Hurricanes race to 27-point halftime lead, rout UNC Tar Heels 85-57 to stay atop ACC

Michelle Kaufman
·4 min read
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Apparently, the University of Miami student body and local community finally figured out that the Hurricanes men’s basketball team is having a heck of a season.

Question now is whether the national pollsters will notice.

The biggest crowd of the season showed up at the Watsco Center Tuesday night and got quite the show as the ACC-leading Hurricanes trounced the North Carolina Tar Heels 85-57 in a battle of two of the top teams in the conference.

North Carolina’s 27-point halftime deficit matched its largest in the last 25 seasons. The other time the Tar Heels were losing that bad at halftime was at Duke in 2010.

Miami, which has lost just one of its past 11 games, improved to 14-4 overall and 6-1 in the ACC. Tuesday’s win follows January victories over Wake Forest, Syracuse, Duke, and one-point loss on the road to Florida State.

UNC dropped to 12-5 and 4-2.

UM forward Sam Waardenburg, a sixth-year senior from New Zealand, was one of three Hurricanes who scored more than 20 points. He came out like a man possessed and scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He had been averaging 7.1 points per game this season.

Seventeen of Waardenberg’s points came in the first half. He made all six of his shots before intermission, including a career-high four three pointers. Two of them came after Charlie Moore behind-the-back passes. Waardenburg also had two thunderous dunks that ejected the crowd of 5,979 fans from their seats.

“That loss at Florida State hurt a bit, so seven days off everyone’s been really fired up, trying to get back on that win streak,” Waardenburg said. “The energy from the team has been at a whole new level. We know we’re a very good team and compete in the ACC at a very high level, so coming into this game we had that on our minds and I was able to hit my looks.”

University of Miami forward Sam Waardenburg (21) dunks the ball during the first half of an NCAA basketball game against the University of North Carolina at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida, on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
University of Miami forward Sam Waardenburg (21) dunks the ball during the first half of an NCAA basketball game against the University of North Carolina at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida, on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

Waardenburg’s teammates fed off his energy and went on an early 14-0 run to take a 16-5 lead. UNC had no answer for Waardenburg or guards Kameron McGusty and Isaiah Wong, who also had hot hands and led the Hurricanes on a 10-0 run later in the half to stretch the lead to 30-11.

Wong finished the night with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. McGusty registered a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

After the game, coach Jim Larranaga and UM players all credited the team’s unselfishness for its recent success. The Canes moved the ball well, had 16 assists and just four turnovers.

“This team has a lot of veterans, so we know if we get double-teamed the next man’s got to come up and get the ball,” Wong said. “How we play feels easy, passing, not turning the ball over, keeps the ball rolling on pace. We’re not selfish, so we don’t turn the ball over. We’re successful because we’re sharing the ball and we have multiple scorers who can get to the paint and shoot threes. And, we have trust in each other.”

Meanwhile, on the other end of the court, the Hurricanes played suffocating defense on the taller Tar Heels, who missed nine shots in a row while UM extended its lead in the first half. North Carolina center Armando Bacot came into the game as one of the top-rated players in the nation, averaging 21.3 points and 14.7 rebounds over the previous seven games. Miami kept him scoreless for the first 13 minutes of the game.

A 7-0 UM run to close out the first half gave the Hurricanes a 49-22 lead.

University of Miami point guard Isaiah Wong (2) shoots the ball while defended by University of North Carolina forward Dawson Garcia (13) during the second half of an NCAA basketball game at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida, on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
University of Miami point guard Isaiah Wong (2) shoots the ball while defended by University of North Carolina forward Dawson Garcia (13) during the second half of an NCAA basketball game at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida, on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

Miami shot a blistering 58 percent in the first half (18-of-31) while North Carolina shot 23 percent (7-of-31). The Hurricanes forced the Heels into 10 first-half turnovers, had eight steals and outscored UNC 20-2 off turnovers.

The storyline remained the same in the second half. The Hurricanes stayed way out in front and never let the Tar Heels back into the game. UNC had 14 turnovers and the Hurricanes capitalized, scoring 30 points off those giveaways.

Despite scoring just three points in the first half, Bacot was the Tar Heels’ leading scorer with 15 points.

The Hurricanes are back home Saturday at 2 p.m. for a rematch against Florida State.

“We have a little grudge we need to get off our chests,” Wong said. “We gave the fans a show tonight and I hope they come back on Saturday.”