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ACC basketball is back on Wednesday night with a matchup between the Miami Hurricanes (12-6, 3-4 ACC) and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-11, 2-5 ACC). Miami just lost on the road in Syracuse going down 72-69, but covered the spread as 3.5-point underdogs. The Irish are also coming off a road loss, going down to Boston College 63-59, and also covered as 9.5-point dogs. These teams met once this season, with Miami winning by 13 on their home floor led by Matthew Cleveland with 14 points. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 EST from Purcell Pavilion in South Bend and can be found on ESPN2.
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The Miami Hurricanes opened the season ranked 13th in the nation, after making a trip to the Final Four last season. Three top contributors returned from that team, and they added a high profile transfer in Matthew Cleveland from Florida State, but have not been playing up to their expectations yet. Miami has fallen out of the Top 25, and recently lost to Louisville as 16.5-point favorites. The Hurricanes will look to bounce back as they are on a two game skid with losses to Florida State and Syracuse. In their last game against the Orange, Miami was led by guard Nijel Pack with 19 points in the loss.
Our game 1??8?? Kia Scoring Drive to the Hoop goes to @MCleveland35 ?? pic.twitter.com/dl1OuAc8OQ
— Canes Men's Basketball (@CanesHoops) January 22, 2024
Miami has a strong offense with four players averaging over 14.0 PPG. Their leading scorer is 6'7 forward Norchad Omier with 17.2 PPG and also leads the team with 9.2 RPG. He is a physical post player, he leads the team in free throw attempts, but does not shoot much from the perimeter. Omier is coming off a 15-point, 15-rebound game against FSU. Matthew Cleveland is an athletic 6'7 junior forward adding 15.6 PPG and 5.7 RPG, he had a double-double against Syracuse with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Wooga Poplar is their top outside shooter, he has made 41 threes on the year on 46.1% shooting from deep. Poplar is a 6'5 junior guard adding 15.2 PPG and 4.8 RPG. Their last scorer is 6'0 junior Nijel Pack, he is another outside shooter for the Hurricanes and is averaging 14.3 PPG and 3.7 APG.
Miami is currently ranked 66th overall according to KenPom. They rank higher on offense where they are 36th in the nation in efficiency, while they rank 124th in defensive efficiency. They play fast on offense, Miami is ranked 75th in the nation in tempo out of 362 Division I teams. Joe Lunardi currently only has three ACC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament, and both Miami and Notre Dame are on the outside looking in.
Injury Report:
Norchad Omier missed the Syracuse game with an injury and will be a game-time decision here.