Miami Falls to No. 8/7 Duke, 84-55

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team’s (15-12, 6-10 ACC) recorded an 84-55 loss to the Duke Blue Devils (21-5,12-3 ACC), Wednesday night at the Watsco Center.

“It seems like we are climbing a mountain uphill and keep slipping back,” head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “We ran into a very good team tonight that every mistake we made we paid for. I’ll meet with the team tomorrow. I have a couple very specific messages and hopefully we can start climbing up without slipping so far back.”

Juniors Wooga Poplar and Bensley Joseph co-led the Hurricanes in scoring with 15 points apiece. Forward Norchad Omier was one point shy of a double-double, finishing the night with nine points and 10 rebounds.

The teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of action with Duke holding a narrow 16-14 lead midway through the frame. However, the Blue Devils strung together a 13-0 run to extend its lead to double-digits for the first time in the game.

Poplar scored five straight points to cut Duke’s lead to 15 with a minute to play in the half, but the Blue Devils responded with a putback bucket to lead, 40-23, heading into the halftime break.

Duke continued its offensive domination coming out of the locker room, knocking down 60 percent (15-of-25) of its field goal attempts in the second half.

Joseph scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half but the Blue Devils ultimately outscored Miami, 44-32, in the final 20 minutes to head home with the 84-55 win.

Miami remains at home to host the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday, Feb. 24. Tipoff at the Watsco Center is set for 4 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network.