Hurricanes Lose 117-74 to SMU, Worst Loss in Program History

Coral Gables, FL – The Miami Hurricanes have had plenty of lows this season and it was hard imagining it getting any worse. However, they did just that as they reached a new low in Saturday afternoon’s contest against the SMU Mustangs. The game clearly got out of hand for them early on as they were down 60-26 at halftime, before eventually losing in blowout fashion by 43 points. Prior to this SMU game, the worst loss in Hurricanes program history was a 105-64 deficit to North Carolina on January 31, 2007.

What went wrong

Take a look at the scoreboard and SMU basically dominated in every category that mattered. SMU scored their most points in a game since 1987. They beat UM in the paint 58-32 as they were making dunks and layups look easy. A few here and there were left unguarded It came as no surprise that they outperformed the Hurricanes in assists 28-10. They had great ball movement all game long. Let’s not get started with how well they were shooting. 69% of their shots went in the basket (45-of-65). Even the rebounds weren’t close as they had double the amount that Miami had with 36. The emotions from both sides were obvious. One team was just having fun out there making plays while the other was frustrated and ready for the game to be over with.

You don't see this every day.

SMU is shooting 76% and has 76 points.
Miami is shooting 43% and has 43 points.

— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) January 18, 2025

Where do they go from here?

The coaching change from Jim Larranaga to Bill Courtney was expected to have at least brought a sprinkle of short-term success on the floor for the Canes. Unfortunately, the opposite has been the case so far. Under Larranaga, the Hurricanes were giving up an average of 74 points per game. So far under Courtney, they’ve given up 89.7 points per game. The team’s defensive issues were already a mess that he just had to inherit. Clearly, coaching hasn’t been the issue for this team all season long.

Once the season is over, the Hurricanes will certainly be rebuilding their basketball program. They will want to bury this season as fast as possible and start anew with a coach who can recruit the right players and bring this team back to national relevance. All the players who aren’t graduating will almost certainly hit the transfer portal. They were all Larranaga’s guys and aren’t going to stick around for a program that’s ready to hit the reset button.

Pretty obvious that Miami basketball will be completely starting over when a new coach is hired. Shocking free fall two years removed from the Final Four.

— CaneSport Miami Hurricanes (@CaneSport) January 18, 2025

Career day for Matthew Cleveland

The only positive that came out of the Hurricanes’ performance was Matthew Cleveland’s 31 points, a career-best for him. He went 11-for-17 shooting and was on the court for nearly the entire game in his 35 minutes of action.

Although it’s been a tough stretch of double-digit losses for the Canes, Cleveland has maintained a positive tone. When asked about how he keeps his teammates’ momentum together during the game, he responded

“It was a rough one, but you still have 13 more games. We don’t want to keep looking like that for 13 more games, so at some point we have to change something, so I feel like that’s our motivation.”

I got to ask Matthew Cleveland after the game how he keeps his teammates locked in the game@LemonCityLive pic.twitter.com/6ZMwGjwooW

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) January 18, 2025

West Coast Road Trip

The Hurricanes will hit the road to California to square off against Stanford this upcoming Wednesday at 11:00 PM EST and then California on Saturday at 8:30 PM EST.