Miami men’s basketball was dismantled on Wednesday night by in-state rival Florida State, 80-65, to drop to 4-11 on the season. The story going into the game was Miami’s continued investment in its youth movement. Once again, the freshman duo of Jalil Bethea and Divine Ugochukwu started; alongside them, fellow freshman Austin Swartz and sophomore Paul Djobet saw significant action.
The early returns in this game were great for Miami.
Bethea drew contact on a three-point attempt and cashed in all three free throws. Ugochukwu brought the ball up almost every possession and ran the offense confidently. Working the pick and roll with Lynn Kidd and making aggressive drives to the basket, he got himself a couple of early buckets as well. From there, Miami and Florida State traded baskets back and forth for a while, but signs of what was to come were evident.
As UM hung in the game and kept up, it was against the odds. The Hurricanes seemingly struggled for each and every basket, whereas Florida State’s offense seemed to come effortlessly.
Though both teams committed a similar number of turnovers, 8-7 in favor of Florida State, the Seminoles outscored the Hurricanes 9-0 in the first half off those turnovers.
Similarly, Miami was unable to get any quick transition offense and was outscored 11-4 by FSU in fastbreak points. Having to rely on what has been a lackluster half-court offense combined with the fact that it’s led by freshman guards is a recipe for disaster, and it was for Miami.
These problems were only made worse with Miami’s leading big man, Lynn Kidd, getting into foul trouble early with two quick fouls and being subbed out just six minutes into the half and not returning until the second half.
Well into the first half, when Miami subbed out forward Brandon Johnson, the Hurricanes went to an all-guard lineup where 6-foot-7 Paul Djobet was the tallest player Miami fielded.
This group quickly was outmatched on the boards. On back-to-back possessions, it gave up an offensive board – once to Malique Ewin and once to Taylor Bol Bowen. Each of these rebounds was followed up with easy layups at the rim. One more zero-resistance drive to the rim later, Miami called a timeout and was done with the lineup and brought Johnson back in.
But that stretch gave Florida State the confidence and momentum to put the pressure on Miami. Bowen hit back-to-back threes to give the Seminoles a nine-point lead. Then Miami, seemingly frustrated, started to turn the ball over more, giving the Seminoles even more momentum. Three more turnovers for Miami all led to made baskets by Florida State, and after a 17-5 run, UM was down 14 heading into the half.
Even worse for Miami, while attempting to chase a loose ball, Ugochukwu got in a collision and suffered an injury. He came back into the game and tried to fight through it, but grimacing while holding his side, it seemed too much. With just over a minute left in the half, he exited the game and would not return.
As the Hurricanes walked back into the locker room, Watsco Center, filled with Florida State fans, rang out with Seminoles chants and cheers.
It didn’t seem to faze Miami, as coming out of the tunnel for the second half, the ’Canes went on a run. This was led by upperclassman and former Seminole Matthew Cleveland.
He stepped up big for Miami, scoring 10 of its first 19 points of the half. It could have been even more, but strangely Cleveland went 1-of-6 from the free throw line during this stretch. Cleveland finished with 14 points in the half after only scoring two in the first half. This marked his fifth straight double-digit scoring outing.
Along with Cleveland, Kidd, back off the bench, became the hub for Miami’s offense, and through him it led to several easy baskets, including a couple of and-one layups of his own. This reinvigorated the crowd as Miami cut the deficit to nine and forced a Florida State timeout. A Swartz three out of the timeout cut the Hurricanes’ deficit to six.
With a chance to cut it to four, Djobet drove to the cup off a Cleveland steal, but Chandler Jackson came up behind him and swatted it away. FSU got on the break for another easy alley-oop from Justin Thomas to Jerry Deng, and from there, the ’Canes never had much of a shot.
That dunk started an 11-0 run for the Seminoles, and in just about three minutes, Miami went from down six to 17 in an instant.
To make things worse, Kidd picked up two more fouls early and went back to the bench with 7:30 remaining. This allowed FSU’s Ewin to get going, and he went 6-of-6 from the field in the half, scoring a game-leading 20 points. After Daquan Davis’s fast break-and-1 layup, the Seminole chants returned as they went up by as much as 25.
Miami shot a rough 5-of-21 from three, including Cleveland being 1-5 from behind the arc and Jalen Blackmon going 0-4 and 0-6 from the field on the day. Meanwhile, Florida State shot 10-of-24 for a total of 41% from deep. Most notably, this included Bowen, who went 4-of-4 from deep.
The Hurricanes’ assist total was only 11 compared to 26 for the Seminoles, who moved the ball around well.
Miami will next be host to Wake Forest on Saturday, Jan. 11. Tip-off is 5:15 pm.