Miami suffered its first conference loss last Wednesday night against Georgia Tech. It was a tough game to watch, let’s get into my 3 takeaways from the game.

Offensive Struggles

Offensively, Miami struggled in the halfcourt against Georgia Tech’s defense. The Canes did not move the ball well and forced a lot of questionable shots. Miami shot 36% from the field, 16% from 3PT range, and 68% from the free throw line.

It was an offensive performance that was hard to watch. Georgia Tech had great success defensively because they consistently switched up what they were running. There were possessions where they were in man, a 2-3 zone and even a 1-3-1 extended zone.

Isaiah Wong arguably had his worst offensive showing in his career at Miami. Wong was 1/11 from the field including 0/8 from 3PT range.  Wong did contribute on the defensive side of the floor gathering 4 steals and 3 defensive rebounds.

The sole bright spot-on offense was that Miami only turned the ball over 7 times.  Miami was elite in terms of ball security last season, and it helped them win a number of close games. If the Canes can do this on a consistent basis, they should be able to compete with anyone.

Late game struggles

Miami has had a few games where they got away with some late game blunders, but this wasn’t the case against Georgia Tech. Miami didn’t score in the last 5 minutes and went 0-2 from the FT line. All 6 shot attempts in the last 5 minutes were 3PT attempts.

Miami struggled from 3PT range all night, you would think they would look to attack the basket in the final minutes of a close game. Miami was also in the double bonus, so any foul would have been an automatic 2 free throws. 

The real shift in momentum though appeared to be when Norchad Omier took an ill-advised 3PT shot and then fouled the Georgia Tech player that rebounded the ball. Omier fouled out as a result and Georgia Tech tied the game at 70 with 2 minutes left. 

Wooga Poplar

Wooga had some flashes late in the game. He had a dominant 5-minute stretch where he had 9 points and 3 steals. He had some impressive moments while guarding the ball.  If Wooga can put it together and be more consistent on both sides of the floor, he can be a very good player.

Miami continues ACC play at home against Boston College next Wednesday night at 7:00 PM ET.