South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Hurricanes go down in heartbreaker to Tigers
Clemson senior forward Aamir Simms scored 25 points, including the game-winning field goal with 19 seconds left, and the Miami Hurricanes remained without an ACC win three games into their conference slate.
Clemson topped Miami 66-65 on Saturday afternoon at Watsco Center.
Simms banked in a floater in the lane for the decisive advantage. He finished with seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks to go with his careerhigh-tying 25 points.
The Hurricanes, without senior guard Chris Lykes for a sixth consecutive game due to an ankle injury, then turned it over on the ensuing possession. They had one final chance with 0.3 seconds left, having to go the length of the floor, but an Isaiah Wong tip attempt off the long pass from Matt Cross missed.
Miami is off to an 0-3 start in ACC play and 4-4 overall. Clemson is now 8-1, 2-1.
Wong led UM with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Freshman guard Earl Timber
lake had 11 points and eight rebounds. Guards Harlond Beverly and Elijah Olaniyi scored 10 each — 8 of Beverly’s came in the second half.
Simms, the only Tiger to finish in double figures, scored in every which way, shooting 10 of 14 from the floor.
“He was clearly the MVP of the game,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “When we played a bigger guy on him, he took us out on the perimeter and made threes. When we put a smaller guy on him, he took us into the post and scored. When we denied him well inside, he stepped out and drove the ball to the basket.”
“It was a tough challenge,” said the 6-6 Timberlake of guarding the 6-8 ½ Simms. “I was undersized. I tried to play as hard as I can, play tough. Front him when he was in the post. He’s preseason All-[ACC] first team for a reason.”
Kameron McGusty, back since missing three straight with a hamstring injury, scored nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.
“I was just trying to get my rhythm back,” McGusty said. “Still trying to figure out what I can and can’t do, as far as my hamstring. Just trying to get comfortable. I felt pretty comfortable, though. I felt like I played good defense, ran the floor well.”
Miami took a 63-61 lead when Olaniyi scored a layup with 2:12 remaining off a nifty pass from Wong after he appeared to lose control. On the Hurricanes’ ensuing possession, Wong extended the lead to four off two free throws.
The Tigers cut it to one, 65-64, on a Nick Honor 3-pointer with 1:05 to play. An Olaniyi travel gave the ball back to Clemson before Simms’ winner.
With 3:02 remaining, McGusty tied it at 61 with a three-point play on a reverse layup plus a foul, making the ensuing free throw.
The teams went back and forth for much of the second half in a game that saw eight ties and six lead changes.
UM finished the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 34-32 lead into halftime after trailing by as many as 12. Cross, the freshman forward, had all nine of his points in the first half on 3-of-3 shooting on 3-pointers.
Clemson built its early 21-9 lead by connecting on five of its first six 3-point field goals.
Up next for the Hurricanes, they host North Carolina on Tuesday night. Larrañaga postgame said he had no update on Lykes’ status moving forward.