Canes Drop ACC Road Opener, 70-55

Miami5570Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Host Syracuse snapped Miami’s seven-game winning streak Wednesday night, as the Hurricanes dropped their ACC road opener, 70-55, at the Carrier Dome.

Freshman DJ Vasiljevic hit a personal-best six 3-pointers and ended the night with a career-high 18 points.

Syracuse’s Andrew White led all scorers with 22 points, while the Orange’s Tyler Lydon finished with 20.

Facing a Miami scoring defense that entered the night ranked 11^th nationwide in field goal percentage, Syracuse shot 25-for-44 from the field, including 8-for-19 from distance, for a 56.8 clip for the game.

Trailing by 10 points early in the second half, Miami ripped off a 12-3 run to cut the lead to 43-42 with 13:03 remaining.

Vasiljevic was crucial during the stretch, hitting two of his six threes. Fellow freshman Bruce Brown added four points during the same run.

“I think we could have taken maybe five or six more [3-pointers] if we just caught it and shot it,” head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “Instead we hesitated, we dribbled it, we tried to drive into the lane and then we’re taking a contested two, which is definitely not what we wanted to do.”

After Miami cut the lead to a single point, Syracuse (9-6, 1-1 ACC) would bump its lead back to 10 at 55-45 with less than 10 minutes to go on a 3-pointer by Lydon.

Miami shot just 21-of-54 from the field (38.9 percent) for the game but was helped by an 11-of-26 performance from three (42.3).

“On the other end, we did not want to take a lot of shots off the dribble,” Larrañaga said. “We shot way too many of them throughout the game. Maybe a little more in the first half, but even late in the second half when we fell behind again, we were not finding the open man quickly enough to have him catch and shoot a wide-open three.”

15 of Lydon’s 20 came in the second half.

Miami (11-3, 1-1 ACC) started 5-for-5 from the field to jump out to a 12-8 lead. Senior Davon Reed hit a pair of 3-pointers during the opening five minutes, while freshman Dewan Huell added a pair of early buckets.

Cuse tied it at 12 with baskets on back-to-back possessions, but a three from Vasiljevic helped the Hurricanes retake the lead at 15-12 with 13:04 to play in the half.

After the hot start, Miami finished the half hitting just 5 of its next 21 shots heading into the halftime locker room.

A 3-pointer from White gave the Orange a 23-21 lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the first, as the hosts took a 34-26 lead at the break.

“I thought they were very, very sharp, right from the opening tip. The first few shots that they hit were exactly the kinds of shots we did not want them even shooting,” Larrañaga said. “Just a pass, directly to a shooter, him just elevating and catching and shooting.”

White led all players with 11 first-half points, while Vasiljevic finished the opening frame with nine, all on 3-pointers.

The Orange made seven of their first 10 field goal attempts on the night, and finished the half shooting 60 percent.

Miami shot just 2-for-10 from the free throw line, while Syracuse finished 12 of 14.

Vasiljevic (18) was the only Miami player in double figures; Brown added nine, Ja’Quan Newton finished with eight and Huell and Reed added six points apiece.

“I thought Tyler Lydon was terrific,” Larrañaga said. “Andrew White played well, scoring 22. We only had one guy in double figures. We’re trying to get four guys every night in double figures, and we weren’t even close to that tonight.”

Miami next hosts Notre Dame at the Watsco Center on Thursday, Jan. 12. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Post Game Notes

Miami’s starters at Syracuse: Ja’Quan Newton, Bruce Brown, Davon Reed, Dewan Huell and Kamari Murphy.

Freshman guard DJ Vasiljevic scored nine points and shot 3-of-7 from beyond the arc in the opening half, marking the fifth time this season the Australian native has hit at least three 3-pointers in a game. Vasiljevic finished the evening shooting a career-high 6-of-12 from deep to go along with a career-high 18 points.

Vasiljevic’s six 3-pointers are tied for the second-most in program history in ACC play, and are tied for the most by a freshman (6 by Rion Brown, vs. Maryland 3/2/11).

Senior forward Kamari Murphy has now recorded 100 career blocks in 112 games played. He has 39 swats in his 46 games at Miami, after recording 61 blocks in 66 games at Oklahoma State from 2012-14.

As a team, Miami shot 11-of-26 (42.3%) from beyond the arc, marking a new season-high in both three-pointers made and attempted, besting the previous season-high 10-of-25 against South Carolina State, Dec. 6.

Prior to tonight’s 0-for-4 first-half performance at the free throw line, the last time Miami did not hit a free throw in the first half was last season against NC State, Jan 30, 2016.

Prior to tonight’s game at the Carrier Dome, only two of the nine active scholarship players to compete there (Ja’Quan Newton and Davon Reed). On Jan. 24, 2015, Miami defeated Syracuse 66-62, as Reed was one of three Hurricanes to score double digits (11 points) and Newton added three points.

Freshman guard Bruce Brown pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and has grabbed at least four in each of the first 14 games of his career. Adding two assists and a steal, Brown has at least two assists in 11 contests, and has a steal in 11 of 14 games.

For the 10th time this season, junior guard Ja’Quan Newton dished out at least three assists. He led the team with seven assists to go along with eight points and four rebounds.

With two points and a block, sophomore Ebuka Izundu has now blocked a shot in six of the last eight outings and has scored in eight straight games.

The Canes fall to 4-9 in ACC road openers since joining the league for the 2004-05 season.

Miami drops to 7-17 all-time against Syracuse, 3-8 on the road and 2-3 under Coach Larrañaga.