WINSTON-SALEM – The four-point loss was tougher to digest given what coach Steve Forbes put succinctly at the beginning of his press conference.
“I thought Miami came in here today and just played harder than we did. They wanted to win more than we did,” Forbes said of Miami’s 76-72 win over Wake Forest on Saturday at Joel Coliseum.
Wake Forest (20-6, 10-5 ACC) had more quantifiable reasons for losing – 17 turnovers compared to Miami’s seven, leading to a 19-0 difference in points off of turnovers – but this boiled down to desire, in Forbes’ eyes.
“I was really disappointed in my ability to get our team to play hard. I didn’t think we had any pop,” he said.
The Deacons were outscored on fast-break points 13-8. Ten of the turnovers came in the second half, and seven of the 17 were charged to Alondes Williams, who also had a game-high 25 points.
Williams struggled to complete the same cross-court passes that have worked against other teams, and seemed to be particularly bothered by Miami’s hard hedging on ball screens.
“We’re trying to throw skip passes and haven’t even made the defense move. I don’t know why we’re doing that,” Forbes said. “We weren’t very strong with the ball, that’s not the first time (this season).”
Miami (18-7, 10-4) made this the fifth time that Wake Forest has allowed a team to shoot above 50%, and it’s the second time the Hurricanes have done that to the Deacons. Wake Forest is 1-4 in such games (the win was against Charlotte).
The first time these teams played, Miami’s offense was efficient because of poor Wake Forest defense; this time had more to do with the Deacons’ offense providing fast-break opportunities going the other way, plus some timely offensive rebounds by Miami.
“The offense really created a lot of problems for our defense,” Forbes said.
Miami’s productivity went down to the final seconds, when Isaiah Wong hit a high-arching shot over the outstretched hand of Isaiah Mucius to give us what was eventually the final score with 11 seconds left.
“They put pressure on the rim. Every single possession they’re trying to put pressure on the rim,” Mucius said of Wong and Kameron McGusty, Miami’s dynamic duo that combined for 42 points. “I feel like I guarded that as best I possibly could.”
The sky isn’t falling after this one – but the next two games become a bit more important, in terms of both cementing an NCAA tournament bid and a top-four finish in the ACC standings. On Tuesday night the Deacons head to Durham, and next weekend are back at Joel Coliseum for a matchup with Notre Dame.
“I’m disappointed. We haven’t accomplished anything. We’re not in the NCAA tournament. We don’t have a seed in the ACC tournament,” Forbes said. “You can’t lose at home. That’s no disrespect to Miami, they came in here and played really well.”
Perhaps making this more frustrating was that Wake Forest led by seven at halftime and Forbes thought it should’ve been a larger margin.
“We missed four or five shots right at the basket,” Forbes said. “I just thought we blew some opportunities. They came out in the second half and turned it up.”
Wake Forest settled in offensively before Miami, and had as large as a 13-point lead in the first half to show for it.
The Hurricanes drilled two 3-pointers quickly after the Deacons’ lead apexed. Wake’s lead was 40-33 at halftime and Alondes Williams drained a 3 on the first possession of the second half, but a 9-2 Miami run after that set the tone for a final 15 minutes that didn’t see much separation.
