Miami Comes Up Short Against Louisville

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team (11-4, 2-2 ACC) fell short of the Louisville Cardinals (6-9, 1-3 ACC), 80-71, Wednesday night at the Watsco Center.

“Give Louisville all the credit, they came in here with a very good game plan and executed it perfectly,” head coach Jim Larrañaga. “Nothing in our game plan worked and I think everything in their game plan worked.”

Junior Matthew Cleveland recorded his third double-double of the season with a team-leading 22 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Wooga Poplar joined Cleveland in double-figures with 18 points.

Miami jumped out to an early 8-3 lead but Louisville’s Mike James put together a personal 13-0 run to give the Cardinals an 18-10 advantage at the 13:22 mark of the first half. However, the Hurricanes rallied and responded with a 14-3 run capped by Pack’s second 3-pointer of the game.

Both teams shot better than 48 percent in the first half, but Miami used an 8-of-18 effort from 3-point range to take a 41-37 lead into halftime.

Cleveland scored the Hurricanes’ first eight points of the second half to extend Miami’s lead to eight, 51-43. The offense went cold midway through the frame, going more than three minutes without a point to allow the Cardinals to tie the game at 57-all at the halfway point of the second half.

The second half featured seven ties as the teams continued to trade buckets down to the final minutes of play. Ultimately, the Cardinals scored the final nine points of the game to secure the 80-71 victory.

Miami hits the road to take on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., on Saturday. Tipoff in Cassell Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network.