, the Hurricanes are 19-7 overall, 11-4 in the ACC and in sole possession of third place in the league standings behind Duke and Notre Dame.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, continued their downward spiral with a seventh consecutive loss. The last time Louisville lost seven consecutive games was 81 years ago, during the 1940-41 season.
“The KFC Yum! Center had not been kind to us the last half-dozen years, and it was very important for us to play well and get the win,” Larranaga said. “Louisville came at us very hard the second half, driving to the basket, so we’re very fortunate we were able to hang on late.”
After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, Louisville took advantage of a two-minute UM scoring drought and closed the gap to three. The home crowd, desperate for a win, got loud and the Cardinals’ bench was energized. But Miami’s wily veterans did not flinch.
Sixth-year senior Sam Waardenburg faked a handoff and flew to the basket for a one-handed dunk. Third-year sophomore Isaiah Wong made a step-back three from the corner and drew a foul for a four-point play.
And then, after the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to close to within three, UM’s sixth-year senior Kam McGusty knocked down a mid-range jumper to give the Canes a five-point lead with 35 seconds to go. Another sixth-year senior, Charlie Moore, sank a pair of free throws and Wong put an exclamation point on the game with a dunk.
Wong and Moore each scored 15 points. Wong had eight rebounds and Moore five assists. McGusty had 14 points and six assists, Jordan Miller 10 points and seven rebounds and Waardenburg contributed nine rebounds and three blocks to go with his eight points.
“Our three guards have always been able to step up when they were needed the most,” Larranaga said. “Isaiah’s four-point play was huge. Charlie drew those fouls and made free throws. Kam’s ability to hit that medium-range elbow jumper was obviously critical. You have to have players make plays. You can tell them what offense to run, but they’re the ones that have to execute.”
The Hurricanes took control of the game early with a trio of Moore three-pointers, all of them from far beyond the arc. Wong also hit an early three and Miami led the Cardinals by 10 points after seven minutes.
Their shots kept falling the rest of the half and they took a 10-point lead into halftime. The Hurricanes shared the ball all game and finished with 16 assists while Louisville had six.
Larranaga credited the unselfish style of play to Moore, the DePaul transfer, who joined the team this season. The coach said Moore came in and started distributing the ball to his teammates, which led to better team chemistry and helped Wong and McGusty, who were already good shooters, get more open shots.
Louisville struggled with its shot in the first half, but went 16-of-31 after intermission to stay in the game. Dre Davis scored a season-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting to lead Louisville and El Ellis added 17 points.
Cardinals guard Matt Cross, who transferred from Miami last year during his freshman season, played seven minutes and did not score.
Miami returns home for a Saturday 5 p.m. game against the University of Virginia. The Hurricanes are hoping to avenge a 71-58 road loss to the Cavaliers on Feb. 5.
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 10:20 PM.