MBB: The Miami Hurricanes upset the Duke Blue Devils 76-74

The unranked Miami Hurricanes shocked the college basketball world by upsetting the 2nd ranked Duke Blue Devils by a final score of 76-74. The Hurricanes, who are now 5-0 in the ACC, were 15 point underdogs on the road at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Thanks to a plethora of Duke turnovers, Miami started the game off hot, but the first half ended in a tie, with both teams having scored 32 points. 6th year redshirt senior Kameron McGusty hit the go-ahead layup with 22 seconds to go, and then watched Duke’s answer miss.

The Devils then fouled Miami with eight seconds to go in the game. Miami’s third year guard, Isaiah Wong, puts away his first free throw but missed the second. Duke grabbed the rebound and with 0.7 seconds left set up a game winning three, that clanked the rim allowing Miami to hold on.

The Blue Devils won a couple of key stat categories- rebounding and free throws. The Devils won the boards 44 to 30, and hit on 82.4% of their free throws, while Miami made 72.7%. But Miami stayed in the game with defense. The ‘Canes ended the night with 15 steals and forced Duke into 17 turnovers, compared to Miami’s five turnovers.

Hurricanes guard Charlie Moore led the ‘Canes in scoring with 18 points. Moore, who is a veteran presence like McGusty, has now played in three of four of the continental US time zones after stints with Cal, Kansas, DePaul, and Miami.

Duke’s six-foot-ten freshman forward, Paolo Banchero, led all scoring with 20 points. The Devils leading rebounder was Wendell Moore Jr. Moore ended the night with 12 points, 12 boards and seven assists. Duke, now 12-2, is still the favorite to win the ACC.

Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils head to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest on January 12th, while Jim Larrañaga’s Hurricanes take their perfect conference record to Tallahassee to face the Florida State Seminoles on January 11th.