The University of Miami may end up winning the ACC regular-season championship, but it will do it the hard way.
The Hurricanes, a win away from clinching first place in the conference standings, blew a 12-point lead Wednesday against Georgia Tech in a gut-wrenching 71-69 loss at the BankUnited Center.
Georgia Tech’s Marcus Georges-Hunt tipped in his own missed shot inside of one second for the winning basket.
UM (23-6, 14-3 ACC) still can clinch the regular-season title by defeating Clemson on Saturday or if second-place Duke loses its final game at North Carolina on Saturday night. Either way, the Hurricanes are guaranteed the top seed in the ACC tournament that begins March 14 in Greensboro, N.C.
But none of that is likely to satisfy UM, which lost its second in a row and for the third time in four games.
“This loss definitely hurts and hopefully it hurts enough to get us back to defending like we need to,” senior forward Julian Gamble said. “Losing three of four is definitely a bit of a concern.”
Instead of cutting down the nets at the BankUnited Center, the Hurricanes were left explaining how they could blow a game that seemed to be decided in the first half.
“When you take the foot off the pedal, its hard to get it back,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said of his team’s performance in the second half.
A Shane Larkin basket with 7:41 left in the first half capped an 18-3 run and helped stake Miami to a 43-32 halftime lead. But the Hurricanes frittered all of that away in the second half.
The game was tied at 69 with the ball in UM’s possession during the final seconds, but an errant pass by Durand Scott led to a Georgia Tech fast break. Robert Carter missed a runner, but Georges-Hunt reached over a UM player to tip the ball in, just before the buzzer sounded.
Larranaga wasn’t happy with his team’s defense, which allowed Georgia Tech to shoot 51.7 percent from the field.
“Our defense definitely needs to be much better,” he said.
Just a week ago, the Hurricanes were being projected as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. With its latest loss, UM will have to avoid any further missteps if it wishes to maintain a No. 2 or No. 3 seed.
Georgia Tech (16-13, 6-11) had lost to UM in nine of the past 11 meetings between the teams, including a 62-49 loss Jan. 5 in Atlanta. The defeat was the first this season for Miami at home following 13 consecutive wins.
UM came into Wednesday having lost two of its past three games, including a 79-76 decision to No. 3 Duke on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium that dropped the Hurricanes a spot in the Associated Press rankings from No. 5.
But if there was any hangover from the loss to the Blue Devils, it wasn’t apparent during the first half Wednesday.
Using the 1-2-3 offensive punch of Kenny Kadji, Larkin and Scott, UM seemed in control after shooting 57.1 percent from the field in the first half
Kadji scored 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, including two three-pointers that fueled a 14-0 UM run. That run staked the Hurricanes to a 25-14 lead and the Yellow Jackets (15-14, 5-12) seemed on their way to a bad loss.
But Georgia Tech caused the near-capacity crowd to squirm in their seats after cutting away at UM’s lead.
Despite the loss, the Hurricanes own a first-round bye in the ACC tournament and are scheduled to play their opening game March 15 against the winner of the No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed game. Miami’s opponent remains far from certain. Going into Wednesday night’s game, two victories separated seventh-place Florida State from 11th-place Clemson.
Before this season, UM had never entered the ACC tournament higher than a No. 5 seed since joining the conference in 2004-05.
Miami closes the regular season Saturday at the BankUnited Center against Clemson. UM’s seniors, including four starters, will be honored before the game.
“I told them we have to do what we always do — put this game behind us and get ready for Saturday,” Larranaga said when asked what he told his team after the game. “We still have a chance to be the outright champion.”
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