Canes Hoops Recap: Miami Beaten, in Beantown

The Miami Hurricanes saw the last week-and-a-half pass by them quickly as they dropped a 64-57 clunker to the Boston College Golden Eagles at the Conte Forum on Sunday evening.

Miami (11-14, 3-10 ACC), didn't look like the team who went 2-1 over the past-week-and-a-half, instead leaving Boston College (13-11, 4-8 ACC) leaving feeling similarly to Miami after wins over Notre Dame and Clemson.

And after shooting an average of 42 percent from three-point range over their last two matchups, Miami was held to 4-26 shooting from three-pointers and just 37 percent overall.

Each player’s point total was reflected in the loss.

Chris Lykes, fresh off his 21 point effort against Clemson four days ago, was limited to just 10 Sunday. The Maryland native also went 0-8 from beyond the arc.

DJ Vasiljevic, whose 22 points earlier in the week eclipsed even Lykes, had just 2 points on 1-6 from the field, with just three attempts from three-point range, and no makes.

Ebuka Izundu would be the team’s leading scorer with 14 points, and also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.

Anthony Lawrence had ten points of his own along with five rebounds, and Sam Waardenburg continued his good play of late with another ten points and five rebounds.

The Eagles were led by two scorers in particular in Nik Popovic and Jordan Chatman. Chatman, a guard from Vancouver, British Columbia, led all scorers with 17 points while Popovic produced a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

And in what was largely a defensive struggle, Ky Bowman was held to six points for BC.

A Waardenburg three-pointer gave Miami a 16-14 lead with precisely 10 minutes to play in the first half. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, that would be their last lead of the evening. UM managed just five more points the rest of the half, three of which came from another Waardenburg three-pointer as the Canes went into the break down 25-21.

A 15-9 run out of the intermission put Boston College in front 40-29 with 14:06 left in the game.

A 14-7 Cane counterpunch spearheaded by two Izundu dunks put Miami within 47-43 with 5:56 remaining, but any comeback hopes by quickly lifted as UM never closed the margin beyond that, as the Eagles responded with a three-minute 11-1 run to hold off UM for good.

With just five games left in the regular season, the Hurricanes now enter the back stretch of the ACC schedule. The shorthanded roster will have almost an entire week to recover from the loss, next in action at home against Georgia Tech this Saturday. Tipoff at the Watsco Center will be at 2 p.m.