BROOKLYN, NY- Fresh off a 22 win regular season, the Miami Hurricanes (23-9, 14-6 ACC) entered the 2022 ACC Tournament with high hopes as one of the ACC’s top four seeds. Unfortunately, Miami may have let this get to their head, as No. 13 Boston College (13-20, 6-14 ACC) nearly upset the Hurricanes, and even took them to overtime. In spite of this, Miami escaped unscathed thanks to Jordan Miller’s buzzer-beating layup in overtime, giving the Hurricanes a 71-69 win.
Miller’s game-winning layup capped off a ferocious comeback by the Hurricanes that saw them turn a six-point deficit into a five-point lead with four minutes to go, but the Eagles rallied back to tie the game at 65-65 at the end of regulation. The five minutes of overtime only saw eight total points between the two teams until Senior Guard Charlie Moore hit a streaking Miller for his first career game-winning shot.
“I told the players, ‘This is the most fun time of the year. Everybody looks forward to March Madness. For us, the ACC Tournament is the beginning of that,’” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said when asked about Miller’s Game Winner. “Hitting a game-winning shot in overtime, that is something you will remember the rest of your life.”
Game Recap
In addition to the game-winning shot, Miller posted 13 points and three rebounds, and was one of four Hurricanes’ to score double-digit points. Senior Guard Kameron McGusty led Miami with 16 points, and was closely followed by Moore’s 15 points. Isaiah Wong posted one of his best stat lines of the season, with 14 points, six rebounds, and a team-high six assists. Senior Forward Sam Waardenburg led Miami with nine rebounds along with his nine points.
As for Boston College, Junior Forward Quinten Post and Senior Guard Brevin Galloway led the offense for the Eagles. Post notched a team-high 14 points and five rebounds, while Galloway added 12 points and three assists. In total, five of Boston College’s eight players posted at least 10 points, as Jaeden Zackery (11 points, three rebounds, and three assists) James Karnik (10 points and two rebounds), and Makai Ashton-Langford (nine points and four rebounds) were the other Eagles to reach the feat.
While Miami’s comeback win will likely be remembered for Miller’s heroics, they certainly kept their composure and confidence throughout the game, even after a shaky start and early deficit. Miami’s shooting as a team was on-point against a good Boston College defense, going 30-56 (53.5%) from the field and 5-8 (62.5%) from the free-throw line. The Hurricanes did struggle from three-point range, however, going just 6-19 (31.5%) from downtown.
Boston College’s shooting stats were more of the same, going 29-57 (50.8%) from the field, 6-15 (40.0%) from three-point range, and 5-11 (45.4%) from the charity stripe. Similar to the final regular-season matchup between the Hurricanes and the Eagles, both teams struggled with committing personal fouls and turnovers. In the end, Miami finished with 12 turnovers and 13 personal fouls, while Boston College committed 13 turnovers and 10 personal fouls.
Tip Ins
- Miami will now look to face No. 1 Duke (27-5, 17-4 ACC) in the 2022 ACC Semifinals Game on Friday. If Miami beats Duke, then they will face the winner of No. 7 Virginia Tech (21-12, 11-9 ACC) and No. 3 North Carolina (24-8, 15-5 ACC) in the ACC Championship Game.
- Boston College will begin their 2022 offseason early, filled with speculation.
- The Hurricanes moved to 28-27 all-time against Boston College, including 2-2 at neutral sites, 2-1 in the ACC Tournament and 15-3 in Larrañaga’s tenure.
- Larrañaga, who entered the game with the 10th-most victories of any active Division I coach, is now 693-473 in 38 years as a head coach, including 223-139 in 11 seasons at Miami. Larrañaga has now moved past Carl Tracy for sole possession of the No. 12 spot on the conference’s all-time leaderboard.
- The other four times the Hurricanes reached the ACC Tournament semifinals were 2010, 2013 and 2016.