The Miami Hurricanes Mens Basketball program hosted the Louisville Cardinals Saturday night at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, FL.  The 19/20th ranked ‘Canes  came in to the contest riding a 3 game win streak and 13-0 at home.  Their 19-5 overall record and 10-4 conference record places them in 3rd in the ACC behind Virgina and Pitt.  The Louisville Cardinals have had a tough season thus far struggling to find traction in the win column.  They entered with a 3-21 overall record 1-12 conference(last in the ACC), and 0-7 on the road.

Miami came out hot and jumped out to an early 10-0 lead within the first three minutes before Louisville called for a timeout to regroup.  The Cardinals, fueled by senior guard El Ellis, gradually worked their way back into the game and found themselves within one possession of the lead when Ellis knocked down a jumper to put Louisville up 34-33 with under 5 minutes left in the half.  Miami responded to retake a thin lead which they held to close the half up 42-41.

The second half was reminiscent of the first.  Miami jumped out quickly to extend their lead to as much as 11.  They kept the lead at arms distance until just under the 5 minute mark when Louisville’s Ellis hit a pair of free throws to cut Miami’s lead to 74-70.  This time however, Miami didn’t allow Louisville to get any closer for the remainder of the game.  Despite Ellis’ career high 33 point performance, the ‘Canes overall team balance was just too much for the Cardinals.  Miami’s balanced attack in the 93-85 win resulted in 3 players(Nigel Pack, Isaiah Wong, & Torched Omier) finishing with over 20 points.  

A couple of big take aways from the game for Miami was their ball security and transition defense.  Miami only gave up 6 turnovers of which 2 of those translated to points for Louisville.   As for transition defense, Miami allowed just 4 points from fast breaks.

With the win, Miami improves to 20-5 overall 11-4 ACC extending their home streak to 14 and will travel to Chapel Hill, NC to face UNC on Monday, Feb 15 at 7 p.m.   Louisville will have another tough task.  This time at home hosting top 10 Virginia on Wednesday, Feb 15 at 7 p.m.

STATS

ATTENDANCE: 6,540

Miami:  93 pts, 31/58 2-PT, 8/20 3-PT, 23/27 FT, 28 rebs(11 off, 17 def), 20 assists, 6 TO, 5 steals, 17 pts fast break, 20 pts off TO, 34 pts in paint

Louisville: 85 pts, 33/57 2-PT, 10/23 3-PT, 9/11 FT, 24 rebs(7 off, 17 def), 12 assists, 12 TO, 3 steals, 4 pts fast break, 4 pts off TO, 40 pts in paint

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Miami: N. Pack 22 pts 4/9 3-PT, I. Wong 21 pts 4 assists, N. Omier 21 pts 7 rebs, J. Miller 10 pts 6 assists 6 rebs

Louisville: E. Ellis 33 pts 3/8 3-PT 5 assists, J. Withers 18 pts, K. Lands 13 pts 3/4 3-PT

Photo credit: Cameron Robertson/FAAZ Sports