No. 12 Miami Hurricanes rally from second-half deficit to beat crosstown rival FIU 86-80
The Miami Hurricanes were feeling good about themselves heading into Monday night’s home game against crosstown rival FIU, and who could blame them? They had raised their Final Four banner and received sparkly rings a few days before and moved up to No. 12 in the AP poll after a pair of easy victories.
They didn’t expect to have to claw their way back from a second-half hole to beat FIU 86-80, or that they would allow a 17-point lead to evaporate with a 28-3 run by a Panthers team coming off a lopsided loss to Tarleton State.
But that’s exactly what happened.
The teams were facing each other for the first time in 15 years, Miami had won 12 of their 13 previous matchups, and for the first 15 minutes everything went according to script.
Then came the plot twist. FIU’s relentless press finally got to the Hurricanes, who lost their composure, lost the ball, lost their lead and trailed by 12 five minutes into the second half. But they never lost faith. Coach Jim Larranaga calmed his players down during a timeout and told them not to panic.
They listened and scored the next 12 points to tie the game 53-53 with 12:27 to go.
“I’m very proud of our guys for hanging in there and I was very impressed with FIU,” Larranaga said. “They were hungry. They play so fast, pressing and trapping even at the half court, and there were times we didn’t handle that well. We had turnovers that led to fast break layups and dunks for them. We had to elevate our game to accept the challenge because when we went down 12, it didn’t look good for us.”
Matt Cleveland, the FSU transfer, got the UM rally going with a three-pointer and capped the scoring run with another three. Guards Bensley Joseph and Nijel Pack also made key baskets during the comeback and a pair of Joseph free throws gave the Hurricanes the lead for good.
FIU closed the gap to two twice, delighting the spirited Panthers fans at the Watsco Center, but never got closer.
“Credit to FIU, they came out playing really, really hard, that press caused a lot of pressure and turnovers and we just got sped up and rushed,” Joseph said. “They woke us up. But we had poise down the stretch, locked in and stuck together when adversity hit.”
Cleveland led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and had seven rebounds and four assists. Joseph and Wooga Poplar scored 18 points apiece. Pack had 17 points and five assists. Norchad Omier hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds but scored only six points and played only 24 minutes because he was in foul trouble much of the night.
The Hurricanes shot 62 percent from three-point range (13-of-21), but committed 14 turnovers and were outscored 24-2 on second-chance points.
Sophomore guard Arturo Dean, a Miami native who played at South Miami High and Calusa Prep before going to Putnam Science Academy (Conn.), led the Panthers with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds.
“Arturo Dean is so quick, we were trying to figure out how to keep him out of the paint,” Larranaga said. “There’s a reason he was Rookie of the Year in that conference (Conference USA) last year. He is very, very good.”
FIU coach Jeremy Ballard also had high praise for Dean.
“The young man is special,” Ballard said. “I have a 10-year-old son named BamBam who does not love basketball, but he loves Arturo. All kids love Arturo because he plays with such energy, joy and passion. He’s just scratching the surface of who he can be as a player.”
Dashon Gittens added 14 points for FIU and Javaunte Hawkins had 11.
Ballard thanked Larranaga for scheduling the game after a 15-year break in the series.
“This game is a big deal, and we would love to play UM every year,” Ballard said. “It’s great for our fans, great for the South Florida community.”
Ballard said he was proud of his team for scaring the Hurricanes and forcing them to play so hard.
“We finally showed what we can be, we just have to sustain that,” he said. “Obviously, UM is a great program. They have championship mettle. They have a lot of guys that were key players in the Final Four run; and they’re poised to have another Final Four run this year. You saw great composure by those guys. There was a chance for them to get rattled, we were up by 12 in the second half, and it honestly didn’t seem to faze them.”
Miami (3-0) moved up one spot in the AP Poll and two spots in the Coaches Poll on Monday after posting double-digit victories over NJIT and UCF last week.
The Hurricanes head to the Bahamas this weekend for the Baha-Mar Hoops Championships, where they will play Georgia on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and either Kansas State or Providence on Sunday at noon/12:30 p.m. Both games will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
This story was originally published November 13, 2023 at 10:47 PM.