CHESTNUT HILL, MASS- After finishing the 2020-2021 College Basketball Season with their third straight losing season at 10-17, Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Jim Larrañaga has engineered a quick turnaround of the basketball program in 2022. In fact, the 81-70 win at Boston College (11-18, 6-13 ACC) on Wednesday clinched the Hurricanes (21-9, 13-6 ACC) a top-four seed in next week’s ACC Tournament. The win also made Larrañaga the winningest coach in Miami school history, collecting 221 wins during his 11 seasons with the Hurricanes. Entering the game, Larrañaga had 220 wins, which was tied with Bruce Hale’s 220 career wins in 13 seasons (1954-67).
Recap
The Hurricanes were able to quickly pull away from the Eagles in large part to Miami’s Sophomore Guard Isaiah Wong’s efficient performance. Wong led the Hurricanes’ offense by posting a season-high 27 points and seven rebounds while shooting 9-16 (56.2%) from the field and 5-9 (55.5%) from three-point range. In fact, Wong scored 12 of the Hurricanes’ first 18 points to build an 18-7 lead for Miami.
Wong wasn’t the only Hurricane wrecking havoc on Boston College, though. Wong’s backcourt teammate Jordan Miller finished with 18 points and six rebounds, and Senior Forward Sam Waardenburg posted 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists. It’s worth noting that Senior Guard Kameron McGusty did uncharacteristically struggle against Boston College, as he posted just ten points on 4-9 (44.4%) from the field and did commit four personal fouls.
Thanks to the great contributions from Wong, Miller, and Waardenburg, the Hurricanes got off to a fast start against the Eagles, taking an 18-7 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half, and build that into a 40-25 advantage at halftime. Miami’s pesky defense forced Boston College into plenty of mistakes, as the Eagles committed 12 turnovers and nine fouls. Miami wasn’t much better, committing 10 turnovers and 12 personal fouls.
Even though Boston College left Silvio O. Conte Forum without an upset win over Miami, they had a prime chance to due to their graduating seniors elevating their game. To begin, Senior Guard Makai Ashton-Langford led the Eagles with 21 points, and also had four rebounds while shooting 8-15 (53.3%) from the field and 3-6 (50.0%) from downtown. Senior Forward James Karnik played well in the paint for the Eagles, notching 13 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, and Senior Guard Brevin Galloway pitched in 11 points and three assists off the bench.
Tip-Ins
- Miami will look to complete a season-sweep of Syracuse (15-15, 9-10 ACC) on Saturday, and continue to strengthen its 2022 March Madness resume.
- If Duke (26-4, 16-3 ACC) beats North Carolina (22-8, 14-5 ACC) and Miami beats Syracuse, then the Hurricanes would become the No. 3 seed in the 2022 ACC Tournament.
- Boston College concludes its regular-season schedule with a road game against Georgia Tech (11-19, 4-15 ACC). Depending on the result of Saturday’s game, Boston College will likely be suited anywhere from an 11th seed to a 13th seed.
- Larrañaga has now won 61.4% of his games at Miami and has a 104-96 (52.0%) record in ACC Conference play.
- Miami’s win over the Eagles marked the first time since the 2016 season that Miami won at Boston College.