Hurricanes Fall at Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Reggie Johnson posted his third straight double-double and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds, but the Miami men’s basketball team couldn’t get past a spirited Rutgers squad and fell, 61-45, on Sunday afternoon.

Jonathan Mitchell scored 12 points and Dane Miller had all 11 of his points in the second half for Rutgers (2-1), who followed up its home win on Monday with another.

After a tight turnaround following Miami’s victory over North Carolina Central in Coral Gables less than 48 hours ago, the Hurricanes (2-2) struggled to get their offense going and shot just 29.2 percent from the field, while turning the ball over 17 times.

The Hurricanes, who were held to 36 points below their season average, got 12 points and 14 rebounds from Johnson. However, the Hurricanes’ backcourt duo of Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant — who entered the game averaging a combined 30 points — were limited to eight points on Sunday.

Rutgers used a 14-5 run early in the second half to open a 40-29 advantage. Holding a 52-43 edge with 3:09 left, Rutgers scored nine straight to open its largest lead at 61-43 with 1:08 remaining.

Neither team could take control in the first half, when the biggest margin was four points for both sides. There were seven lead changes and four ties in the half, with Rutgers using a 5-0 spurt at the end for 24-20 edge. The Scarlet Knights would not trail again.

After having a 22-game regular-season winning streak against nonconference opponents snapped by Memphis Monday, the Hurricanes have lost two of their last three to nonconference foes.

This afternoon marked the first meeting between the two programs since 2004, before Miami left the Big East for the ACC.

Today’s Starters
Starting for Miami today was Durand Scott, Malcolm Grant, DeQuan Jones, Donnavan Kirk and Reggie Johnson

Big Reg
Reggie Johnson posted his third straight double-double of the week with a game-high tying 12 points and a career- and game-high 14 rebounds.

Block Party
Raphael Akpejiori also did a solid job in the post on Sunday. In six minutes, he put up a career-high two blocks and converted all four of his free throws for four points.

DeQuan Jones also swatted a shot for the Hurricanes and finsihed with a season-high eight points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Scoring Woes
Miami struggled offensively, converting a season-low 29.2 percent from the field — its worst shooting performance since making 25.0 percent of its shots in a 58-43 loss to Louisville on Dec. 31, 2005. In addition, UM’s 45 points are its fewest since that Louisville loss.