Miami basketball done in by sloppy play in blowout loss at NC State
Sloppy play offensively by the Miami Basketball team and hot shooting in the by North Carolina State, particularly in the second half contributed in an 80-63 Hurricanes loss to the Wolfpack on Wednesday night in Raleigh.
The worst game from Kam McGusty during his short career in a Miami basketball uniform, too many unforced turnovers and a completely poor game offensively led to an 80-63 loss by the Hurricanes at North Carolina State on Tuesday night. Chris Lykes, Dejan Vasiljevic and Rodney Miller did almost all of Miami’s scoring.
Lykes tried to carry the Miami basketball team on his back with 20 points on 6-14 shooting and 7-7 from the line with four rebounds. Vasiljevic and Miller had 16 each. McGusty scored his only points on the night with 1:29 remaining in the game. Miami simply did not have enough in Raleigh as the Wolfpack pulled away.
Miami had 15 turnovers to the seven by North Carolina State, shot 36.4 percent from the floor to 47.5 percent for the Wolfpack and made just 3-16 three-point attempts to 9-20 for North Carolina State. Far too many of the Miami turnovers, about five or six, were unforced. The Hurricanes gave up too many possessions.
Miami assistant coach Chris Caputo spoke to Hurricanes play-by-play announcer Joe Zagacki courtside following the loss and said that Miller and Sam Waardenburg getting in foul trouble forced the Hurricanes to go zone on defense late in the first half and that helped NC State offensively.
Caputo felt the Hurricanes had played much better defensively man-to-man against the Wolfpack then they did in the zone. With Miami in the zone, North Carolina State went on a 10-0 run in the last 3:51 of the opening stanza after two free throws by freshman Isaiah Wong put the Hurricanes ahead 25-23.
The Hurricanes went cold again midway through the second half. Miami went over four mintues without a basket as the Wolfpack were able to stretch the lead to 15 points. Miami was never within single digits in the last quarter of the game. North Carolina State shot 64 percent in the second half to Miami’s 42.9 percent.
Included in North Carolina State’s impressive shooting performance in the second half was the fact they made 6-10 three-point attempts. Four Wolfpack players reached double figures. D.J. Funderburk led NC State with 19 points and eight rebounds. Funderburke made 8-11 from the free-throw line.
dark. Next. Losing Keith Stone shortens Miami rotation
Devon Daniels had 15, Jericole Hellems came off the bench to score 11 and Markell Johnson had 10 for NC State. The Wolfpack got leading scoring C.J. Bryce back who had missed the last three games in the concussion protocol. Bryce scored six off the bench. Miami’s brutal stretch continues when they host Florida State Saturday.