Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
’Canes outlast Orangemen
Vasiljevic’s key 3-pointers send UM to second round
NEW YORK — Miami needed a little outside shooting, plenty of defensive rebounding and the benefit of turning a missed dunk into a late transition basket of its own as it began play in the ACC tournament.
The ninth-seeded Hurricanes got all of it at the Barclays Center, fending off eighth-seeded Syracuse, 62-57, in Wednesday afternoon’s second round to win their conference tournament opener for the eighth consecutive season.
Kamari Murphy scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds, and Davon Reed and added 14 points for the Hurricanes. D.J. Vasiljevic made a pair of key 3-pointers in the second half for Miami, which avenged a 15-point loss against the Orange on Jan. 4.
“We’ve been in these types of positions all season,” Reed said. “Early in the season, lack of experience led to us not being able to pull out some of those closer games. As the season progressed, we’ve been able to pull out some close games, and we showed that same type of
resilience today. We had D.J. hit a couple big ones, and we just stayed poised throughout the stretch.”
The Hurricanes (21-10) will face top-seeded North Carolina (27-5) in today’s quarterfinals at noon. Miami defeated the Tar Heels, 77-62, on Jan. 28 in the teams’ only meeting of the year.
Andrew White III had 22 points for the Orange (18-14), who fell to 2-11 away from the Carrier Dome this season.
Miami did contain senior guard John Gillon, who had 11 assists in the teams’ first meeting and was averaging 12.5 points in league play. With Ja’Quan Newton marking him, Gillon had eight points and made just one shot inside the 3-point line.
“My coaching staff and I had basically determined that if John Gillon has a big night, so does Syracuse, and that it was a challenge for Ja’Quan Newton to guard him,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larrañaga said. “I thought he did an amazing job. I thought it was a good team defense, but it really started with Ja’Quan and how hard he played and how often he kept him out of the threesecond lane.”
Miami was short-handed as freshman Dewan Huell, who had played in every game this season, sat out with an ankle injury suffered in Saturday’s regularseason finale at Florida State. However, the Hurricanes still led 36-28 at the break.
Syracuse rallied to seize a 41-40 lead, but Miami responded after a timeout with eight consecutive points that included a pair of Vasiljevic 3-pointers. Vasiljevic scored 13 points, tied for his most since dropping a career-high 18 on Syracuse in January.
Miami maintained a 55-52 lead with three minutes remaining and nearly saw the margin cut to one when Tyus Battle went through the lane for a dunk. But he missed, and Newton instead collected the carom and sent it on to Murphy for a basket at the other end.
It was one of several moments that rebounding made a difference for the Hurricanes, who did not allow a second-chance point.
“We know [Tyler] Lydon, [Tyler] Roberson, and those guys like to attack the offensive boards,” Murphy said. “That was part of our game plan to stop them and get them off the boards.”
Miami didn’t secure the victory until Gillon’s 3-point attempt in the closing seconds clanked to the left and Bruce Brown made two free throws. That locked up a second date with North Carolina and a chance for the Hurricanes to bolster their seeding for the NCAA Tournament.
“A lot of people are picking them to win the national championship, so we know we’re the underdog,” Larrañaga said. “But we like that we’ve moved on and we’re in the quarterfinals now.”
Selection day parties
Miami is inviting fans to celebrate with both their men’s and women’s basketball teams as their NCAA tournament destinations and seedings are announced. The school is hosting a pair of watch parties, one on Selection Sunday, the other on Selection Monday.
Miami’s men will learn their NCAA Tournament destination on Sunday, and fans are invited to join the Hurricanes at an on-campus party at the Rathskeller beginning at 5 p.m. The twohour CBS telecast unveiling the tournament bracket will begin at 5:30.
The women’s team will have a celebration of its own at the Buffalo Wild Wings at the Shops of Sunset Place a day later. The festivities there are set to begin at 6 p.m. with ESPN set to begin its telecast unveiling the bracket at 7.