On the Road Again
Jan. 30 | 2 p.m. | ACCN
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum | Winston-Salem, N.C.
Miami (6-9, 2-8 ACC) at Wake Forest (4-7, 1-7 ACC)
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Slow starts have been a consistent trend for the University of Miami men’s basketball team during the 2020-21 campaign.
After sluggish beginnings, the Hurricanes have consistently worked their way back into games throughout the season, even rallying from 20 points down to beat Purdue, tied for the fifth-largest comeback by any Division I team this season, per KenPom.
Miami trimmed a 17-point deficit at Virginia Tech down to one and turned a 12-point deficit versus Clemson into a four-point lead, amongst other similar situations.
Wednesday night at No. 16 Florida State, the shorthanded Hurricanes fell behind, 33-11, before closing within nine points early in the second half. As happens oftentimes when teams exert a lot of effort to dig out of a deep hole, Miami ran out of gas and the Seminoles pulled away for an 81-59 victory at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
Although Miami (6-9, 2-8 ACC) has not always been able to turn the comebacks into victories, the mental toughness it takes to stay in those types of games has made an impression on the coaching staff.
“Coach L says it all the time; play the game, don’t play the score,” Miami assistant coach Bill Courtney said. “Whether you’re up big or whether you’re down big, you still got to continue to try to play the right way, got to continue to try to follow the game play, got to continue to play with each other and play for each other. I think it shows this group has some kind of intestinal fortitude and is not just going to give up when things don’t look great. Dealing with all the things that we’re dealing with right now, to be able to continue to show every night that you can play with a lot of effort and intensity, I think is a big testament to this group of guys.”
As Courtney knows, however, the hope is that Miami will be able to avoid falling behind big early in games. Then, when the team’s run comes, it will not be to work its way back into the contest, but rather to pull ahead.
There are a few ways the Hurricanes are working to address that issue and one of them is limiting giveaways, as Miami totaled seven of its 13 against the Seminoles within the first 6:05 of action.
“You got to take care of the ball. Having those early turnovers really hurt our offensive efficiency,” Courtney shared. “Not being able to get a shot up on the rim, it really hurts. We’re trying to do some things to try to get Isaiah Wong going a little bit earlier because, obviously, [as our leading] scorer, the easier shots that we can get him early, the better off we are. So, we’re going to try to do some different things schematically to try to remedy that problem of getting off to a slow start, but at the time, we got to be able to do a great job of taking care of the ball.”
Wong scored a game-high 21 points in Tallahassee, Fla., with 19 of them coming in the final 23 minutes of action. Redshirt senior guard Kameron McGusty added 13 points in the setback, as did sophomore forward Anthony Walker.
One other bright spot for Miami in the game was the play of senior guard Willie Herenton. A walk-on from Lincolnshire, Ill., Herenton entered the contest with the Hurricanes trailing by 22 points and immediately helped spark a 9-0 burst that became an 18-5 extended run to get Miami back in the game.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder set career highs in nearly every statistical category against the Seminoles, including notching 17 minutes played. That tally is good for the most by a non-scholarship player since Miami joined the ACC in 2004-05, surpassing the mark Herenton set on Jan. 25, 2020, when he earned 10 minutes of playing time at North Carolina.
“Well, I think what he did was establish himself defensively. Whoever was bringing the ball up for Florida State, he really tried to apply pressure to them and I think that affected them running their offense,” Courtney commented. “They were very comfortable in just making whatever play they wanted to at the time when he came in the game and he kind of disrupted some of the things they were doing by pressuring the ball, pressuring the man and kind of being very, very active. I think that kind of changed how we were doing on that end of the floor.”
Another positive takeaway from the rivalry matchup was the Hurricanes’ improved shooting from 3-point range, which has been an issue for the team much of the season.
Miami posted more makes and shot a better clip than the Seminoles, finishing 9-of-23 from long range, good for a 39.1 percent ledger. That total was the Hurricanes’ fifth-best of the year and came after they shot under 20 percent beyond the arc in each of the past two affairs.
