Duke Overwhelmed by Hurricanes as Miami Roars to Victory in Thrilling Home Game
It wasn’t quite Cameron Indoor Stadium, but Watsco Center was electrified Monday night, student sections were jam-packed and the Miami Hurricanes drew energy from the opening whistle against Duke in an 81-59 blowout that put Miami ahead from the start to finish.
The Canes improved to 19-5 overall, 10-4 in the ACC and 13-0 at home.
After the game, the entire UM team ran to the student area and celebrated with the fans.
Power forward Norchad Omier started the night with a rare three-pointer to ignite the crowd, leading Miami with 17 points, 10 rebounds, a block and two steals. Jordan Miller was also all over the floor with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks.
Wooga Poplar added 14 points and Isaiah Wong had 11. Nigel Pack, who had been going strong in recent games, was held on five points but had five rebounds and six assists.
Miami passed the larger Blue Devils 38-31, forcing Duke to 21 turnovers and scoring 23 points from those misses.
Though Duke has slipped down the rankings in recent weeks, a nationally televised home game against the Blue Devils is always a big deal.
So big that the student passes were all gone by Sunday night for the first time this season. So big that 15 NBA scouts from 10 teams requested credentials for the press series.
So big that viewers included Hurricanes legend Rick Barry, former Duke Great and NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, former NFL player Todd Gurley, and Marlins players Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jorge Soler, and Avisail Garcia, who Seated behind the scoring table were guests from former UM player and newly hired Marlins first base coach John Jay.
The first half started and ended with strong plays from Omier. Known for his energy, rebounds and points in the paint, the 6-7 Nicaraguan certainly surprised the Blue Devils by scoring his first basket from beyond the arc.
Omier had only made a three-pointer all year before Monday and he made two against Duke. He set an exclamation in the first half with a rim-shaking dunk off a feed from Nijel Pack to put the Hurricanes 40-26 at the break.
Well into the second half, Omier had just two fouls, a welcome statistic for UM coaches who have worked with the high-octane forward to channel his energy and be more selective in his fouls.
Keeping Omier out of trouble was particularly important against Duke’s frontcourt, who is led by 7-foot rookie Kyle Filipowski and 7-1 rookie Dereck Lively.
With the loss, Duke fell to 17-7 overall and 8-5 in the ACC. Lively and Ryan Young led the Devils with 11 points each, Jeremy Roach had 10 and Filipowski was limited to nine on 4-of-12 shooting.
Neither team had much time to celebrate meaningful weekend wins. The Hurricanes beat ACC leader Clemson 78-74 on the road Saturday afternoon and Duke defeated arch-rivals North Carolina 63-57 on Saturday night, an emotional victory that was especially sweet because the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils twice last year the heart broke the last home game of the retiring coach Mike Krzyzewski and again the Final Four in New Orleans.
The Hurricanes and Blue Devils didn’t have to search much ahead of Monday’s game as they already knew each other quite well, having just played in Durham on January 21st.
Unlike Monday’s game, Cameron’s game went down until the final possession before Duke sealed the 68-66 win. Wong was slowed down that night by a sinus infection and ended up with just seven points.
Omier was held to nine points in their first meeting but had 14 rebounds. Filipowski had 17 points and 14 rebounds that night while Lively had 10 rebounds and five blocks.
Lively had been making a big impression lately with 20 blocks in the last five games. He had 14 rebounds and eight blocks against UNC.
Rebound has been a critical factor for the relatively undersized Hurricanes all season. Her 38-28 advantage at Clemson came as a surprise to Larranaga.
“I’m so impressed because you see our size, we’re not very big,” Larranaga said after Clemson’s win. “We are 6-7, 6-6, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-foot tall and only one weighs over 200 pounds. We’re small and thin, but lethal.
“We have the ability to score points with our speed and athleticism. And if the defense is good and our rebounds are good, we’re a good team.”
They were a good team on Monday and Duke paid the price.
The Hurricanes play back against Louisville on February 11.
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