Miami Hurricanes ruin Senior Day for The Hokies

Senior day has become a very special tradition in college basketball. It is a time where the home crowd gets to honor the players who have stayed in school, and helped mold the program to what it is today. In the age of the one and done players, it is rare for most teams to have more than a handful of senior contributors. The game is always a special one, with the crowd usually providing the team with that extra something, which leads to a win. The fans at Cassell Coliseum were hoping to have something similar to what I have described happen today for their seniors Will Johnston, and Christian Beyer. However, somebody forgot to tell the Miami Hurricanes they were suppose too roll over and allow this magic to happen.

Miami in the previous matchup with the Hokies used the inside game of Tonye Jekiri to get the job done. However, this game was a complete opposite of the first game played in Coral Gables. The Hurricanes came out firing the three point shot, taking a play out of the Hokies playbook. Not only where the Hurricanes firing the three point shot but they were dropping as well. The Hurricanes hit a season high 15 from long range in route to the big win in Blacksburg. The Hurricanes started extremely hot from the outside, knocking in 10 triples in the first half alone.

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Three Hurricanes led the way from the outside. Manu Lecomte, James Palmer, and reserve Ivan Cruz Uceda combined for 13 of the 15 long range bombs. Lecomte led all scorers with 20 for the game. Not surprisingly he was followed on his team in scoring by Palmer with 17 and Cruz Uceda with 18. The Hokies had no answer for these three Hurricanes in the first half, and went into halftime down 28.

The second half the Hokies did manage to outscore the Hurricanes by 7, but that was not near enough to get back into the game. The Hokies ended up losing by 21, but the fact they played tough the second half despite the massive deficit has got to make Buzz Williams happy. The Hokies were lead in scoring by Ahmed Hill who finished with 17. Satchel Pierce also played a very solid game for the Hokies. Pierce finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. More importantly Pierce was able to keep Miami big man Jekiri in check for the most part. Miami did an excellent job holding down Hokie leading scorer Adam Smith who only finished with 3 points. Smith never really could get going, facing tight defense all game long.

Even with the Hokies losing their last seven regular season games, and being blown out in their last game of the regular season, the ACC tournament presents a new opportunity for Buzz William’s team. The Hokies have an opportunity to play spoiler for a few teams looking to improve their tournament standing. The fact the Hokies do not ever stop playing hard will help them in a tournament setting. The Hokies open the ACC tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro against Wake Forest.