“I thought we took good ones. I think that’s a big part of it,” Courtney said. “We’ve had some good ones in the prior games also. I think we’ve just got to continue to work to get good ones and shoot those good shots with confidence. You shoot every day, you practice every. You just hope that we’ll be able to continue and … build upon last night because we did get good shots and put a few of those in.”
The next opportunity for Miami to showcase its hopefully improved 3-point shooting is Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C. There, the Hurricanes square off with Wake Forest at 2 p.m. at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in their second consecutive road tilt.
The Demon Deacons are under the direction of new head coach Steve Forbes, who spent the last five seasons at the helm of East Tennessee State’s program.
Although it is still quite early in Forbes’ tenure, Courtney already sees the first-year head coach beginning to make his mark at his new institution.
“Well, you can tell he’s trying to put his imprint on his program,” Courtney shared. “If you look at his East Tennessee State teams, they’re always very tough, play with a lot of intensity on the defensive end and share the ball on the offensive end. I think that’s what he’s trying to do with this group. Unfortunately for him, he’s having to try to build a program during a pandemic and they had a lot of COVID issues during the beginning of this year. So, they haven’t had a lot of practice or a lot of games, for that matter.
“You can see clearly, though, as the games progress, they’re getting better and better, every night out,” Courtney continued. “Being able to beat a really good Pittsburgh team over the weekend and have a tough road loss at NC State last night, you can see that physical and mental toughness that he really coaches is starting to show up in his group.”
Fortunately for the Miami coaching staff, they are playing Wake Forest late enough in the year that it has not been necessary to go back and watch Forbes’ teams at East Tennessee State when preparing the scouting report.
Additionally, Courtney, who is the Hurricanes’ scout-team coordinator, already has a feel for the type of coach Forbes is.
“You get a pretty good sample size by the 11th game,” Courtney said. “I have the good fortune of knowing Steve for years, so I kind of know how his teams play and know what he’s trying to do. They’re not necessarily doing that right now at Wake Forest because, again, he’s had COVID issues and had injuries; he’s had guys in and out. He’s trying to establish that style of play at Wake Forest.
The Demon Deacons, while working through their new system, have posted a 4-7 (1-7 ACC) record thus far in 2020-21. However, Wake Forest has played its best basketball recently, as evidenced by its win over the Panthers and narrow setback versus the Wolfpack.
A key piece for Wake Forest this season has been the slashing ability of a backcourt standout who followed Forbes from Johnson City, Tenn., to Winston-Salem.
“We got to get back and make sure they can’t get in the paint, in particular the kid Daivien Williamson. He really attacks the paint and he sets up their 3-point shooters and the guys that score on the perimeter,” Courtney said. “Ody Oguama is a very good player on the inside. He’s continuing to develop and is developing a low-post game, so we got to limit his touches and make sure he doesn’t hurt us there. And then, as I mentioned earlier, taking care of the basketball and getting very good shots for us.”
Williamson is averaging team highs in both points (13.5) and assists (3.4) per game this season for a Wake Forest team that was picked No. 15 in the ACC preseason poll after going 13-18 (6-14) last year.
Miami sports a 12-12 all-time record against the Demon Deacons, but is just 1-10 on the road. In fact, Wake Forest and Louisville are the only ACC teams the Hurricanes have not beat on the road since Jim Larrañaga took over in Coral Gables in 2011-12.
Miami posted a 71-54 home triumph over the Demon Deacons on Feb. 15, 2020, in the last matchup between the two sides.
The Hurricanes’ meeting with Wake Forest will be televised live on ACC Network HERE, with Wes Durham and Jordan Cornette on the call. Joe Zagacki and Danny Rabinowitz will have the radio broadcast on 560 The Joe WQAM HERE. Live stats for the contest can be found HERE.
After playing the Demon Deacons, Miami returns to Coral Gables for its first of three Big Monday matchups this season, as it will host Duke at 7 p.m. on the first day of February, with Sean McDonough and Jay Bilas set to call the action live from the Watsco Center for ESPN.
To keep up with the University of Miami men’s basketball team on social media, follow @CanesHoops on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The 2020-21 Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball season is presented by First National Bank.
