Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Down season ends for ’Canes
ACC Tournament run over in quarterfinals
The undermanned underdog Miami Hurricanes scrapped and showed grit for a third consecutive ACC Tournament game day, but this time, they didn’t have enough down the final stretch.
An inspired conference tournament run for Miami came to an end on Thursday afternoon as UM fell 70-66 in a quarterfinal matchup with Georgia Tech, which was fresh off a doublebye, at Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.
“That was a heck of a fight,” said Miami coach Jim Larrañaga of his team’s effort with a seven-player rotation, six scholarship players, with five injured. “I thought we gave it everything we had right up until the final buzzer.”
The conference’s No. 13 seed Hurricanes, which finish 10-17, had won their previous tournament games against No. 12-seed Pittsburgh and fifthseeded Clemson on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before the defeat to the No. 4-seed Yellow Jackets.
A win would’ve put Miami two wins away from an ACC title and automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, despite an 8-16 regular season. Instead, it’s Georgia Tech advancing to a Friday night semifinal matchup with top-seed Virginia.
The Hurricanes will go into the offseason wondering what could’ve been had this team not had five scholarship players out for the year by season’s end — guards Chris Lykes, Harlond Beverly and Earl Timberlake, forward Sam Waardenburg and center Rodney Miller. A senior
laden group will have decisions to make in the coming weeks on whether to stick it out at Miami or move on. The NCAA is not counting the 2020-21 season against player eligibility because it was played during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning seniors have an option to return.
“Normally, after the last game of a season,” Larrañaga said, “I might sit down with all the seniors, but after a season like this, with the circumstances being so different where guys can actually come back for a fifth or even a sixth year, we want to give them that option. It’s going to take them some weeks to investigate their own circumstances.”
Miami guard Kameron McGusty’s 3-pointer with 32 seconds left brought the Hurricanes within two, 68-66. The Hurricanes then appeared they would benefit from a Georgia Tech turnover, but Yellow Jackets guard Jose Alvarado made a hustle play to save the ball inbound off an errant pass to him. It led to a Jordan Usher game-sealing dunk across the floor.
“We didn’t get a steal, and we left someone down the court open,” McGusty said. “It’s kind of what happens when you’re trapping. There’s two people on the ball, so someone’s open. They did a good job of executing, and it wasn’t our luck.”
McGusty scored 25 points for Miami to lead all scorers. He was 10 for 16 shooting and added seven rebounds.
Center Nysier Brooks had 19 points, and sophomore guard Isaiah Wong scored 12 — his legs not under him by game’s end, airballing a couple of threes down the stretch and finishing 3 of 10 from the field.
GT went on a 14-2 run in the middle of the second half, turning a four-point deficit into an eight-point advantage. It appeared fatigue finally began to set in for Miami from a third game day in a row with a rotation of seven players, six on scholarship, playing extensive minutes.
“What killed us was the turnovers in the second half,” Larrañaga said. “We struggled to complete passes against their defense, and those turnovers led to easy baskets.”