Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Miami’s big men fuel win.
CORAL GABLES — There have been flashes of their potential in practice. But finally, it’s starting to click in games.
And as the injured, depleted Hurricanes try to navigate through the final stretch of the regular season, there’s no better time for big men Kamari Murphy and Ebuka Izundu to start playing the way Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga has long envisioned they could.
Against Clemson on Saturday afternoon, Murphy and Izundu combined for 27 points, helping the Hurricanes edge the Tigers 71-65 and pick up another crucial ACC win as Miami continues trying to polish its NCAA Tournament resume and work its way off the bubble.
With the victory, Miami has now won 26 of its last 28 on its home floor at the Watsco Center. More importantly, the Hurricanes have won two straight and four of their last five against conference foes.
That can only help the Hurricanes, who have just four regular-season games and the ACC Tournament left on the schedule ahead of Selection Sunday on March 12.
“I think this game was real important. We’re taking it one game at a time, but due to guys being hurt, we know every game is crucial at this point,” said Murphy, who finished with a careerhigh 15 points and a teamhigh nine rebounds. “Not thinking too far down the line, but we do want to have a postseason, so every game now is crucial to win. And like I said, with guys out, our motto in the locker room has been, ‘Find a way,’ so everybody’s been stepping up . ... Whoever it takes to step up that day, we’ll take it.”
Against Clemson — which, like Miami, is trying to improve its tournament resume — it was Murphy and Izundu who helped fill the void left by the suspension of guard and secondleading scorer Ja’Quan Newton.
Newton, whose threegame suspension will end Saturday against Duke, has often provided a scoring punch for the Hurricanes throughout the season. Against the Tigers, both Murphy and Izundu had their moments, with Murphy — one of just two seniors on the roster — hitting four rare jumpers.
Izundu, meanwhile, has started both games Newton has been out and has scored eight-plus points in four of Miami’s last five games. Against Clemson, he finished with 12 points, including a late first-half stretch in which he had 9 of Miami’s 11 points. In that stretch, the Hurricanes built a 35-31 lead.
“What we’ve been doing with the big guys in individual work, is now after months of doing it, starting to show up under game conditions,” Larranaga said. “Before, you could see it in practice from time to time, but it was inconsistent. Now, you’re seeing it pretty regularly on the court.”
For much of the game, Miami and Clemson (14-12, 4-10) seemed two evenly matched teams trading punches.
Though the Hurricanes (18-8, 8-6) led all through the second half, they were never able to build a lead bigger than 8 points, a margin that came after a Murphy layup gave Miami a 43-35 lead with 16:34 left.
The Tigers answered with a four-minute, 13-5 run that was capped by a Jaron Blossomgame jumper that pulled the Tigers within two. Blossomgame finished with a game-high 16 points, but it wasn’t enough.
Another of his jumpers with 1:13 left pulled Clemson within 67-63, but the Hurricanes — who have at times struggled from the free throw line this season — clinched the game in part because Davon Reed was able to convert on four free throw attempts in the final minute.
Reed, who has been one of the most consistent Hurricanes all season, finished with 14 points. He has now finished in double digits 22 times this season, including 20 of Miami’s last 22 games. Anthony Lawrence, meanwhile, added 10 points for the Hurricanes, who played a clean basketball game, turning the ball over just seven times while totaling 19 assists in the win.
There won’t be much time for the Hurricanes to savor what they did Saturday, with Miami set to travel to No. 14 Virginia on Monday. After that, they’ll return home to host No. 12 Duke Saturday before closing the regular season out with games at Virginia Tech and at No. 17 Florida State.
“I think we understand we have to play for each other now,” Murphy said. “In the beginning of the season, we had some glitches and we had to find each other’s game. Now, I think we all play for each other and we know the common goal. We know what we have to do to win.”
“Now, I think we all play for each other and we know the common goal.” Kamari Murphy, forward for UM