Syracuse men's basketball falls apart again in 82-78 loss to No. 17 Miami

Jesse Edwards’ career-high 25 points weren’t enough to propel Syracuse Men’s Basketball to victory Monday night, as it fell to No. 17 Miami 82-78.

The Orange led the Hurricanes 38-34 at halftime, but gave up 48 points to Miami in the final 20 minutes of the game.

“We get a little bit better every game. Tonight we really played well, most of the game,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

In a season where point guard Judah Mintz has amazed and often performed above his freshman status, his rookie growing pains were on full display against one of the best teams in the ACC.

Mintz turned the ball over six times — that registered for two-thirds of SU’s giveaway total. The freshman also had trouble scoring Monday night. Mintz went 1-for-7 from the field, only scoring three points — his lowest total of his collegiate career so far. Mintz’s last time scoring below ten points was Dec. 3 against Notre Dame in South Bend. The Hurricanes scored 18 points off of the fastbreak Monday night — seven of those points came in the second half.

“Judah’s played really well all year, he just had a bad game — that’s what happens with freshmen,” Boeheim said.

After the game, Boeheim said rebounding played a huge factor in Monday night’s result.

“They [Miami] really do a good job on the boards… we don’t. I think that was a really big part of the game,” Boeheim said.

Miami scored 15 of their 82 points off second chances — 13 of those came in the last 20 minutes of play. The Hurricanes had a slight advantage in defensive rebounds, leading the Orange 24-20 in that category. The two teams actually were tied in offensive rebounds, with 16 each.

The aforementioned Edwards had 11 rebounds to go with his career-high point total, but third-year sophomore Norchad Omier continued to dominate the Orange on both sides of the ball. The forward had seven offensive rebounds to go with his 16 points — also adding nine defensive rebounds as well.

“[Omier] was really good, he was physical and strong. He was huge in the second half,” Boeheim said.

Leading the scoring for the Canes were the aforementioned Omier, fourth-year junior guard Harlond Beverly (16 points), third-year sophomore guard Nijel Pack (15 points), and fifth-year senior guard Jordan Miller (13 points).

All ten Syracuse players who saw the floor scored Monday night, but only three of them reached double-digits — Edwards, sophomore Benny Williams (12 points), and senior Joe Girard III (21 points).

“Joe and Jesse really were good. They did everything you could do to try to win this game,” Boeheim said.

Syracuse Men’s Basketball travels to Atlanta next Saturday to play Georgia Tech at noon. Our coverage on WAER begins at 11:30 a.m. with McClurg Team Countdown to Tipoff.