Canes Men’s Basketball Surrender 19-point Lead, Huge Gift To Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA – New year, new Miami Hurricanes basketball team, right? Well, it was a tale of two halves. Despite leading Boston College 41-29 at halftime, the Canes surrender the lead and are outscored by a whopping 49-27 in the second half. The New Year’s Day resolution for UM could have been to beat the Boston College Eagles and show the rest of the ACC that they still have a lot of fight left. Instead, it was another game where the Hurricanes showed early hope only to falter at the end.

First-half dominance all around

Right off the bat, the Hurricanes jumped out to an 8-0 lead. The Canes put second-chance buckets as the rebounds kept coming in for Miami. With 12:31 left in the half, the Canes were already up 25-7 and led by as many as 19 points with 8:38 to go. It was safe to say they looked very confident on the court as if they’d give their newly appointed interim coach, Bill Courtney, a win in his first game. By the conclusion of the half, Miami had 17 rebounds, six blocks, and three steals on defense, while also shooting 51.5% (17 of 33) on offense.

That's 🔟 first-half points for the Kidd

1H 9:10 | Miami 31, BC 13 pic.twitter.com/lBHpb5hxaK

— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) January 1, 2025

Second half resurgence for BC

Miami never looked the same once they came out of the locker room. Their shooting percentage dropped, they committed turnovers, and started to commit plenty of fouls. They gave Boston College all the momentum to be back in the game. The Hurricanes committed their sixth turnover of the game 10 minutes into the half and we found ourselves with a tied game at 53. BC would eventually go on a 22-12 run to end the game and record their largest home comeback in school history.

Defensive woes continue for UM

The most troubling statistic against the Canes could be the fact that Boston College’s starting five each scored double-digit points. Their center, Chad Venning, led the team with 17 points. Interestingly enough, only two of those points came in the first half. Their starting lineup truly played as a unit, combining for 66 points on the floor.

Matthew Cleveland is on a roll

For the third straight game, Matthew Cleveland led Miami in scoring. Cleveland had 21 points (41.2 FG%) in the scoring column, and he’s averaged 21.5 PPG (57.5 FG%) over the last two games

Matt connects from downtown 🎯

Watch: @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/rWZOzLKy1d

— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) January 1, 2025

Miami on rocky ground

UM’s struggles against BC continue as they now carry a four-game losing streak against the Eagles dating back to last season. Not only that, but they have also lost their 15th game in a row to a Power-4 team. Their next matchup is on Saturday afternoon against ACC opponent Virginia Tech, who was the last Power-4 team the Hurricanes beat on February 3rd of last year by a score of 75-71.