The Canes Suffer A Bad Loss To Overachieving Pitt, 71-68

Jan 28, 2023 - 11:56 PM

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Happy Saturday everyone. It’s a beautiful day in North Florida. It’s also been a crazy day in college basketball. Multiple ranked teams lost on the road today: #2 Alabama, #11 TCU, #12 Iowa State, #13 Xavier, and #15 Auburn. Sadly, our guys couldn’t avoid the trend.

The Miami Hurricanes lost on the road to the Pittsburgh Panthers today, 71-68. Jordan Miller led the Canes with 18 points on 7-9 shooting. Isaiah Wong scored 14 points. Blake Hinson scored 21 points for Pitt. Miami falls to 16-5, 7-4 ACC. Pitt improves to 15-7, 8-3 ACC.

Below are some random thoughts from today’s game.

Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

The refs were absolute garbage

Spare me your indignation. I know Wong made a couple dumb plays towards the end of the game. That said, he WAS fouled when Pitt forward Hinson jumped over his back for a put-back lay-up. He WAS fouled when he had the ball underneath the basket on the following possession. Then, to top it off, #3 on Pitt was moving on the floor while on his back, with the ball after Miami messed up the inbounds pass. I’m pretty sure that’s a travel. Nope. There is no consistency with ACC refs this season. One trip down the floor, you can maul a guy under the basket and nothing is called. The next trip, you brush up against a guy’s jersey when you show as a defender and it does get called. Over the back: sometimes it’s called, sometimes it’s not. I could go on. The entire game was frustrating to watch, FOR BOTH TEAMS. Don’t get me wrong, there were bad calls on both sides throughout the contest. It just sucks when they go against your team at the end of the game.

The first half was Miller Time!

Jordan Miller kept the Canes in the game for the first twenty minutes. He picked up a quick foul and had a turnover. After that, he was lights out. Miller scored 14 points on 6-7 shooting, adding 2 steals as well. His consistent scoring and good decision making were the main reasons Miami had a five-point lead at halftime. Maybe Miller should have the ball in his hands at the end of close games, based on what Wong did today.

This was a BAD loss to an unimpressive team

Bad officiating and Pitt playing out of their asses aside, Miami had no business losing this matchup. After their slow start, the Canes took control of the game. They maintained control until the last two minutes, before Wong lost his mind and the refs decided Miami was not going to have a chance to win. I’m fired up about this loss. It stung. Miami could’ve climbed a few spots in the Top 25 AP Poll with the other ranked teams losing. They also could’ve picked up a much needed ACC win on the road. (Sigh). Late-game execution needs to get much better. Back to the drawing board for Coach L and his staff.

Let’s put this loss behind us and enjoy the NFL Conference Championship games tomorrow.

GO CANES!