Miami picked the wrong night to try to steal a victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
J.J. Redick scored 29 points and senior Daniel Ewing had his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 assists as No. 6 Duke lambasted the Hurricanes 83-59 on Thursday in Durham, N.C. Shelden Williams, the ACC’s leading rebounder, added 14 points and 12 boards for the Blue Devils (22-4, 11-4), who won their fourth straight game on Senior Night.
Robert Hite led the Hurricanes (16-11, 7-9) with 17 points and Guillermo Diaz had 14, but the rest of the team did little to help its cause against the Blue Devils. Starting center Anthony King was held scoreless and senior Will Frisby only had four points in the loss.
The defeat leaves UM needing an impressive run in next week’s ACC Tournament to secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Anything short of that would likely put the Hurricanes in the NIT.
Redick was so dominant early on that he personally outscored Miami for most of the first half. His three free throws gave the Blue Devils a 27-11 lead with about nine minutes left, and their lead grew to as much as 24 points before the Hurricanes cut their deficit to 44-24 at halftime. Redick finished the first half with 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Miami desperately needed to go on a run at the beginning of the second half, but Duke remained in attack mode, going on a 10-0 run to push its lead to 30 points. The Hurricanes never made a substantial dent in their deficit, and both teams emptied their benches, conceding the outcome of the game.
Duke has won six consecutive games against Miami, sweeping this year’s regular season series. The Blue Devils have earned at least 20 victories for nine straight seasons.
UM Head Coach Frank Haith told the Miami Herald that his team was simply overmatched.
“They’re a great team,” Haith said. “Great team. Great players. Great coach. They have the best player in this league on their team, J.J. Redick, and I thought he was outstanding. He made a lot of great plays. We never got going. Stood around a little bit. Our execution was poor…I thought we didn’t play well, but they had something to do with that too.”
Eric Kalis can be contacted at e.kalis@umiami.edu.