The Canes Beat The Cardinals, 93-85

Happy Saturday before the Super Bowl! There were some important college basketball games today. I was hoping for a Duke road win at Virginia, but they came up short. I don’t know how that wasn’t a foul against Virginia at the end of regulation, but whatever. A Miami fan rooting for Duke, imagine that?

The Miami Hurricanes topped the Louisville Cardinals tonight, 93-85. Nijel Pack led the Canes with 22 points on 4-9 shooting from three-point range. Isaiah Wong chipped in 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Norchad Omier had 21 points on 6-7 shooting, along with 7 rebounds. El Ellis led the Cardinals with 33 points and 4 assists. Miami improves to 20-5, 11-4 ACC. Louisville falls to 3-22, 1-13 ACC.

Below are some random thoughts from tonight’s game.

I was right to have a bad feeling about this game

I saw this coming, I promise. There was no way Miami was going to get up for a bad Louisville team after their huge win Monday night against Duke. Now, after the 10-0 run to start the game, I doubted myself for a second. It was too early though. Louisville shot the lights out the rest of the first half, trailing by only a single point at halftime. The Cardinals didn’t cool off much in the second twenty minutes, as they kept making open jump shots (including threes) and acrobatic lay-ups. Good thing they turned the ball over 12 times, or this could’ve been even closer of a game.

Miami’s defense has severely struggled against inferior competition

The Canes gave up 105 points to Cornell. They allowed Georgia Tech to score the last 12 points of the game. They barely held on against UCF. I don’t like this trend. Miami has a chance to get a top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They can’t afford to mess around with a first round opponent that has a talent deficit and nothing to lose. I’ll be interested to see how they play against Florida State at home in a couple weeks. The Canes stomped the Noles on the road..just like Louisville. Hmm.

Canes fans have to love the offense

Miami can score with the best of them, averaging over 78 points per game before tonight’s 93-point output. The three-point shooting can be streaky. That said, the ball movement is consistent throughout the game. There have only been a few instances this season with ball-stopping offense. Jordan Miller makes smart plays when he gets in the middle of a zone defense. Omier keeps his head up and looks for teammates cutting to the basket. Harlond Beverly has made some great bounce passes on the break. Good thing, because his three missed free-throws in a row today was annoying!

Another 2-0 week for our guys. The Miami Hurricanes are now third in the ACC standings. They have already beaten second place Virginia and have a home rematch against first place Pittsburgh. Five games left. Let’s go.

GO CANES!