Miami hits rock bottom losing to Charleston Southern

Miami trailed 45-37 at halftime and for most of the second half taking their fourth straight loss to Charleston Southern. Charleston Southern led 45-37 at halftime. The Buccaneers led for 26:16. Miami held the lead for 10:52. The Hurricanes fall to 3-4 and with Virginia Tech are the only ACC teams with losing records.

Miami has lost four in a row after a 3-0 start. Three of those four losses were to mid-majors or below. Miami entered the Charleston Classic last week as one of the favorites. Drake, Oklahoma State and Virginia Commonwealth sent Miami home from Charleston with three consecutive losses and an eighth-place finish.

Three players for Charleston Southern scored at least 20 points. R.J. Johnson led Charleston Southern with 23 points and had five assists, Thompson Camara scored 21 and Taje' Kelly had 20 points and topped the Buccaneers with 11 rebounds and six assists.

Miami's inability to defend the three against Charleston Southern continued to hinder the Hurricanes. Miami is 286th nationally allowing teams to make 35.3 percent of their three-point attempts after Charleston Southern made 11 of its 24 threes on Saturday. Camara, Johnson, and Lamar Oden Jr. combined to make 10-20 threes.

Brandon Johnson had his best game for Miami with 23 points on 7-13 from the floor and 6-12 on threes with eight rebounds. True freshman Austin Swartz scored 15 including three of four on threes and A.J. Staton-McCray had 13 as the only other Miami player in double figures.

The schedule gets much more difficult this week. Miami hosts Arkansas in the ACC-SEC Challenge and begins ACC play on Saturday versus Clemson. Miami needs to win those games at minimum to boost confidence and in the long run, to potentially help boost their NCAA Tournament hopes if they turn the season around.

Miami returns to non-conference play versus Tennessee on December 10. The Hurricanes could potentially have a seven-game losing streak after the Tennessee game. The loss to Charleston Southern was the 14th in the last 17 games dating back to last season. Miami plays Presbyterian and Mount St. Mary's after Tennessee.