Miami was able to get a win against Cornell Wednesday night 107-105.  If you told me pregame that Miami would score over 100 points but only win by 2, I would have called you crazy. This was a really weird game, but the main thing is that Miami won. Here are three takeaways.

Defense was nonexistent 

Whenever you give up over 100 points in a college basketball game, your defense probably had a rough night. Miami struggled to close out on shooters, and also had late rotations to help on drives to the basket. Miami was very lucky that Cornell only hit on 33% of their 3PT shots, because they were pretty open for a majority of them.

Cornell gave Miami trouble because they looked to score very quickly. This season Miami has not faced an offense like this. In fact, Miami’s defense was averaging the longest possession length average of any team in college basketball going into this game. Cornell took 79 shots in this game, which in itself speaks to the pace they played with.

Miami coming into this game was ranked 64th in adjusted defensive efficiency.  After playing Cornell they are now ranked at 99th in the very same statistic. Long story short I think this was an awful defensive performance that won’t be repeated.

Wong was dominant 

Isaiah Wong was able to find a lot of success offensively because of the fast pace of the game. Offensively, Wong was able to get easy drives to the basket before Cornell could set up their defense. At halftime Isaiah Wong had 22 points, and he finished with a career high 36 points.

Late Game Woes

The last minute of the game was almost a complete disaster.  In the final 60 seconds Miami had 2 turnovers, gave up 5 offensive rebounds, and also missed a FT to extend the lead.  Cornell was unable to get a three off to win the game, because Norchard Omier was able to block it. Miami honestly probably should have lost this game, but they got the win even if it was ugly.  

Miami will play NC State Saturday at 2:00PM ET.  It will be Miami’s home ACC opener, so hopefully they can get a win.