Hurricanes Make Epic Comeback in 63-57 Win over Notre Dame

Coral Gables, FL – It was a Saturday night showdown between the Miami Hurricanes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Down by 11 at halftime, no one was expecting the comeback that was in store for them. UM had six turnovers in the first half, including some costly ones in the remaining minutes of the first half. However, they overcame those problems by not committing any turnovers in the second half. It’s remarkable how that adjustment helped propel the Hurricanes to a 63-57 comeback win over Notre Dame.

Hurricanes squash 2nd half issues

Earlier in the season, it was normal for the Hurricanes to be in the game late into the second half only to fall short in the remaining minutes. Then, it became the norm for them to run out of gas before the second half even started. The game against ND looked like the former until UM went on a 13-3 run midway through the half. That was essentially the turning point of this game as the deficit was cut to two, at 48-46. A few minutes later, Matthew Cleveland scored a pullup jumper to make it a 55-53 game. He led the team in scoring with 21 points.

Matthew Cleveland makes his shot and the #Hurricanes take a 55-53 lead pic.twitter.com/esXUy4GcCv

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) February 2, 2025

Notre Dame tied it again at 57 but did not score again in the final 3:40. UM scored 15 of the game’s final 19 points. This was all thanks to Miami’s stellar play on defense. The Canes capitalized on Notre Dame’s 12 turnovers by scoring 16 points off of them. Most of Miami’s seven steals came in the 2nd half and they capitalized on some of those plays by scoring or drawing fouls.

Post-game takeaways

Here’s what Bill Courtney said about being in the moment,

“It’s what I’ve been talking about a lot of times lately. This team has to seize on the moment, whether it’s offense or defense, those key possessions that we need to have, we got to take advantage of them. I thought we did that tonight, we took advantage of key possessions and that was huge for us.”

I asked Coach Courtney if a missed call on a Notre Dame shot clock violation sparked some new energy onto the team@LemonCityLive 🍋 pic.twitter.com/fRjZWR1BUw

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) February 2, 2025

For Coach Bill Courtney, this is his first win as the interim head coach since taking over for Jim Larranaga on December 26th.

Matthew Cleveland praised Divine Ugochukwu’s efforts not only during the game but all season long saying,

“That’s the Divine I’ve been seeing all [season]. Definitely when we first got here this summer and fall…so for him to finally put it together in the game, especially against a good guard like Markus Burton…for me that looked really good, that felt really good.”

Matthew Cleveland names the one player he’s seen evolve the most throughout the season @LemonCityLive 🍋 pic.twitter.com/7D9D42LA55

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) February 2, 2025

Ugochukwu was sensational, scoring nine points on 3-for-4 shooting, grabbing four rebounds, and dishing out four assists. He scored off all three of his steals during the game and his 31 minutes of playing time were a season high.

Coming up

The Hurricanes just snapped a 10-game losing streak, a 20-game losing streak against ACC rivals, and a 23-game losing streak to power conference opponents altogether. Miami will have a weeklong break before traveling to face #21 Louisville next Saturday at 2 PM.