Hurricanes Roll to 76-54 Win over Boston College
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team used a strong first half to defeat Boston College, 78-54, Saturday inside the Watsco Center.
Boston College (10-19, 3-13 ACC) jumped out to an early 13-6 lead five minutes into the game before Miami (23-6, 12-4 ACC) responded with an 11-2 run. The Hurricanes then allowed just one basket in the final eight and a half minutes and closed with a 19-2 run to take a 36-19 advantage into the break.
In the second half, the Eagles trimmed the lead down to 13 before Miami answered with a 13-2 run to lead by 24, 55-31. The Hurricanes continued to lead by more than 20 the rest of the half as Noam Dovrat set a season-high with 12 points, making four 3-pointers.
Ernest Udeh Jr. stuffed the stat sheet as he recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks and three steals. Tru Washington scored 14 points and set a career-high with six steals and finished the game with an astounding plus-30. Tre Donaldson led the Hurricanes with 15 points and three steals.
For the game, Miami tied its season high in steals with 14 while forcing 18 Boston College turnovers. In the paint, the Hurricanes outscored the Eagles, 42-28, while scoring 22 points off turnovers. The Hurricanes outrebounded BC, 35-28.
Miami hits the road for its final road game of the regular season as the Hurricanes take on SMU on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on ACC Network and heard locally on 560 AM WQAM.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Jai Lucas
Opening statement…
“Just excited and proud about how we battled through the game. We were able to win and create some separation. I thought one of the biggest moments in the game was just Tre’s spark off the bench and what he was able to do in the first half kind of separated us. Him in that role, that’s what he’s capable of doing. He has the ability to take us to another level. Rebounding, offensive rebound — I felt we were a little bit better at that. We just had a lot of lapses and a lot of gaps within the game. One thing I was telling the guys after the game is going into March, you have to continue to develop a killer instinct where you get these leads and these moments where you can go from 10 to 15, or 15 to 20. You have to be able to sustain the lead. You can’t just give and take. So we’ve got to do a better job of closing down the stretch. For Noam to come in and to hit four threes after not playing for a while and just being engaged and being ready, it just goes to show his maturity and his ability to buy into the team. It was a good day. We had a bunch of people sick, a bunch of people banged up, got a little team bug going around. But I was excited that we came out and were able to pull it off.”
On managing team health…
“It was big today because we had a bunch of guys that weren’t feeling good. So I tried to sub quicker, sub earlier. We’ve cut down practice time. We’ve kind of separated how we’re doing it to give these guys more rest. I tried to do as much as I could toward the end of the game to get guys out, but Timo kind of pulled up with something so he couldn’t go back in. For us to be at our best, we’ve got to be as healthy as possible. I have to be smart as a coach with practice time and how much we’re going up and down.”
On Noam hitting four threes in a row…
“He didn’t hesitate. I gave him a nickname — ‘Noam, shoot the ball’ — because he’s always been a point guard his whole life, and in his role on this team he’s more of a shooter. Sometimes he forgets what he’s in there to do. So he just came in and did it today. I was proud of him because he hadn’t played a lot, and to come in and hit four threes in an ACC game, even if the score is 15-plus, it’s hard to do with the style of these games.”
Ernest Udeh Jr., Center, Senior
On his defensive performance…
“I think for me, defense has always been just an instinctive thing for me. And like I said, it all falls on my energy. You know, how much effort I’m giving while I’m on the floor, because again, I know my abilities, my God-given talent, my athletic ability. And for me, it’s just every single night you’re going out there, playing harder than the guy in front of us. And those are the results, you know, just making sure that on the defensive end I’m doing everything that I can to help my team out.”
On what changed after a slow start…
“Just the communication in the huddle. You know, like you said, we’re going out there, shots weren’t falling, no free throws, whatever you want to call it. And throughout the huddle, we’re just telling each other, no matter if shots are falling, no matter what’s going on offensively, the one thing we control is our effort. You know, we play with high energy, high effort, take care of everything else defensively, offensively. Again, we get stops, we’re out running, getting easy baskets. So that’s all it was.”
Noam Dovrat, Guard, Junior
On his season-high performance, including multiple three-pointers…
“I’ve been working. The last couple games I didn’t play as much, but I knew I just got to be ready whenever coach puts me on the floor, gotta be ready to play. I just got in the game. I know my role on the team is to shoot the ball, especially outside the three-point line. So I just came in and shot it. I have the confidence from the coach, from my teammates. Whenever I’m open, I just shoot it. Shots just fell in today.”
On where the team stands heading into late February…
“I think we’re getting into that part of the season that matters most. And that’s where we need to take another step forward and just be who we can be and who we need to be as a team. We just keep working hard and trying to get better every day to be in the best possible shape we can when the money is on the line.”
