Long before the University of Miami tipped off its East Regional semifinal game against Marquette on Thursday, Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga knew his team was in trouble.
A 1 1/2-mile bus ride from the team hotel to the Verizon Center that should have been completed in a few minutes dragged out for 45 minutes as choking traffic caused the Hurricanes to zig-zag around the city.
“You ever have days where you’re just out of sync or things just don’t run smoothly?” Larranaga said. “We just couldn’t find our ways.”
That was true in more ways than one.
UM, vying for the first Elite Eight berth in school history, instead turned in a clunker during a 71-61 loss that brought the best season in program history to an unhappy conclusion.
The Hurricanes (29-7) struggled offensively and defensively, falling behind by double digits in the first half and trailing by as much as 21 points in the second half.
“We just didn’t have the juice that you need to play great basketball,” Larranaga said. “It started from the very beginning. You could see it.”
If the bus ride to Thursday’s game was an omen for UM, it wasn’t the only one.
Larranaga said after the game that point guard Shane Larkin, the ACC’s Player of the Year, spent most of Wednesday sick to his stomach and vomiting.
To that, add knee surgery on Tuesday that kept out 6-foot-10, 300-pound center Reggie Johnson and an elbow during Tuesday’s practice that loosened Durand Scott’s front teeth and sent him for an emergency visit to the dentist. Oh yeah, and there also was a hand injury to backup forward Raphael Akpejiori that limited him in practice this week.
“Maybe all the Marquette players had those things happen too, I don’t know, but I just know we didn’t look like ourselves,” Larranaga said.
That’s for certain.
Marquette (26-8) won its first two NCAA tournament games by a combined three points, but never had to sweat Thursday. The Golden Eagles took a double-digit lead in the first half and never relinquished it, shooting 54 percent from the field while holding Miami to 35 percent shooting.
Only a late surge by the Hurricanes made the score respectable.
“We couldn’t hit any shots,” Larkin said.
The Hurricanes were especially bad from 3-point range, making only 1-of-11 attempts in the first half and finishing 8-for-26. Senior guards Scott and Trey McKinney-Jones sank just 6 of 23 combined shots.
On the defensive end, Larkin lamented that Marquette “got into the paint easily. We were a step slow.”
Larranaga had enjoyed the crowning moment of his coaching career at the Verizon Center in 2006 when his George Mason team shocked No. 1 Connecticut to advance the Final Four.
But a repeat wasn’t to be.
Without Johnson clogging the middle, Marquette had its way around the basket.
The Golden Eagles outscored Miami in the paint 40-24.
“We definitely missed Reggie’s presence down there, but there’s no excuses,” Larkin said.
The Hurricanes couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the opening 20 minutes, missing 22 of their 28 shots.
The misfires were especially acute from long distance with the Hurricanes knocking down only 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) of their 3-point attempts. But Miami also missed from close range, obviously bothered by Marquette’s athleticism and physical play inside.
The Hurricanes trailed at intermission 29-16 with the 16 points marking a season-low for one half. UM’s 20.7 shooting percentage (6-of-28) also registered as the lowest for one half.
Miami enjoyed a breakthrough season that included ACC regular season and conference tournament championships as well as a victory against No. 1 Duke.
That was of little consolation Thursday.
“Yeah, we had a great season, but we’re just disappointed in what happened tonight,” Larkin said.
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