MBB Wins, 70-63, at Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team led for 36-plus minutes in a 70-63 victory at the KFC Yum! Center, tallying the first road victory over Louisville in program history.
Sixth-year redshirt senior guard Charlie Moore and third-year sophomore guard Isaiah Wong scored a co-team-high 15 points for the Hurricanes, who improved to 7-2 in true road contests and clinched a winning conference record. Miami (19-7, 11-4 ACC) led for the final 35 minutes and 36 seconds of the night.
“Well, you always have to be concerned as a coach going on the road, especially in a place that you’ve never won before. You don’t know how your opponent is going to play at home,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “They can come out and play with tremendous energy and be inspired by the crowd. They can shoot the ball better than they have. You can have big games. But our guys took control of the game early, established a 10-point lead and were able to hold on down the stretch by making really good plays.”
Moore hit all three of his 3-pointers in the first five minutes, while the Hurricanes went on an early 13-0 run in just 2:33 to build a 16-6 lead after just 6:21 of action. Louisville (11-14, 5-10 ACC) cut its deficit to seven four times, but did not get any closer the rest of the half.
Miami, meanwhile, stretched its advantage as high as 12 on two occasions, first on a second-chance 3-pointer by sixth-year redshirt senior guard Kameron McGusty that made it 27-15 with 8:28 on the clock. The Hurricanes went on to take a 10-point cushion, 35-25, into the locker room.
Larrañaga’s team, which notched a 22-20 edge on the glass, shot 45.5 percent (15-of-33) in the first half and posted 10 assists, while the Cardinals shot only 34.4 percent (11-of-32) and had just three assists.
After a Miami basket to open the second half, the Cardinals went on a 13-6 run to make it a five-point game, 43-38, with 14:16 to go. The Hurricanes extended their advantage back to 10, but Louisville again countered, this time with a 9-2 burst to make it a three-point margin, 52-49, with 8:26 on the clock.
Following a scoreless drought of 2:34, Miami scored four straight points to take a 56-49 lead with 6:43 remaining. The Hurricanes eventually went up by 10, 64-54, on a four-point play by Wong with 3:31 left. His and-one free-throw gave him 171 makes from the line in ACC play in his career, setting a new program record.
Louisville responded with seven points in a row to make it 64-61 with just 1:10 to play, but McGusty hit a shot-clock-beating jump-shot at the other end with 34.4 ticks left to up the margin to five. After a defensive stop, Moore added two points from the line to make it a seven-point cushion, 68-61, with 17 seconds on the clock, all but icing the game.
Moore and Wong’s 15 points both came on 5-of-13 shooting. Moore notched a co-game-high three steals, breaking the program’s ACC-only single-season record in the process, while Wong grabbed a season-high-tying eight rebounds.
McGusty totaled 14 points and a season-high six assists, pacing all players and finishing one shy of his career best. Five of his assists came in the first 11 minutes of the contest.
Fourth-year junior guard Jordan Miller recorded 10 points and seven rebounds, while sixth-year redshirt senior forward Sam Waardenburg logged eight points along with a game- and season-high nine rebounds, adding a career-high-tying three blocks.
“I think Charlie Moore got us off to a great start and then Jordan Miller and Anthony Walker did some things, got a dunk or two. Isaiah got a dunk. And so, guys were playing with a lot of confidence,” Larrañaga said. “Later in the second half, Sam Waardenburg drove in and dunked it. When you’re getting baskets at the rim, everybody feels good. Isaiah’s three that he got fouled on and Kam’s elbow jumper were both huge baskets when the game was in doubt.”
Louisville sophomore guard/forward Dre Davis paced all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Junior guard El Ellis notched 17 points and senior guard Noah Locke added 11.
Miami ended the night shooting 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the floor and tallied 16 assists. Louisville, meanwhile, shot 42.9 percent (27-of-63) and had only six assists. Each team had 10 turnovers, but the Hurricanes, for the second time in ACC competition, won the rebounding battle, 38-36.
The Hurricanes also limited a Louisville team that came into the contest averaging 8.2 made 3-pointers per game to just a 2-of-13 clip (15.4 percent) beyond the arc.
Miami now returns to the Watsco Center for its first home game in 10 days, slated for Saturday at 5 p.m. against Virginia, live on ACC Network.
To keep up with the University of Miami men’s basketball team on social media, follow @CanesHoops on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
MIAMI HURRICANES POSTGAME NOTES
– The Hurricanes moved to 6-13 all-time against Louisville, including 1-6 on the road and 4-6 in Larrañaga’s tenure.
– With the win over the Cardinals paired with Saturday’s triumph at then-RV/No. 25 Wake Forest, Larrañaga now owns a road victory over every program in the ACC.
– Larrañaga, who entered the game with the ninth-most victories of any active Division I coach, is now 689-471 in 38 years as a head coach, including 219-137 in 11 seasons at Miami.
– Now owning 102 victories in ACC regular season play, Larrañaga moved past Dave Odom for sole possession of the No. 13 spot on the all-time list.
– For the 18th time this season, Miami used a starting lineup of McGusty, J. Miller, Moore, Waardenburg and Wong.
– Now with 37 steals in ACC play this year, Moore moved past Guillermo Diaz (2004-05) for sole possession of first place on Miami’s ACC-only single-season list, with his takeaway with 14:09 left on the first-half clock setting the record.
– Wong now has 171 made free throws in ACC play in his career, passing the 170 mark set by Durand Scott (2009-13) and Jack McClinton (2006-09) to move into first place in program history.
– Now with 1,686 minutes played in ACC action as a Hurricane, Wong passed Tonye Jekiri (2012-16) for fifth place on the program’s ACC-only career leaderboard.
– With 261 rebounds in ACC play at Miami, Waardenburg entered the top 10, on the program’s ACC-only career leaderboard, now placing eighth.
– Waardenburg now has 22 blocked shots in ACC play this season, moving into the top 10 on Miami’s ACC-only single-season list in co-sixth place, jumping form No. 12 and passing four people.
– The Hurricanes improved to 18-1 this season when scoring 65-plus points and won their 17th such game in a row.
– Wednesday marked the first time in 2021-22 the Hurricanes had co-leading scorers.
– The only other ACC game this season in which Miami outrebounded its opponent was on 1/29/22 at Georgia Tech, 38-31.
– The Hurricanes’ 10-point halftime lead was its second-largest of the season in ACC play, trailing only the 27-point cushion, 49-22, against North Carolina on 1/18/22.
– Wong’s seven first-half rebounds tied the third-highest total in a frame by a Hurricane this season, including matching the second-highest mark before the break.
– Freshman guards Bensley Joseph and Wooga Poplar both reached 25 games played in their young careers.
– McGusty, who surpassed 450 rebounds as a collegian, tallied double-figure points for the 87th time, including the 59th as a Hurricane and 24th this season.
– McGusty logged five-plus assists for the seventh time, all at Miami, including the third this year.
– McGusty’s prior season high in assists was five, which he registered on both 1/26/22 at Virginia Tech and 1/5/22 versus Syracuse.
– Moore scored in double figures for the 74th time, including the 17th in 2021-22.
– Moore recorded five-plus assists for the 46th time, including the ninth this season.
– Wong, who surpassed both 1,100 points and 2,500 minutes played at Miami, tallied double-figure points for the 56th time, including the 23rd this year.
– The other game this season in which Wong had eight rebounds was on 1/18/22 versus North Carolina.
– J. Miller, who moved past 450 rebounds in his career, registered double-digit points for the 59th time, including the ninth this season.
– Third-year sophomore forward Anthony Walker reached 50 assists as a Hurricane.
