Miami Hurricanes Basketball: Miami Falters 77-62 in Regular Season Finale Loss at Virginia Tech

They call it March Madness for a reason.

Against an up and coming Virginia Tech team playing on Senior Day in front of a raucous Cassell Coliseum crowd, the Miami Hurricanes were dominated for 40 minutes and were upset 77-62 by the Hokies to wrap up the 2015-2016 regular season slate. People often associate that madness when the field of 68 is announced on Selection Sunday, but as Jim Larranaga and the Canes found out in Blacksburg, VA Saturday afternoon, it certainly begins earlier than that.

With a chance at clinching at least a share of the ACC Regular Season title, Miami came in riding high after a wire-to-wire victory on the road at Notre Dame. Little did they know that they were about to be on the other end of a 40 minute shellacking.

Just like Miami did in South Bend, the Hokies who have experienced a renaissance under Buzz Williams in year two, dominated from the tip. Their 2-3 zone left the Hurricanes befuddled and without Ja’Quan Newton in to penetrate the zone, the Canes looked clueless.

On the other end, Virginia Tech just couldn’t miss as they nailed their first four shots and continued to stroke it from three the rest of the afternoon. Down by double digits for most of the game, Sheldon McClellan (17 points) and Davon Reed (19 points) sparked a bit of a rally for Miami in the second half with some tremendous defense that led to easy scoring opportunities. Every time the Canes cut the deficit to single digits though, the Hokies would drain a three to eliminate any of Miami’s momentum.

Overall, Virginia Tech finished the day shooting 9-of-17 (52.9%) from three, while Miami was 4-of-24 (16.7%) from deep. No matter what the names are or the rankings of the teams, that kind of disparity between two teams shooting the long ball is usually going to result in a lopsided victory.

While you can give it to the Hokies that their shooting was phenomenal on the day, the Hurricanes struggles against the zone are a bit worrying heading into the NCAA Tournament where a team gets three days to evaluate any weakness you have. Obviously getting Newton back from his three-game suspension will help, but to see Miami be so confounded by the zone and not be able to create any offense isn’t something you want to see with the NCAA’s right around the corner.

Another worrying sign is yet more evidence of this team’s occasional tendency to show up flat. This wasn’t a meaningless game with the Hurricanes still vying for a No. 1 seed and still trying for their second ACC Regular Season title in four years, yet Miami played it like a non-conference game in November.

In saying that, you hope that if there is any positive you can take away from this game it’s that this could potentially refocus Miami for the task ahead. In tournament play, you can’t afford a clunker and you have to realize that the beginning of the game is just as important as the closing stages. This team closes so well down the stretch, but too often has sluggish starts that leave them in a hole. If the Hurricanes want to be dancing in March and maybe even into April, these slow starts can’t reappear.

March Madness can take any team as its victim and some losses come with more consequences than others. Miami was front and center in college basketball’s craziest month Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg and fell with some important things on the line. When the biggest thing is on the line in just over a week, that just can’t happen.

As Miami found out today, they call it March Madness for a reason.