Wake Forest led for the last 26:51 and cruised to an 88-78 win over Miami on Saturday. Miami lost its fifth straight game overall, dropped to 0-5 in the ACC, lost its 15th consecutive conference game and 17th in a row versus a power conference team. Miami is now 4-12 this season.
Wake Forest shot 54.7 percent from the floor and made eight of their 23 3-point attempts. Miami was atrocious defensively in the second half allowing Wake Forest to shoot 70 percent from the floor. Cameron Hildreth continued to torch Miami, shooting 11-16 from the floor and 6-8 on threes leading Wake Forest with 31 points.
Matthew Cleveland led five Miami players in double figures with 22 points. Hunter Sallis finished with 22 points for Wake Forest, including 15 straight in the second half before Hildreth made a layup with 24 seconds remaining. Miami shot 40.3 percent from the floor and made 17-21 free throws, but only 11 of 35 3-point attempts.
Wake Forest led 39-31 at halftime and outscored Miami 49-37 in the second half. Miami trailed by double-figures for most of the second half. Wake Forest obliterated Miami 50 to 20 with points in the paint, despite being outrebounded 39-30.
Final: Wake Forest 88, Miami 78
— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) January 12, 2025
Miami basketball suffered another double-digit loss in what's become a lost season
Freshman Jalil Bethea scored 13, classmate Austin Swartz had 12, Paul Djobet finished with 11 and A.J. Staton-McCray scored 10. Miami continued to receive little production from its transfers. Other than Staton-McCray, Brandon Johnson, Lynn Kidd and Jalen Blackmon combined for 10 points on 3-15 from the floor.
Miami faces the prospect of attempting to end their long losing streaks at Duke on Tuesday. Duke freshman Cooper Flagg scored 42 points as the Blue Devils beat Notre Dame 86-78 on Saturday. Duke is 14-2 overall and leads the ACC with a 6-0 record. The only undefeated ACC team vs. the only winless one in conference play is on the way.