Depleted ’Canes crushed by ’Noles
CORAL GABLES — The even-more-depleted-thanusual Miami Hurricanes never stood a chance against rival Florida State.
With five players out and down to six scholarship players, Miami fell, 88-71, to the 11th-ranked Seminoles, who sit atop the ACC standings and are flush with South Florida talent, on Wednesday night at Watsco Center.
The Hurricanes (7-14, 3-13), despite sophomore guard Isaiah Wong’s gamehigh 29 points, dropped their fourth straight and suffered their eighth loss in the past nine games. FSU (14-3, 10-2), on the other hand, continued to strengthen its NCAA Tournament résumé as it vies for optimum March Madness seeding.
The Seminoles, who have now taken seven consecutive meetings with Miami, did it with a slew of former South Florida high school standouts contributing.
Forward RaiQuan Gray had 12 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Center Balsa Koprivica and guard/forward Scottie Barnes attended University School before graduating from Montverde Academy. Koprivicia had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Barnes went for eight points and eight assists. Guard Anthony Polite, a St. Andrews alum, pitched in 12 points.
Wong was 9 of 16 from the floor, 4 for 5 on 3-pointers and 7 of 8 from the freethrow line for his 29 points. Guard Kameron McGusty and forward Anthony Walker scored 12 points each — Walker adding seven rebounds. Guard Elijah Olaniyi pitched in 11 points.
Webb Simpson ran off three straight late birdies for a share of the lead Thursday in the Workday Championship. Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau ran up some big numbers.
Simpson matched Matthew Fitzpatrick with a 6-under 66 at The Concession in the World Golf Championships event moved from Mexico to Bradenton, Florida because of COVID-19 circumstances.
Simpson birdied the par-4 15th and 16th and par-5 17th. The 2012 U.S. Open champion won twice last season and has seven PGA Tour victories.
Fitzpatrick had a bogey-free round. The Englishman has six European Tour titles.
The top-ranked Johnson had two double bogeys in a 77. DeChambeau and Bubba Watson also shot 77, with DeChambeau making a triple bogey on the par-4 16th.
Brooks Koepka was a stroke back with Billy Horschel, Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner. Koepka won the Phoenix Open this month for his eighth PGA Tour title.
Former world No. 1 Lydio Ko shot an opening-round 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead at the Gainbridge LPGA in Orlando, Fla. Retired 50-year-old Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, playing in her first LPGA event in more than 12 years, shot a 75 on her home course at Lake Nona. Baseball: Free agent OF Shin-Soo Choo agreed to a one-year, $2.4 million contract to play for a club in his native South Korea. The 38-year-old Choo, who spent the last seven seasons with the Rangers and hit .275 with 218 HRs, 782 RBIs and 157 steals in a 16-year MLB career, will join a team based in Incheon, just west of Seoul.
College basketball: Illinois star G Ayo Dosunmu is out indefinitely after suffering a facial injury during the team’s loss to Michigan State on Tuesday. Dosunmu, a Wooden Award candidate, is averaging 21.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists for the fifth-ranked Illini . ... The NCAA placed South Carolina on probation for two years for former assistant coach Lamont Evans accepting between $3,300 and $5,800 in bribes from a sports agent. The Gamecocks largely avoided more serious penalties like a postseason ban for what the NCAA deemed a Level I infractions case. Coach Frank Martin wasn’t named in any allegations. Evans worked at South Carolina for four seasons before leaving for Oklahoma State following the 2015-16 season. He pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy for taking some $22,000 to steer players at the schools to certain financial advisers and business managers . ... Pittsburgh junior G Au’Diese Toney, the team’s No. 2 scorer at 14.4 points per game, will enter the transfer portal. The news comes a day after No. 3 scorer Xavier Johnson left the program with plans to transfer.
NBA: The Jazz are cooperating with a league investigation into former G Elijah Millsap’s allegation that executive VP of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey made bigoted comments during a 2015 end-of-season meeting . ... The league suspended Timberwolves G Malik Beasley 12 games without pay for his recent guilty plea to a felony charge of threats of violence. He was sentenced earlier this month to 120 days in jail for the Sept. 26 incident, when he pointed a rifle outside his home in suburban Minneapolis at a family on a house-hunting tour.
Soccer: Megan Rapinoe scored two firsthalf goals and the U.S. women’s team won the SheBelieves Cup title with a 6-0 victory over Argentina on Wednesday night in Orlando, Fla. It was the 37th straight victory for the U.S.