No. 2 ‘Canes can’t break Wake
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Shane Larkin noticed during warm-ups that something was off with No. 2 Miami. The go-go, up-tempo Hurricanes seemed a step slow, and not entirely ready to play.
They certainly paid for it.
Miami’s unbeaten start to Atlantic Coast Conference play is history. So is its 14-game winning streak and its highest-ever national ranking after the Hurricanes were knocked off by Wake Forest 80-65 on Saturday.
“You could just see it tonight. I had a bad feeling coming into warm-ups with everybody going slow,” Larkin said. “I was trying to get people to go fast, and I wasn’t even going full speed like I should have.
“Overall, we weren’t prepared before the game and they came out and punched us in the mouth.”
C.J. Harris made all five of his 3-point attempts and scored 23 points, and freshman Codi Miler-McIntyre added 15 for Wake Forest (12-14, 5-9).
Durand Scott had all 17 of his points in the second half for Miami, (22-4, 13-1), the last of the schools in the six BCS conferences to suffer its first league loss.
Larkin added 13 points, Trey McKinney Jones had 11 and Kenny Kadji finished with 10.
But Miami never got closer than 11 in the final nine minutes and was outrebounded 36-35 by the younger, smaller Demon Deacons as the best start to ACC play since Duke’s 16-0 mark in 1998-99 came to a surprisingly lopsided end.
“You want to go undefeated, you want to win every game, but you’re still in first place,” Larkin said. “That’s in the past and we’re just going to let it stay in the past.”
The Hurricanes — whose previous three wins came by a combined 12 points — looked like they had another tight finish in them when Scott capped an 18-8 run with a jumper with 14 minutes left to make it 46-41.
He added a layup two minutes later to pull Miami to 50-45, and it looked as if the Hurricanes were going to find a way to keep their charmed run rolling.
But two possessions later, Harris turned a turnover into a fast-break dunk that started a 12-0 run that put the Demon Deacons on track to their biggest victory since they knocked off then-No. 1 Duke four years ago when they were in the top five themselves.
“There’s been some tough times, so staying with it, fighting through adversity, finally coming out on top of a big-time win is amazing,” Harris said.
Wake Forest shot 54 percent, led by double figures for the entire second half and reeled off 12 straight points to pull away for its biggest victory under third-year coach Jeff Bzdelik.
As the final seconds ticked away, Harris and Travis McKie — two of the team’s three available nonfreshmen on scholarship — exchanged a flying chest-bump before the Wake Forest students rushed the court for the second time in little over a month.
An 86-84 upset of then-No. 18 North Carolina State on Jan. 22 had been its biggest victory under Bzdelik.
This one topped it, by far.
“Who would have ever thought Wake Forest beating Miami at home would have been a court-rushing scene?” Larkin said.
HOYAS END SYRACUSE’S 38-GAME HOME WIN STREAK
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Otto Porter scored a career-high 33 points and No. 11 Georgetown beat No. 8 Syracuse 57-46, putting an emphatic stamp on the impending end of an era between the Big East rivals.
Before an imposing Orange crowd of 35,012, the largest ever to see a basketball game on campus, the Hoyas broke Syracuse’s 38-game winning streak in the Carrier Dome, the longest in Division I. The Orange were held to their fewest points ever in the dome.
It was the final game between Georgetown (21-4, 11-3) and Syracuse (22-5, 10-4) in the dome as members of the Big East. The Orange are leaving in July to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Fittingly, Syracuse began its current streak after a loss to Georgetown just over two years ago.
The Hoyas knocked the Orange out of a share of first place in the Big East, and No. 17 Marquette (19-7, 10-4) also dropped out of the three-way tie with a 60-56 loss at Villanova.
Georgetown has won nine straight, the longest current winning streak in the league, and the Hoyas will host Syracuse in two weeks.
Porter was unstoppable after a slow start. He put the game away late, hitting a fall-away 3-pointer, getting fouled and completing the four-point play to restore Georgetown’s eight-point lead.
ROUNDUP
• NO. 3 GONZAGA POISED TO CLIMB IN POLL — At Spokane, Wash., Kevin Pangos scored 18 points and No. 3 Gonzaga (27-2, 14-0) rolled to an 81-50 victory over San Diego (13-16, 6-8), clinching a tie for its 12th West Coast Conference title in 13 seasons. The Bulldogs never have been ranked No. 2, but probably will rise after Miami’s loss.
• NO. 5 GATORS BOUNCE BACK — At Gainesville, Fla., Mike Rosario scored 15 points to lead No. 5 Florida (22-4, 12-2 SEC) to a 71-54 win over Arkansas (17-10, 8-6). The Gators, who lead the league by two games, were coming off a 63-60 loss to Missouri on Wednesday.
• NO. 9 JAYHAWKS AVENGE LOSS TO TCU — At Lawrence, Kan., Jeff Withey scored 18 points as No. 9 Kansas (23-4, 11-3 Big 12) rolled to a 74-48 victory over Texas Christian (10-17, 1-13), avenging a seven-point upset by the Horned Frogs on Feb. 6. The Jayhawks, who led 38-9 at halftime, share the Big 12 lead with No. 13 Kansas State.
• DIENG CARRIES NO. 10 CARDINALS — At Louisville, Ky., Gorgui Dieng scored a career-high 23 points, sparking No. 10 Louisville (22-5, 10-4 Big East) to a 79-61 victory over Seton Hall (13-15, 2-13).
• PARROM KEYS NO. 12 ARIZONA — At Tucson, Ariz., Kevin Parrom hit 5 of 6 3-pointers and had 19 points as No. 12 Arizona (23-4, 11-4 Pac-12) breezed to a 73-56 win over Washington State (11-17, 2-13).
• NO. 13 KANSAS STATE KEEPS SHARE OF LEAD — At Austin, Texas, Rodney McGruder had 20 points, and No. 13 Kansas State (22-5, 11-3) stayed tied with Kansas atop the Big 12 with an 81-69 win over Texas (12-15, 4-10). Myck Kabongo scored 24 points to lead the Longhorns.
