UM rallies late, falls short 75-72 to No. 3 North Carolina in front of sold out crowd
Something about playing the North Carolina Tar Heels tends to bring out the best in the Miami Hurricanes, and that was the case again Saturday afternoon in front of an electric sold out Watsco Center.
Desperate to upset the third-ranked Tar Heels and keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, the Hurricanes rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a one-point lead at halftime. They made another furious run late, putting in one of their most inspired performances of the season, but it wasn’t enough.
The Hurricanes fell short, 75-72.
UM closed to within two points on a Wooga Poplar layup with a minute to go, ejecting the UM fans from their seats, and the place went crazy when Norchad Omier swatted an RJ Davis pull up jumper high into the stands at the 39 second mark.
Trailing by three with 12 seconds remaining, Nijel Pack had a chance to tie the game, but missed a three-point attempt. North Carolina got the rebound and hung on for the victory. Pack later said he was “feeling the rhythm” and had confidence in the shot, but it didn’t fall.
“That was a heck of a college basketball game,” said UM coach Jim Larranaga. “Obviously, disappointed we lost, but some of the credit goes to Carolina and a lot of credit (to the Hurricanes) for grinding it out, we’re so short-handed. We put ourselves in position to win, but were just not able to pull it off.”
Miami had beaten Carolina in their previous two meetings, by eight last year in Chapel Hill and by 28 the previous year in Coral Gables, the largest UM margin of victory ever against the Tar Heels.
Asked if he felt relief with a win after such a close game, UNC coach Hubert Davis said: “I like 20 point wins, that would be great. But Miami’s a really good team and we haven’t had very much success against them of late, especially here. Because of their athleticism and ability to score in a number of different positions, we always know no lead is safe. They continue to fight and we made a couple more plays down the stretch.”
Pack went 7-of-11 for 23 points in Miami’s win over Carolina last year and he stepped again Saturday with 20 points, 18 of them in the first half.
Pack and Omier scored 34 of Miami’s 41 first-half points and led the Hurricanes on a 19-5 run that got them back in the game when it was starting to look hopeless for UM fans. Pack limped off the court midway through the second half with a knee issue but returned a few minutes later.
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is, but my knee was hurting,” Pack said. “(The trainers) did a good job helping me get through the game and now I’ll spend a lot of time, making sure to feeling really good. It was just kind of nagging, irritating. It was a lot of pain at first. I pushed through and fought through the pain.”
Omier finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Poplar had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“They’re ranked three, so that shows we can play with any good team in the country,” Pack said. “We’ve got to do better putting it together for the full 40 minutes, but it gives us confidence that these guys are number three and we were neck and neck with them toward the end. That gives us confidence within ourselves to go out and play hard the rest of the season.”
Even before opening tipoff, it was clear the Hurricanes were up against a college basketball blue blood Saturday. Hundreds of UNC fans in Carolina blue were at the Watsco Center two hours early and the team’s light blue bus with TAR HEELS emblazoned on its sides, was parked outside the arena loading dock.
Once the game began, the large and loud UNC fan contingent roared with every Tar Heel big play. “TAR! HEEL!” they chanted over and over after an Armando Bacot dunk with 12 minutes to go gave the Heels a 10-point lead.
The Hurricanes were eager to redeem themselves after scoring 38 points in a 22-point road loss to Virginia five days earlier, Miami’s lowest point total since 1948. Miami has been slowed by a string of ankle injuries and were once again without a key player on Saturday. Standout Swiss freshman Kyshawn George, who had played his way into the starting lineup, sat out the game with a sprained ankle.
He did light practice Thursday and Friday, and was in uniform on the bench Saturday, but did not go through full warmups and never got into the game.
The Canes could have used him against RJ Davis, who led the Tar Heels with 25 points, including five three pointers. He was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line, grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists.
Before the game, UM guard Bensley Joseph, one of the team’s best defenders, was asked what their gameplan was against Davis. He said: “You just have to try your best to contain him. He’s a tremendous scorer, can score from all three levels, we just have to try to make him do things that he’s uncomfortable doing. We have to keep the pressure on him as much as we can and keep him from touching the ball.”
UNC freshman guard Elliot Cadeau scored a season-high 19 points and had a team-high eight assists. Harrison Ingram added 13 points for the Tar Heels and Bacot had 10 points and 15 rebounds.
The Hurricanes dropped to 15-9 overall and 6-7 in the ACC. The Tar Heels improved to 19-5 and 11-2 in the conference. Miami plays at Clemson on Wednesday.
This story was originally published February 10, 2024 at 6:33 PM.