Hurricanes Rally to Defeat Stanford, 79-70
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Trailing by as many as nine in the second half, the University of Miami men’s basketball team rallied to defeat Stanford, 79-70, Wednesday night inside the Watsco Center.
The Hurricanes (17-4, 6-2 ACC) quickly jumped out to an 11-2 lead as Tre Donaldson scored seven of Miami’s first 11 points. Donaldson put the Hurricanes up 22-12 with 11:38 remaining in the first half forcing Stanford to call a timeout. The Cardinal (14-7, 3-5 ACC) came storming back out of the break, going on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three. Stanford took its first lead of the game amid an 11-2 run and led 40-35 at the half.
Stanford led by as many as nine in the second stanza but the Canes were able to trim the lead down to four following a pair of Timo Malovec 3-pointers. Donaldson tied the game at 51 with a step back 3-pointer with 9:33 remaining. Miami regained the lead, 58-56, with just under six minutes left as Tru Washington registered a steal that led to a fastbreak layup by Dante Allen.
The Hurricanes pushed the lead up to five, forcing Stanford to call a timeout after a Shelton Henderson free throw and a layup by Malik Reneau. Miami pushed its lead to 10 with 1:20 remaining before Stanford hit a three. Allen put the game away with a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to give Miami the win.
Reneau led Miami with 20 points as Donaldson added 18. Henderson finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, five offensive, as Washington added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench. Ernest Udeh Jr. added a game-high nine rebounds and three blocks.
For the game, Miami shot 47.4% from the floor and held Stanford to 43.5% and just 35.5% in the second half. The Hurricanes outscored the Cardinal, 38-24, in the paint and scored 13 fastbreak points while holding Stanford to zero.
Miami closes out its two-game homestand Saturday as the Hurricanes host Cal at 4 p.m. The game will air on ACC Network and can be heard locally on WQAM.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Miami Head Coach Jai Lucas
Opening statement…
“I felt, a big part of it I was worried about, was the start, especially when they had such a dynamic player who can kind of change the game. So I wanted to make sure we got off to the start and we kind of gave it some different looks early. I thought we did, and then we just died out. We just kind of gassed out halfway through, and they were able to make a run and kind of changed it. But our guys and our team have showed just the grit and the resilience to be able to battle and just keep competing and to respond with whatever’s going in the game and just finish the game and still to win by nine. I was very, very impressed with just their fight and they’re willing to get lost in the game. I thought Tru Washington, his defense in the second half, and some of his steals that he came up with were huge. I felt like Shelton (Henderson) was always the best matchup for Ebuka (Okorie), but I didn’t want to put him on him early, because I didn’t want to wear him down, and then he still ended up cramping in the second half. But, he did a great job down the stretch of just face guarding them, taking them out, blowing up ball screens. I thought everybody kind of contributed in their minutes. Dante (Allen) had a great spark plug. Timo (Malovec) hit two threes after missing three free throws in a row was big for us, so I’m glad.”
On his strategy for Okorie…
“I mean, we had like five contingency plans, so we went through three of them. We didn’t get to the last two. You know, the first one was, and this is high praise, because of how good I think he is. He is able to get through tight cracks and split the ball screen best I’ve seen in college since Kemba Walker. And it’s the one thing that was really impressive, in person, and watching them on film, is just his speed and to be able to get through cracks. So the big part was just not letting him split. He got a few of them because he’s good. So that was one. So we did a good job kind of catching them. Then the second part we kind of tried to do was go zone and pulled it out so we couldn’t give him any gaps, so that worked a few times. Then the last thing that we went through was we finally put Shelton and just face guard him in the last 10 minutes of the game. So we just eliminated his help and just tried to take him out the game and make him play four on four.”
On experimenting with the lineups…
“You know, I’m just trying to find ways to give us some scoring off the bench and put guys in with different lineups, just within the flow of the game. The way our team is built, the way our roster is built, the guys are going to play their minutes. Like it doesn’t matter you know, Tru still ends up playing his 26 minutes, Dante has 25 minutes. I’m just trying to find something that gives us some pop between the 12 minute and five minute mark of the first half, somebody that can come in with some energy and give us a kind of a scoring punch when Malik (Reneau) is out, or when Tre (Donaldson) is out, or Sheldon is out. Just trying to figure some things out, and we’ll keep tweaking it and try to find out what works.”
