Miami Hurricanes Lose Third Place Game to Florida in Advocare Invite

Miami’s offense was inconsistent for the second straight game and the Hurricanes fell 65-56 to Florida in the third place game at the Advocare Invitational in Orlando.

Miami shot 37.7 percent for the game, compared to the Gators 46.2 percent. The Hurricanes were never able to get an offensive flow going. They had numerous stretches throughout the game where they went nearly at least two minutes without scoring.

Points off turnovers contributed significantly to the final margin. Florida scored 21 points off 13 Miami turnovers. The Hurricanes were only able to score nine points off nine Gator turnovers.

Ja’Quan Newton continued to be Miami’s best player offensively. Newton finished with at least 15 points for the sixth straight game. He only had one assist with four turnovers. As a team, the Hurricanes had barely over a one to one assist to turnover ratio. They finished the game with 11 assists.

Miami Starting Center Ebuka Izundu played only two minutes. Izundu missed the game against Penn with what was said to be a injury to his “lower left extremity.” He has played only 39 minutes in five games this season and did not start against Florida.

After trailing 34-30 at halftime, the Hurricanes did came out strong in the second half. Miami scored the first nine points to take a 39-34 lead. Bruce Brown hit a three-pointer on the opening possession, then added a jumper and Newton finished off the run with two buckets.

The Gators ended Miami’s run with two Keith Stone free throws with 14:34 remaining to pull within three. They didn’t get their first points from the field in the second half until a Kasey Hill layup with 12:47 left. Miami held a 41-39 lead at that point. Hill led the Gators with 16 points and Stone had 15.

Stone’s free throws sparked a 10-2 Gator run that put them in front to stay. The Hurricanes scored only 17 points in the last 16 minutes.

Jim Larranaga was not happy with the Hurricanes offensive flow. “As the game wore on, our offense wasn’t clicking,…We need some guys to play a little better. With the short roster (nine scholarship players) we have, we can’t have guys not contribute anything other than minutes.”

Miami did continue to have good balance offensively. In addition to Newton, Brown also finished with 15, Davon Reed had 12 and Freshman Dewan Huell finished with 10. Huell continues to impress. He also finished with six rebounds and a block. Kamari Murphy led the Hurricanes with ten rebounds.

Freshman D.J. Vasiljevic who got off to a blazing start, struggled in Orlando. Vasiljevic averaged 11.6 points per game and made nine of his 18 three point attempts in the first three games. In Orlando, he shot one for eight on three point attempts and scored just eight points in the three games.

Next up for Miami is former Big East foe Rutgers in the ACC-Big Ten Challange Wednesday Night at the Watsco Center. The Scarlet Knights are 6-0 this season.