Canes Look To Get Back On Track Against Boston College
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BOSTON (CBSMiami/SportsDirect) – After a very strong start to the season, the University of Miami Men's Basketball Team has hit a bit of a speed bump.
No. 15/14 Miami looks for a happy ending to a disappointing three-game road trip when it visits Boston College on Wednesday.
The Hurricanes are coming off losses to No. 13 Virginia and surging Clemson and need to regain their offensive rhythm against the struggling Eagles.
Although losing on the road in the ACC against two quality teams is no disgrace, Miami's recent offensive struggles and late-game woes are a major cause for concern.
"Well, I thought it was a terrific college basketball game for about 35 minutes and then we collapsed in the last five," Miami coach Jim Larranaga told reporters after the Clemson defeat. "We're going to need to do a heck of a lot better. I thought Clemson was terrific down the stretch."
Miami led 57-51 before the Tigers finished the game on a 25-8 run as the Hurricanes repeated a familiar error-filled script after also finishing poorly against the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, the young Eagles are finding life difficult in the ACC as they have been outscored by an average of 22.5 points in their four league losses.
TV: 9 p.m. ET; RSN, ESPN3
ABOUT MIAMI (13-3, 2-2 ACC): After averaging 85.3 points and shooting above 50 percent from the floor in its 11-1 pre-conference run, the Hurricanes are scoring only 64.8 points in league play while shooting 42.1 percent from the field.
Only senior guard Sheldon McClellan is averaging more points during ACC games (17.5 points in the four-game run as opposed to 15.9 overall), but he only managed to get off eight shots while scoring 14 points against Clemson.
The most alarming drop belongs to senior point guard Angel Rodriguez (11.2 points), who is averaging 7.3 points on 27 percent shooting in conference action and managed just three points against Clemson.
ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE (7-10, 0-4): The young Eagles - four of the team's top-six scorers are freshmen - are struggling to find consistent offense from anyone other than Eli Carter (17.6 points), a graduate student who played at Florida last season.
Of the first-year players, guard Jerome Robinson (11.2) has shown the most promise but counting on that many freshmen is proving to be a problem in the ACC with the Eagles shooting only 38.9 percent in league play.
Things haven't been any better on the defensive end with the Eagles' four ACC foes shooting a sizzling 56.1 percent from the field.
TIP-INS
- The Eagles grabbed only 17 rebounds against Pittsburgh and own a minus-11.8 margin on the boards in ACC play.
- Miami's point guards - Rodriguez and Ja'Quan Newton - were a combined 3-of-15 from the field against Clemson and ran an offense that totaled just nine assists.
- Miami has won its last 10 games against BC, including 89-86 in double overtime last season.
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