Miami basketball magical ACC Tournament run ends versus Georgia Tech
The valiant Miami basketball team had their magical ACC Tournament run with a 70-66 loss against Georgia Tech on Friday afternoon in Greensboro. Georgia Tech secured the game in the final seconds when ACC Defensive Player of the Year saved the ball from going out of bounds that resulted in a dunk on the other end.
Jordan Usher had his third dunk of the second half in the game’s pivotal play. Those were the final points of the game as Kameron McGusty turned the ball over on the ensuing in-bounds play. McGusty led the Miami basketball team with 25 points, Nysier Brooks had 19 and Isaiah Wong finished with 12 points.
Miami had a great run in Greensboro with wins over Pittsburgh in the opening round on Tuesday and Clemson on Wednesday. The Hurricanes were in the game against Georgia Tech throughout on Thursday. Miami led 33-29 at halftime. The Hurricanes extended the lead to 41-34 less than two minutes into the second half.
McGusty carried Miami after halftime with 17 points. The Hurricanes did a great job on ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright who finished with seven points, six rebounds and fouled out with 2:30 remaining. Despite the subpar performance from Wright, Georgia Tech outscored Miami by nine without their star in the game.
Georgia Tech ceased control of the game in the second half with a 14-2 run. Miami went more than eight minutes without a field goal. The Yellow Jackets were able to push the lead to eight in that time. Miami continued to stay in the game and appeared to have a chance with 20 seconds left before the miraculous save by Alvarado.
Miami was down 68-66 before the Usher dunk closed out the scoring. Turnovers were a huge factor. The Hurricanes finished with 18 turnovers in the game, 12 in the second half. Georgia Tech had only 11 turnovers, but nine came in the final 20 minutes. Miami finishes the season 10-17 and faces many offseason questions.
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Miami has seven seniors on its roster who all have the option of returning for the 2021-22 season. The biggest question among the seniors will be from Brooks, guard Chris Lykes who missed all but two games with an ankle injury and McGusty. Miami just needs to be able to stay healthy in the future after a difficult season.