Miami basketball fades again late in loss to North Carolina
The Miami basketball team’s seven-man rotation plagued them late in the game once again in an 85-76 loss to North Carolina at the Watsco Center on Saturday afternoon.
Two Zach Johnson free throws with 5:34 to go closed the Miami basketball team’s deficit to 69-67. North Carolina had a 16-6 run to put the game away. Miami scored the last three points of the game for the final margin. The Hurricanes faded down the stretch late again for their sixth loss of the season by less than 10 points.
North Carolina was incredibly efficient offensively and dominated rebounding. The Tar Heels made 55 percent of their field goal attempts, 9-20 three-point attempts and 10-14 from the free throw line. Miami was outrebounded 38-23. The Hurricanes are being outrebounded by nearly five per game in ACC play.
The game was back and forth in the first half with each team making a few runs to forge several ties and lead changes. Miami scored the final three points of the half to tie the game at 37 at intermission. North Carolina had balanced scoring in the opening 20 minutes. Five Tar Heels had at least five points.
Chris Lykes led Miami with 13 and Anthony Lawrence had 11. Lawrence scored Miami’s first 10 points of the game. The Hurricanes three-point prowess in the first half kept them in the game. Miami made 7-14 from beyond the arc before the break. Lykes was 3-3 and Lawrence 2-3.
North Carolina had 12 assists on 15 field goals in the first half, made 4-10 three-point attempts and outrebounded the Hurricanes 22-12 before halftime. Freshman point guard Coby White led North Carolina with nine first-half points and added three assists.
Graduate Transfer Cameron Johnson who is in his second season with North Carolina after transferring from Pittsburgh caught fire in the second half. Johnson had 14 points, making 5-7 from the floor and 3-4 three-point attempts to finish with 22 points and seven rebounds.
Johnson was 8-14 from the floor and 5-7 on threes for the game. He was huge down the stretch for North Carolina. He hit a pair of threes on consecutive Tar Heel possessions after Miami had cut the deficit to one.
Johnson later added a rebound and an assist to help North Carolina stay more than a possession ahead of the Hurricanes. Zach Johnson and Ebuka Izundu helped keep the Miami basketball team in the game in the second half. Izundu had 13 points and six rebounds after halftime. Johnson added 12 for the Hurricanes.
Larrañaga on outrebounding North Carolina: "Honestly, impossible. Our job was to not outrebound them, but to keep it close...We have Buka, everyone else is a perimeter player. We don't have enough size and girth to battle the teams in our league..."
— Josh White (@_JoshRWhite) January 19, 2019
Both teams had great balance with five Tar Heels and four Hurricanes finishing in double figures. Cameron Johnson led all scorers with 22 points. Lykes led Miami with his seventh 20 point game of the season, reaching the number on the dot. White finished with 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds for North Carolina.
Luke Maye had 14 points and nine rebounds for UNC. Lawrence had 18, Johnson 17 and Izundu 13 for Miami. Izundu led the Hurricanes with eight rebounds. Miami shot 27 of 55 for the game. UM’s inability to stay hot from three also contributed to the loss. The Hurricanes were 2-7 from beyond the arc in the second half.
North Carolina came into the game fourth in the nation averaging 19.1 assists per game. They exceeded that by compiling 26 against Miami. The Tar Heels improve to 14-4 overall, 4-1 in the ACC with the victory.
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Miami falls to 9-8 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. The Hurricanes are a half-game in front of Boston College who is the only winless team in the conference at 0-4. Miami next game is at Syracuse on Thursday night. The Orange are 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the ACC entering Saturday’s home game against Pittsburgh.