With three straight wins and wins in five of their last six games, the Miami Hurricanes travel to Boston College on Saturday. Miami is back in the top 25 this week after a two-week hiatus.
The game in Chesnut Hill ends a four-game stretch for the Miami Hurricanes against teams significantly lower than them in the rankings and ratings. Boston College enters the game 14-10 overall and 4-7 tied for 11th place in the ACC. Miami’s surge now has them alone in third place in the ACC at 7-4 and 18-5 overall.
Finishing in the top four in ACC means a double bye in the conference tournament. The 11 other ACC teams have to win four to five games to win the tournament. The top four, only two.
After Saturday’s game, the Hurricanes schedule gets significantly tougher. Miami hosts Virginia on Tuesday and Syracuse a week from Saturday.
Lonnie Walker has been playing extremely well for the Hurricanes. He earned his second straight ACC Rookie of the Week and third overall this past week.
After inconsistent play through the season’s first 15 games, Walker appears to be recovered from offseason knee surgery and an ankle injury suffered early in the season.
In the last eight games, Walker is averaging 18 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals and one block. Walker has become the team leader as a Freshman after Miami lost Bruce Brown for six weeks following a loss at Florida State two weeks ago.