Miami basketball stung often this season not closing games

The loss by the Miami basketball team to Florida State on Saturday occurred for many reasons. The biggest was the inability of the Hurricanes to close the game. Miami has too frequently this season lost games late because of their inability to hold leads. That has to be corrected before tournament play begins in March.

The Miami basketball team will have a week off and a good chance to prepare for the ACC and NCAA Tournaments when they host Pittsburgh on Saturday. A Miami win will earn the Hurricanes a share of the ACC regular season title and the top seed in the tournament after Virginia lost at North Carolina on Saturday.

Pittsburgh defeated Syracuse on Saturday. Heading into the final week of the regular season, Pittsburgh leads the ACC with a 14-4 record, Miami is second at 14-5 and Clemson and Virginia are 13-5. Miami and Pittsburgh hold the tiebreaker over Virginia after they each defeated the Cavaliers earlier this season.

Miami beat Clemson while the Tigers defeated Pittsburgh giving the Hurricanes the tiebreaker over the Panthers. The tiebreaker will be pointless if Miami cannot close out games. All of the losses for Miami in the ACC came down to the final minute or seconds. Miami appeared to rectify its inability to close games.

Miami started 4-0 in the ACC that included close wins over Virginia and North Carolina State at home. The inability to close out games late plagued Miami in January. Norchad Omier put Miami ahead 70-64 with 4:50 remaining at Georgia Tech with Miami 4-0 in the ACC. Georgia Tech closed the game on a 12-0 run to win 76-70.