Miami Hurricanes Basketball: Comeback ‘Canes Lose a Heartbreaker in NIT Championship Game

For most of the season, the Miami Hurricanes have had a bad habit of falling behind early in games, only to come back later in the second half. It was a dangerous game Miami played all season, but it got them to the NIT Championship game on Thursday night. Unfortunately for the Canes, they couldn’t complete their comeback on Thursday against the Stanford Cardinals, losing 66-64 in a heartbreaking fashion in overtime.

Again in the first half, the Hurricanes struggled to get going offensively and relied heavily on their freshman core of Ja’Quan Newton, James Palmer and Omar Sherman. The freshman trio had 15 of Miami’s first 17 points in the game. Newton and Palmer combined for 13 points in the first half to keep the Canes in the game.

Without Tonye Jekiri, who missed his first game of the season due to a concussion suffered in Tuesday’s game, the Hurricanes needed to find a way to stop Stefan Nastic for Stanford. The Hurricanes threw Sherman and Ivan Cruz Uceda at him, but the big man got his way around the basket, scoring 11 for Stanford before fouling out late in the second half. Nastic’s biggest impact, however, came on the defensive end, where he altered a ton of Miami’s shot at the rim.

Stanford did a great job defensively on Sheldon McClellan in the first half, holding him scoreless in the first stanza, but after the teams came out for the second half, McClellan came ready to play. The redshirt junior finished with a team-high 17 points (all in the second half and overtime) but came just short on the potential game-winner as time expired in overtime.

After falling behind by 11 at the half, the Hurricanes outscored the Cardinals 38-27 in the second half to force an extra five minutes of basketball. Miami shot 44% from the floor in the second half and did a much better job of rebounding the ball, out rebounding Stanford 21-15 in the second frame.

“We seem to feel more of a sense of urgency after the first half” Jim Larranaga said after the game. “And we did today, and put ourselves in position to win the game” he added.

Following a miss by Marcus Allen at the end of regulation, both teams geared up for overtime and that’s where the controversy began.

The overtime period opened up with a rapid pace for both teams and Miami was able to open up a three-point lead with 1:03 after a beautiful pass by McClellan to Davon Reed on a cut to the basket. The bucket lifted the Hurricanes players, as well as a heavily favored Miami crowd.

Unfortunately for the Canes, they were unable to put the game away.

Burnett missed a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining in overtime that would’ve given the Canes a four-point lead. Instead, it left the door open for the Cardinals, and then “the call” happened.

Chasson Randle, who had a game-high 25 points on 50% shooting, brought the ball down with the Cardinals down 64-63 and drew a foul call on a Davon Reed that seemed to have played good defense on the shot.

Here, you be the judge.

Following the questionable call by ref Jamie Luckie, Randle hit both free throws to put Stanford ahead 65-64. A McClellan missed three-pointer later, and the Stanford Cardinals were crowned NIT champions and cut down the net in Madison Square Garden.

“I thought it was the right call” Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game, “I’m happy the ref had the nerve to call that because I thought it was the right call”

Whether you agree with the call or not (I’m sure you all don’t agree with it), Miami did leave the door open for this sort of thing to happen. The good thing for the Hurricanes, however, is that they get everyone except Joe Thomas back next season, and add transfer Kamari Murphy and incoming freshman Anthony Lawrence to the roster.

“I think we know what it feels like to play postseason now, and we’ll take a huge step in the right direction for next year.” said Reed after the game.