Miami Falls To Duke In The ACC Tournament Semifinals, 85-78

Well, that sucked. (Sigh.) Okay, let’s get to recapping.

The Miami Hurricanes fell to the Duke Blue Devils tonight, 85-78, in the 2023 ACC Tournament semifinals. Isaiah Wong led the Canes with 22 points. Jordan Miller chipped in 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Bensley Joseph came off the bench to score 10 points. Kyle Filipowski led the Blue Devils with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Duke moves on to play the winner of #2 seed Virginia vs #3 seed Clemson tomorrow night.

Below are some random thoughts from tonight’s game.

Get well soon Norchad!

As we all know, Omier turned his ankle during the first minute of tonight’s game. Luckily, the X-ray showed no break. Norchad was limping pretty bad on his way to the locker room. Having watched that, I don’t know if he is going to be ready to play by next Thursday or Friday for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. If he can’t go, Miami’s chances of making a deep run decreases significantly. Get to work UM training staff!

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Miami couldn’t compete on the boards

The Canes got killed in the rebounding battle tonight, 36-24. Without Omier, it was tough sledding for Miami’s undersized roster. Miller, Poplar, Joseph, and Walker fought hard, but they simply didn’t have the length to grab some of those important misses tonight.

The refs were awful in some big spots during the second half

That’s it. I don’t feel like typing an entire paragraph complaining about the officiating. Miami lost. Duke won. Miami missed shots and were in the game until the end. Buuuuuuut, if you’re curious to know when the whistles shifted, it started on the play before Wong’s fourth foul and didn’t let up for minutes on end. Fun.

What will Miami’s seed be and where will they play?

ESPN’s Bracketology has the Canes as a #5 seed. Because of course they do. In this fan’s opinion, Miami deserves a #4 seed. They are ACC regular season champions, they have a great home record, quality wins, and only one non-conference loss. I don’t want a matchup vs a #12 seed. We all know how those turn out.

As far as location, it would be great for the Canes to play their opening round game(s) in Orlando, FL. Coach L has mentioned this to the media. He likes the fact that Orlando is only four hours from Miami, making it easy for Canes fans to make the trip north to Central Florida. Sounds good to me. I’d make the trip (south for me) for the chance to watch my team possibly make another Sweet Sixteen run. Trying to stay positive!

It’s on to Selection Sunday for Miami Hurricanes Men’s basketball. See you Sunday night!

GO CANES!