Early battle turns lopsided as Hurricanes trounced
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes under coach Jim Larrañaga are usually good for a solid fight against mighty Duke, entering Saturday night with a 5-5 record against the Blue Devils since Larrañaga took over UM in 2011-12.
Saturday night at Watsco Center was no different. For much of the first half, at least.
Miami played No. 2 Duke tight early, but the Blue Devils extended their advantage to double digits late in the first half and never looked back, ultimately leaving Coral Gables with a 95-62 victory.
The Hurricanes (9-4) had their five-game winning streak, which took them all through December without a loss, snapped. Duke (13-1) won its seventh in a row after suffering its lone loss in its Nov. 26 upset defeat in overtime at Cameron Indoor Stadium to Stephen F. Austin.
“They are really good,” Larrañaga said simply to start his postgame press conference. “Without knowing their game plan before the game, I’m pretty sure they executed every aspect of it.”
Duke shot 60 percent to Miami’s 40 and outrebounded the Hurricanes 41-24. The Blue Devils outscored the Hurricanes 64-38 in the paint and 18-4 on the fast break.
“They kept attacking, offensive rebounds,” said center Rodney Miller, who had 8 points. “They did a great job crashing the glass, and they just kept going and going and going. We tried to make an adjustment, but things happen.”
Center Vernon Carey Jr. led Duke with 24 points and 9 rebounds in his South Florida homecoming. The freshman sensation and son of the former Hurricanes and Dolphins offensive lineman by the same name starred at University School before taking his talents to Durham.
“I think he’s got a legitimate shot being ACC Player of the Year, National Player of the Year,” Larrañaga said.
Cassius Stanley scored 20 points for the Blue Devils, and Matthew Hurt added 13.
Miami got 12 points from guard Kameron McGusty, 11 from forward Sam Waardenburg and 9 from guard DJ Vasiljevic. Junior point guard and leading scorer Chris Lykes was held to 8 points on 2 of 15 shooting.
Not only was the talent disparity evident, but so was the depth. Duke gave 10 players meaningful minutes while UM only went seven deep while the game was still in the balance. Freshman guard Isaiah Wong, who has played in all 13 games this season, didn’t check in until Miami was down more than 20 with under eight minutes left. Freshman forward Anthony Walker also got in toward the end.
“They’re good. I think they got worn out,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of UM. “We played very, very well — not well. We played two very’s at least.
“I thought [it was] our depth, and we played really good defense. I think it wore them out a little bit, and it gave us an advantage.”
Hurt hit a corner 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to put the Blue Devils up, 50-36, at halftime. Duke won the last six minutesplus of the first half by 9 points after UM was within 5 for much of the first half.
Waardenburg made his first four field-goal attempts, providing a surprising 9 points in the first nine minutes. He hit a fallaway jumper and later stole a Carey outlet pass to drive in and convert a layup around him. Waardenburg later had another athletic finish at the rim with his right hand and a strong two-handed slam.
“We knew Duke was a denying team, and they’re out pressuring guys, so there’s a lot of lanes to the hoop,” Waardenburg said. “I just had that in my mind. I was able to get to my right hand. That’s where I feel more comfortable.”
Freshman guard Harlond Beverly’s status was in doubt ahead of Saturday after he was limited in UM’s Friday practice and did not participate on Thursday following an undisclosed injury sustained in the win at Clemson on Tuesday.
Beverly was one of the two Hurricanes to get meaningful minutes off the bench, along with redshirt senior forward Keith Stone. Beverly scored 6 points, as did Stone, and was called for an odd Flagrant-1 foul against Carey where Carey was still able to score easily inside.
The Hurricanes return to action on Tuesday at No. 7 Louisville.