Miami basketball buried by Notre Dame threes in blowout loss
Notre Dame made 10 three-point shots in the first half on their way to a 48-29 halftime lead and cruised in the final 20 minutes to an 87-71 victory over the Miami basketball team on Sunday night in South Bend.
The Miami basketball team was unable to defend the three-point shooting of Notre Dame or shoot the ball well beyond the arc themselves in a blowout loss to the Fighting Irish on Sunday night in South Bend. The Hurricanes loss to Notre Dame broke a three-game Miami winning streak.
The ball movement from Notre Dame played a huge difference in the victory. The Fighting Irish had 21 assists as four players reached double figures and a quartet made multiple three-point shots. Miami reverted to struggling on the boards. Notre Dame finished with a 42-35 rebounding advantage.
The Miami offense struggled throughout, particularly from beyond the arc. Miami finished 5-20 on three-point attempts. Notre Dame was able to stymie the Hurricanes offense throughout the night. A late 9-0 run by the Hurricanes made the score much closer than it was throughout much of the second half.
Miami Hurricanes Basketball
Isaiah Wong finished with 12 points to reach double figures for the ninth straight game. D.J. Vasiljevic and Harlond Beverly matched Wong and Keith Stone finished with 10. Chris Lykes finished with eight points on 4-11 three-point shooting. The defense in the final 30 minutes of the game was the difference.
After falling behind 10-5, Miami went on a 14-5 run to take a 19-15 lead. Notre Dame answered by outscoring the Hurricanes 33-10 in the final 10 minutes of the first half. The Fighting Irish had no turnovers in the first half on their way to the 19 point halftime lead. Assistant coach Chris Caputo was not happy with the effort defensively.
On the postgame show with Miami play-by-play announcer Joe Zagacki, Caputo stated that the Hurricanes’ lack of edge on the defensive end hurt them after getting out to the four-point lead at the 10-minute mark of the first half. Miami was never able to get closer than 14 points in the second half.
Notre Dame was led by John Mooney and T.J. Gibbs who each scored 19. Mooney added 12 rebounds and Gibbs made five of his six three-point attempts. Miami will be off until Saturday when they play at Georgia Tech.