Yellow Jackets Sting Miami Hurricanes: Win 70-50

Miami came into the contest on a roll. After defeating NC State at home and winning at Syracuse, an incredibly hostile place to play for humans, gnomes, elves, and an assortment of mythological creatures of all stripes, the 'Canes looked to push their record to 15-5 (5-2) with a win against Georgia Tech.

There were a couple of BIG questions coming into the game:

- Would Miami letdown against a struggling Georgia Tech squad or would they Chase them out of the hive, turning the recently docile colony into a pile of smoldering Ashes?

- Would the fans show up and pack the BUC, giving this team the all-important 6th man in a cascade of crowd energy?

I would have bet my eyebrows (which are considerable) that the answer to both these questions would have been in the affirmative, unfortunately, I was wrong and glad I didn't actually bet my eyebrows!

Early on it was all Georgia Tech as the 'Canes came out flat and settled for threes against the zone. Omar Sherman and Angel Rodriguez were ice cold from long range. Georgia tech had no problem scoring as former Miami commit Chris Bolden scored his per game average in the first 7 minutes.

Tonye Jekiri seemed to be the only consistent option inside, as the rest of the team was ice cold from beyond the arc and from everywhere else. Halfway through the first half, Miami was down 20-6 until Ivan Cruz Uceda nailed a 3-ball. After a turnover, Cruz Uceda and Joe Thomas connected on a sweet give-and-go, and then Ja'Quan Newton drilled a jumper to bring the 'Canes to within 20-13, and forced GT to call a time out to the golf clap of the energy-depleted BUC!

Just as the game seemed like the game was going to get out of hand against the Georgia Tech onslaught, Davon Reed hit a couple of and Deandre Burnett hit one of his own and the 'Canes went to the locker room down 34-26. The stark reality is that it looked like it was going to be worse...much worse.

Unfortunately, we didn't have to wait long for much worse to replace worse...again. The 2nd half started off much like the first half with 'Canes digging themselves a deeper hole. Rodriguez and Sherman continued to look like extras from a George Romero zombie movie. Rodriguez, uncharacteristically, continued to commit a bunch of really terrible turnovers. The 'Canes missed hard shots, easy shots, long shots, and short shots on the way to a horrific home loss to Georgia Tech.

Takeaways:

It is really awful that the turnout for this game was so cruddy. I don't want to sound like a broken record on this subject, but some players on the team seem to feed of crowd energy. Angel Rodriguez looked like an extra from The Walking Dead.

Jekiri continued his strong play and it is undeniable that he is the most important player on the 'Canes basketball squad. It would be difficult to fathom what Miami's record would be without the contributions of Tonye Jekiri.

The fans started a mass exodus with 4 minutes left - which is okay - they weren't here anyway.

Whenever this team gets ranked, they seem to play terribly. I kind of hope they stay at #26 the entire year.

Game Metaphor Footage: Georgia Tech: Legolas          Miami: everything Legolas fought

Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: None