Miami hoops struggles, outscored 53-27 in second half and falls to Colorado 90-63
The No. 15 University of Miami men’s basketball team (7-2) fell short of the Colorado Buffaloes (7-2), 63-90, Sunday afternoon at the Barclays Center as part of the NABC Brooklyn Showcase.
“I thought Colorado was very good from start to finish,” head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “I thought it was well-played first half but we knew that their size was really bothering us. They were able to get in the paint and pretty much score at will. Credit goes to Colorado, they really took over in the second half.”
Three Hurricanes scored in double-figures, paced by junior guard Matthew Cleveland who poured in 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
The Hurricanes could not contain Colorado’s red-hot offense, which shot 58.7 percent from the field and totaled 28 assists on 37 made field goals.
The Buffaloes connected on seven of their first nine shots of the game to take an early eight-point lead, 15-7. The Hurricanes responded with a 7-0 run to pull to within one, but Colorado extended its lead back to eight with 2:48 to play in the half.
Miami locked in for the final 90 seconds of the first half, stringing together a 10-3 run to head into the locker room down one, 37-36.
Pack opened the second half with his second 3-pointer of the game to give Miami its first lead of the day, 39-37. However, Colorado put together a dominant 17-2 run in the waning minutes of the game to extend its lead to as much as 29. The Buffaloes used a 70 percent second-half shooting effort to close out the game, outscoring Miami, 53-27, in the final 20 minutes.
Miami returns to the Watsco Center on Saturday, Dec. 16 to host La Salle. Tipoff in Coral Gables is set for 12 p.m. and the game will air on The CW.
