Miami Hurricanes have plenty to play for in regular season finale at Syracuse Saturday
The Miami Hurricanes have already clinched a double-bye in the ACC tournament next week, but they are not overlooking their regular season finale at Syracuse on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPNU).
UM can move up to third place in the conference standings with a win at the Carrier Dome combined with a Duke win over rival North Carolina in the much-hyped final home game for retiring legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Miami coaches and players are hoping Saturday’s game will be less dramatic than the teams’ first meeting in Coral Gables on Jan. 5.
The Canes fell behind by 18 with 21 minutes to go in that game and rallied for a thrilling 88-87 victory. Miami shot just 34.3 percent (12-of-35) in the first half but improved to 56.7 percent (17-of-30) in the second half against the Orange’s stifling 2-3 zone defense. Miami scored 58 points in the second half.
Point guard Charlie Moore led UM with a season-high 25 points, six assists and five rebounds. Kameron McGusty scored 19, Isaiah Wong had 14 (all in the second half), and Jordan Miller chipped in 11. It was the Hurricanes’ eighth win in a row at that time.
Although Miami came away with the win, the Orange became the first Hurricane opponent with three 20-point scorers in over 30 years – Joseph Girard had 26, Jesse Edwards 22 and Cole Swider 20. Buddy Boeheim, son of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, averages 19 points, but UM held him to nine points in the first game.
The Hurricanes also forced the Orange into 19 turnovers, which led to much of Miami’s offense.
Syracuse is 15-15 (9-10 ACC) entering Saturday’s game. The Orange is coming off three losses in a row to North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame, and extra motivated because it is Senior Day.
Miami is 21-9 on the season and 13-6 in the ACC. The Hurricanes beat Boston College 81-70 on Wednesday and are 9-2 on the road. They were led by Wong, who scored a season-high 27 points, three points shy of his career high.
He and his teammates are determined to end the regular season on a winning note and head to Brooklyn, New York, on a roll for the ACC tournament.
“I’m a heat check player, if I make one three the basket starts getting larger and larger,” Wong said. “That’s when happened when I was hitting step-back threes. My confidence was getting better, so I kept on shooting. We’ve got to keep on going. We’ve been winning a lot on the road, so when we play Syracuse we’ve got to stick to our game plan, play defense and share the ball. If we do that we can come up with another W.”