Miami Loses to Syracuse at the Buzzer, 72-69

The shorthanded Canes came up short on the road.

• By
  
  MikeSchiffman
  
• on January 20, 2024 4:03 pm
• @MikeSchiffman12

The Miami Hurricanes fell to the Syracuse Orange today in Upstate New York, 72-69. Nijel Pack led the Canes with 19 points. Matthew Cleveland had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists. J.J. Starling led the Orange with 22 points. Miami falls to 12-6, 3-4 ACC. Syracuse improves to 13-5, 4-3 ACC.

Below are some random thoughts from today’s game.

Yet another tough loss

I promise I’m not bitter, but I wasn’t impressed with Syracuse today. Miami allowed them to get open shot after open shot. The Orange made 12-31 from three-point range. Most of those 12 makes were wide open looks. Starling looked great today because he had great looks at the basket; he wasn’t challenged. The Canes were playing without their best player in Norchad Omier, but they still had a golden opportunity to win the game. This was a game they needed. It would’ve been a huge confidence boost to go into a hostile arena and come away a winner without your top dog. Another opportunity squandered this season for Coach L’s squad.

Miami took too long to wake up today. They should’ve had a lead going into the final minute. Wooga Poplar looked off the entire game. Nijel Pack took too long to get going. Bensley Joseph had a good second half, but shouldn’t have taken the shot on their last possession. It was another frustrating game to watch as a Canes hoops fan. I have a bad feeling 2023-24 might just be the season from hell for this team. After two extremely successful and healthy seasons, Miami is falling hard. We’ll see if they have enough to pick themselves up. There are still a lot of conference games to be played.

Okay, that’s it. I’m bummed the Canes lost..again. Time to enjoy the best weekend in the NFL. The Divisional Round! I’m looking forward to watching the Ravens myself.

GO CANES!

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