UM men’s basketball losing skid hits four after 83-79 home loss to Charleston Southern
Heading into Saturday’s game against Charleston Southern, a dejected University of Miami coach Jim Larranaga lamented that his overhauled Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team had a “very, very, very long way to go,” to be where they need to be.
They are no closer after an 83-79 home loss to the Buccaneers, Miami’s fourth loss in a row. And things are about to get more challenging with a nationally televised home game against 19th-ranked Arkansas on Tuesday night in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
The Canes, who went 0-3 in the Charleston Classic last weekend, mounted a furious comeback on Saturday, rallying from a 13-point second-half deficit, but were dominated on the boards, continued to struggle on the defensive end and were outscored 8-0 in the final two minutes.
Miami had no answer for the Buccaneers’ Thompson Camara, Taje’ Kelly and R.J. Johnson, who combined for 64 points. Johnson had 23, including the go-ahead three-point basket to make it 81-79 with a minute to go. Camara scored 21 points and Kelly had 20 to go with a game-high 11 rebounds and six assists.
The 83 Charleston Southern points were the most UM has conceded this season.
Larranaga tried to find words to summarize his team’s performance as the Buccaneers (2-7) celebrated in the visitors’ locker room.
“We haven’t been able to put together a really solid defensive effort,” Larranaga said. “Some of it has to do with the fundamentals of the game. Some of it has to do with athletic ability, some with size. But we had a very hard time guarding them. Kelly was tremendous both ends of the court.
“We keep making the same errors, and it shows up every game.”
Brandon Johnson led the Hurricanes with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including six three pointers. He grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and had two assists and two steals. Freshman Austin Swartz added a spark with 15 points, including a trio of three-pointers. A.J. Staton-McCary chipped in 13 points.
“We go through stretches where we score, but we have way too many stretches where we can’t stop the opponent,” Larranaga said. “We’re not big enough or athletic enough.”
He said Charleston Southern did a good job of eliminating Miami’s 6-10 center Lynn Kidd in the first half by double-teaming him. Kidd finished with nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Kidd’s three-point play gave UM a four-point lead with two minutes to go, but he missed a hook shot late at a critical moment.
The UM coaching staff highlighted in the scouting report that the Buccaneers are dangerous with second-chance points, and they were, with a 22-4 edge in that category. They outrebounded UM 35-29.
“I think it comes down to effort,” Johnson said. “We have to pay more attention to the scouting report because the coaches emphasized that their best offense was offensive rebounding. We need to have more will to do what the coaches say.”
As for the Hurricanes’ morale after four consecutive losses, Johnson said: “We’re all disappointed in ourselves. We know we can do better. It starts with the right mindset in practice.”
The Hurricanes were missing leading scorer Nijel Pack, who was ruled out with an undisclosed lower body injury. Larranaga said Pack got injured during the Oklahoma State game last weekend, played the next game against VCU and practiced this week, but was unable to play on Saturday.
Pack is expected back “in the coming weeks,” per a team spokesperson. He leads the Hurricanes in scoring (15.2), assists per game (4.7) and total plus-minus (+59) this season.
Freshman guard Jalil Bethea, a five-star recruit from Philadelphia, replaced Pack in the starting lineup. He scored six points in 18 minutes with one rebound and no assists.
This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 5:04 PM.