UM drops three straight for first time this season
CORAL GABLES They’ve been ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation. They’ve slipped in and out of the AP Top 25 throughout conference play and in recent weeks, they’ve had to adjust to playing without Bruce Brown, one of their leaders.
But through all of the ups and downs this season, the Hurricanes men’s basketball team had never lost three straight. Miami entered its game against Syracuse hoping to keep that trend going.
The Orange, though, used their trademark zone — a defense Miami has struggled against this season — to keep the Hurricanes at bay.
Despite a second-half push from Miami that saw the Hurricanes tie the game after allowing a 15-0 run, Syracuse hung on for a 62-55 win, frustrating the Hurricanes on both ends of the floor and sealing Miami’s first three-game losing streak of the season.
And like in their losses to Boston College and Virginia, there were numerous stretches the Hurricanes (18-8, 7-7 ACC) couldn’t manage to score.
The Hurricanes endured a five-minute scoring drought early in the second half that allowed Syracuse to build a 40-28 lead. And it took until the 7:20 mark in the first half for Miami to hit its first 2-point field goal.
As a whole, the Hurricanes finished shooting just 34 percent from the field including a miserable 7-of-31 from 3-point range.
That Miami shot that many 3-pointers didn’t seem to bother coach Jim Larrañaga all that much. It was how deep some of those shots were, how ineffective Miami was from beyond the arc, especially considering how well the Hurricanes seemed to have done against the zone in practice leading up to Saturday afternoon’s game.
“What is interesting is, I thought [Friday] and Thursday in practice, we did a great job against the zone. Moved the ball, found the open man, made some good shots and I thought we were very well-prepared to play a great game today,” Larrañaga said. “But it seems like the Syracuse zone must be better than our scout team zone because it was very, very hard to score today. And even some of the shots we made were really challenged. Their defense was very good. We settled for way too many deep threes. We wanted to shoot some threes, and 31 might have been all right if they were all good shots, but … we’re youthful, our young team, especially those perimeter players, are anxious to play well and you have to give Syracuse some credit.”
Now, after dropping three straight and with just four regular-season games left, the Hurricanes know they are running out of time to build on their tournament resume, though the players insist they aren’t panicking yet.
They do, however, acknowledge they need to play with a greater sense of urgency early.
On Monday, the Cavaliers held Miami to just 16 points in the first half. It wasn’t much better against the Orange (18-9, 7-7), who limited Miami to just 8-of-25 from the field in the first half.
“We have to start the game off with a little bit more energy. I feel like the first few minutes were kind of just a little slow here and there,” said guard Lonnie Walker, who had 12 points and was one of just two Hurricanes along with fellow freshman Chris Lykes to finish in double figures. “It’s a mentality thing. We’re going to find it. That’s the positive thing. I know our team’s going to pick it up. Mainly, it’s how we start and you can tell the difference between the first half and the second half, just the energy that we played.”
Still, even in the second half, it took time for the Hurricanes to get going.
After enduring a scoring drought that lasted more than five minutes and giving up a 15-0 Syracuse run, Miami finally began connecting on its barrage of 3-pointers.
First it was Lykes. Then Walker. Then Ja’Quan Newton.
On the strength of three straight 3-pointers, Miami cut the Syracuse lead to 43-37. Minutes later, after a 15-3 run of its own, the Hurricanes tied the game at 43.
But Miami would never take the lead. Instead, Syracuse capitalized on a jumper from Oshae Brissett and 3-point play from Frank Howard to regain the lead with 6:48 left.
The Hurricanes pulled within three three times in the final five minutes, but it was as close as they would get.
Brissett finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Howard had a gamehigh 18 to lead four Orange players in double figures.
Miami now heads to South Bend for a Monday night showdown against Notre Dame before hosting Boston College on Feb. 24 and closing the season out with a Feb. 27th game at North Carolina and hosting Virginia Tech on March 3.
“Nobody wants to lose. I feel like you just have to look at every loss, take the positves and take the things that you’re trying to work on and be better next time,” Lykes said. “You can’t think about the past. Those losses are in the past now. We have to move on. We have a few more games left. It’d be nice to finish those undefeated.”
Added Walker, “There’s definitely a sense of urgency, but there’s nothing to be overwhelmed about. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and see what we have to work on and just pick it up. A team like us, we shouldn’t be too scared or worried about the next game. Every game we should be like, ‘We can win this game.’ We have to approach these next four games with a little bit of a chip on our shoulders.”
ccabrera@sun-sentinel .com, Twitter @ChristyChirinos