Collegiate Times

Wake Forest's Ishmael Smith prepares to inbound the ball from Wake's baseline.

The Miami Hurricanes entered the Greensboro Coliseum Thursday afternoon and blew out a favored Wake Forest team 83-62 in front of what amounted to a home crowd for the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest (19-12, 9-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) took the lead 2-0 off of two made free throws from sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu to begin the game, but that was the first and only time the Deacons were out in front of the Hurricanes (19-12, 5-12 ACC).

By the 9:46 mark, the Canes took a 12 point lead, and the Deacons never recovered to get back into the game. Miami ended up leading by 14 at the end of the half.

“They came out of the gate and scored on eight of their first nine possessions. I think that sort of set the tone for the game itself. We just didn’t guard them well enough to ... even make a run at it,” said head coach Dino Gaudio.

“We usually stop guys six, seven of their first nine possessions, so that was kind of big in this one,” said Wake senior point guard Ishmael Smith. “I know that I was like, ‘Guys, we’ve got to set the tone.’ They scored eight out of their first nine, and then from there, it was kind of like a snowball.”

The second half only made the situation worse for the Deacons, as the Hurricanes started out on an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 22 with 17:19 remaining.

To most, the win comes as a surprise since the Canes finished last in the ACC during the regular season and played without leading scorer and rebounder Dwayne Collins because of a stress reaction in his leg. He will not play tomorrow.

“These kids have just been working,” Miami head coach Frank Haith said. “They’ve had such a positive attitude. We’re not gonna throw in the towel because of some tough losses, and I’ve got to give these guys some credit. They’re focused and coming to practice and getting after it, which gave us a chance. ... I gotta give them credit for staying positive and keep working.”

Freshman center Reggie Johnson more than made up for Collins’ absence, though, scoring 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Sophomore center Julian Gamble also helped to fill in for Collins by grabbing 13 rebounds.

Wake Forest never really got into the flow of the game, and Miami was a step ahead all afternoon. Deacons point guard Ishmael Smith managed to pick up 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting, but nobody else really showed up for Wake.

Aminu managed 11 points in 25 minutes but played sparingly in the second half.

“In that game, I’m telling you, I just tried to play the guys I thought were going to give us the best chance to win,” Gaudio said. “And I just didn’t think (Aminu) was playing well. I didn’t think he was shooting the basketball well. He had four turnovers ― he just wasn’t playing well, so I was just trying to put guys out there who’d give us the best opportunity to win. And therein lies why he sat. “

Sophomore forward Tony Woods contributed 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, but the rest of the Wake squad failed to show up for the game.

Freshman C.J. Harris, normally counted on as an outside shooting threat, scored 10 points, but six of those came in the final three minutes and the other four came at the free throw line.

Harris’ fellow freshman, Ari Stewart, who is also counted on for some outside shooting, went just 1-for-7 from 3-point range and 1-for-9 overall. Senior starters Chas McFarland and L.D. Williams finished with a combined total of six points on 1-of-7 shooting.

With the win, the Canes will face the Virginia Tech Hokies in the quarterfinals tomorrow at 2 p.m. The two split the series during the regular season.