Yahoo Movies Cold-shooting UM stifled by Syracuse zone defense, gets trounced 83-57 on the road
The Miami Hurricanes, hoping to build on a thrilling upset of a Top 20 team, instead traveled to Syracuse and got crushed 83-57 by the Orange and its legendary zone defense.
After a promising few minutes and an early 11-2 lead, the Hurricanes went cold, Syracuse got hot and completely dominated the rest of the night.
Miami missed 19 of its first 20 three-point attempts and finished 4-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Canes turned the ball over 17 times and had just nine assists.
UM guard Isaiah Wong, coming off a career-high 30-point outing against then 16th-ranked Louisville, struggled to get going. He went 1-for-9 to open the game and had only four points with 10 minutes to go.
He found his shot late in the game, scoring nine straight points – including back-to-back threes – but the deficit was too big for the Hurricanes to overcome. Wong led UM with 16 points but had zero assists.
Miami dropped to 6-7 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. Syracuse is 8-4 and 2-3 in the conference.
“Syracuse was very sharp offensively,” said UM coach Jim Larranaga. “We defended them well the first five minutes, but after that, they went on a 27-5 run and that deflated us completely. Our defense then broke down and we just couldn’t make shots against the zone. We dug ourselves a big hole. When you’re not making threes against that zone, it’s very, very difficult.”
With 11 minutes to go, the Hurricanes had more turnovers (14) than field goals (12). They went 0-for-11 from the arc in the first half, their worst three-point shooting half since joining the ACC.
Larranaga said his team, especially without point guard Chris Lykes, struggles against the zone.
“It’s just a very bad matchup for us,” Larranaga said. “Boston College with their zone, and Syracuse with their zone. It’s hard on our personnel. We’re going to need to do a better job, because I’m sure we’ll see more zone in the second half of the season. But that Syracuse zone is stifling. Right now, we don’t have the answer against the zone.”
Anthony Walker scored nine of Miami’s first 11 points and looked like he was off to a big night. But he scored only four more points the rest of the game.
Guards Joseph Girard and Buddy Boeheim led Syracuse with 23 points apiece. They made nine three-pointers between them. It was a season-high for Girard, who was averaging 10 points. Orange forward Quincy Guerrier went 8-of-10 for 18 points with eight rebounds. And freshman Kadary Richmond came off the bench for seven points and eight assists.
“Girard had 15 at halftime, he was killing us,” Larranaga said. “They brought Kadary in to play the point and let Girard play the two-guard spot and so you have Boeheim, who’s a heck of a shooter, Girard, who’s a heck of a shooter and Kadari just getting the ball to those guys, driving and dishing. Guerrier setting screens and Girard was on fire.”
Syracuse shot 52.5 percent on the night, and early in the second half was shooting 69 percent. Larranaga said the UM defense has played well against teams that shoot twos this season, but they have trouble against outside shooting teams and teams that play zone.
“Our best wins – Purdue, NC State and Louisville – they played man-to-man for 40 minutes,” the coach said. “But against the zone, you’ve got to have guys that can make shots. We just don’t.”
Perhaps the only positive for Miami was the return of Kam McGusty, who had missed much of the season with an injured hamstring. Point guard Chris Lykes remained out with a severe ankle sprain. Lykes was injured Dec. 4 and has not played since.
The Hurricanes are back home on Sunday for a 6 p.m. game against Notre Dame and then play at Florida State next Wednesday.
