Party at the Watsco Center as Miami Hurricanes hoops demolishes Duke, 81-59

Rarely does the opening sequence of a basketball game dictate the entirety of the matchup, but that was certainly the case Monday night inside the Watsco Center as the Miami Hurricanes (19-5, 10-4 ACC) pulled off a wire-to-wire win against Duke (17-7, 8-5 ACC), 81-59. 

“That was a great performance from start to finish,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “Jumping out on them 13-1, that got us off to a great start, (and) there was a lot of energy. Everyone that came to tonight’s game is invited back. That’s the kind of environment we’d love to have every night.”

In front of a sold-out crowd, Miami forward Norchad Omier got the Cane hopefuls on their feet early, draining what was just his second made three-pointer of the season thus far. On the following possession, Hurricanes guard Isaiah Wong hammered home a fast-break dunk after a steal, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

“My teammates trusted me; I was feeling good, and I was wide open,” Omier said. “Coaches tell me to shoot it when I’m wide open, so I just let it fly. It felt great.” 

Behind the moment, Miami grew it’s lead to 13-1 behind 4-of-5 shooting while holding the Blue Devils to 0-for-4 from the field to start the game.

Duke trimmed the Hurricane advantage to single digits midway through the first half following a Kyle Filipowski three-pointer, but the Hurricanes promptly replied with a 7-0 run to reclaim the double-digit lead.

Miami forward Jordan Miller led all scorers at the half with 14 points (5 of 7), five assists, and four rebounds, while the Hurricanes as a team shot 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from the field along with nine assists.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Hurricanes were ferocious and extremely active, holding Duke to 34% (11-of-32) shooting from the floor and forcing 11 turnovers in the first half, which helped the Hurricanes lead 40-26 at the break.

“The activity was tremendous,” Larrañaga said. “We made a point of saying we have to be impactful on the ball screens, and we were. We had to clog the lane, which we did. Then we have to rebound a miss or force a turnover, and we did both.” 

Just as he started the game, Omier opened the second half with an impressive bucket, this time a tough layup under the rim surrounded by three Duke defenders. Miami stretched its lead to 21 at 47-26 after an Isaiah Wong baseline fade, which forced another Duke timeout after a Hurricanes 7-0 run to start the half. 

“I was very worried at halftime that we had exhausted ourselves because we played so hard in the first half that I didn’t know if we would have the energy to keep doing it in the second half,” Larrañaga said. “Sure enough, we came out and played like gangbusters to start the second half. We got it up to 20 and got an outstanding victory.” 

Behind the continued support of the Miami crowd throughout the matchup, the Hurricanes did not let their foot off the pedal as they continued to throttle Duke down the stretch of the contest, growing their lead to 26 with just under five minutes remaining. 

“Quite honestly, I was pleasantly surprised,” Larrañaga said. “It’s hard to do, especially against a team the quality of Duke. When a team has that much talent, it’s very hard to expect a run like we had. When we came out in the second half, the crowd fueled us to keep going.”

Omier finished the game as the game’s leading scorer with another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Miller finished the night with 16 points, followed by guard Wooga Poplar with 14 points and Wong with 11 points.

As a team, the Hurricanes out-rebounded the Blue Devils 38-31, while also leading the matchup in assists (21-16), steals (13-7), second-chance points (24-9) fast-break points (17-7) and points in the paint (42-34). 

MIAMI HURRICANES POSTGAME NOTES
– Duke’s 14-point deficit marked its second-largest of the season, trailing a 22-point mark by NC State on 1/4/23 in Raleigh, N.C.
– The Blue Devils shot just 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) from 3-point range through the first 23 minutes of action.
– Duke recorded 21 turnovers—it has not had more—in a game for just the fourth time in the last 13 seasons (2010-23), including only the second in ACC play, joining a 2/10/20 matchup against Florida State.
– The only team with more giveaways against Miami this season was Florida A&M, which logged 22 on 11/15/22.
– The last time Miami had 7,000-plus fans in attendance was 12/10/22 against sixth-ranked Virginia (7,257) and the last time it had a complete sellout was 1/22/22 versus Florida State.
– The 1,811 students in the crowd marked the third-largest total in program history, with four of the top five marks coming during the last two seasons.
– Among the many notable attendees Monday night were 12-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry (Miami alumnus), NBA all-star Carlos Boozer, MLB all-star Jazz Chisolm, MLB all-star Avisail Garcia, former NBA player Dewan Hernandez (Miami alumnus), Marlins first base coach Jon Jay (Miami alumnus), three-time All-ACC honoree Jack McClinton (Miami alumnus), actor Danny Ramirez and 2021 World Series MVP Jorge Soler.
– The Hurricanes improved to 8-9 against Duke (8-8 ACC, 5-3 home) under 12th-year Larrañaga, after owning a 2-15 (1-9 ACC, 2-6 home) record prior to his tenure.
– At 8-9 against Duke during his Miami tenure, Larrañaga is tied with Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton (8-22) for the most wins versus the Blue Devils among any active ACC coach while at his current school.
– Miami (8-8) and Louisville (5-5) are the only teams with a .500 record against Duke in ACC play since 2011-12, the start of Larrañaga’s tenure in Coral Gables.
– Miami (8-9) and North Carolina (12-15) are the only teams with seven-plus wins over Duke during Larrañaga’s 12-year tenure.
– The Hurricanes joined North Carolina as the lone teams with four victories by double digits over the Blue Devils since the start of the 2011-12 season, while only NC State and Wake Forest have even three.
– Miami and North Carolina are the only teams with three wins by 15-plus against Duke during Larrañaga’s 12-year tenure, with only NC State owning even two.
– The Hurricanes join NC State as the only teams with multiple 20-point wins over Duke since 2011-12, while only two other schools (Louisville and Ohio State) have even one.
– Miami (15-19) matched Duke (15-12) for the second-most wins against Duke and/or North Carolina over the last 12 seasons—Virginia is 17-17—after owning a 4-31 record prior to his arrival.
– The Hurricanes have now defeated Duke and/or North Carolina in 10 of Larrañaga’s 12 seasons at the helm.
– Miami now has eight double-digit wins over Duke and/or North Carolian since 2011-12, while only Duke (six) and Virginia have even five.
– The Hurricanes now own six victories by 15-plus points against Duke and/or North Carolina under Larrañaga, twice as many as second-place Louisville and North Carolina, with three each.
– Miami’s four wins by 20-plus points over Duke and/or North Carolina in Larrañaga’s tenure are twice as many as second-place NC State and Ohio, each of which have two.
– Monday marked the second straight Miami/Duke game—the other was on 1/21/23—with the Hurricanes ranked and the Blue Devils unranked in the AP Poll after that never occurred in the first 32 meetings (Duke was ranked in 30 of them).
– In addition, with the Blue Devils ranked in the Coaches Poll, Monday was the third top-25 matchup in ACC play this season, based off that poll, with Miami playing in and winning all three.
– Miami is now 25-10 in its last 35 ACC games, passing Duke (24-11) for the best mark among all teams in the league during that stretch.
– Wong passed Durand Scott (2009-13) for eighth place on Miami’s all-time scoring list, now owning 1,652 points in his career.
– Omier now owns 46 double-doubles in his career, including 11 during the 2022-23 campaign.
– Poplar has now scored 14 points in three of the last five ACC games after never doing so once previously.
– Third-year sophomore guard Nijel Pack set a season high with a game-leading six assists.