Miami finishes the regular season 24-7 following a lights-out shooting performance from the Cardinals
The Miami Hurricanes have completed their first regular season under head coach Jai Lucas, following a heartbreaking second-half comeback fallen short against the Louisville Cardinals in the regular season finale from Coral Gables, falling 92-89.
Miami trailed for the majority of the game due to Louisville’s lights out shooting, but the Canes ultimately never stopped fighting behind the loud, packed Watsco Center crowd. Miami outscored Louisville 52-46 in the second half and took their first lead with 03:48 remaining in the contest, but ultimately fell short.
Led by the seniors Malik Reneau and Tre Donaldson in their final battle in the 305, the two transfers finished with a combined 43 points, as Donaldson recorded 25 points and Reneau finishing with 18 (14-16 FT), doing their parts as the leaders of this Miami team.
For Louisville, they were led by senior guard Ryan Conwell, who finished with 24 points behind 7-14 shooting from the field. Four of the Cardinals’ five starters finished the game with double-figure scoring. Miami’s usual struggles from free-throws and turnovers were limited today, but the Hurricanes defense simply had a hard time stopping Louisville, as the Cardinals shot lights out the entire game finishing shooting a total of 60% from the field (32-53) and 50% from 3PT (12-24).
Despite the loss, the Hurricanes have a lot of basketball to look forward to in the coming weeks, as they enter conference tournament play as the #3 seed before heading to the NCAA Tournament later this month.
“Defense….” Tre Donaldson bluntly stated post-game on what Miami needs to key in on before the Hurricanes make their trip to Charlotte for the ACC Tournament later this week.
Louisville will enter the ACC Tournament as the #6 seed where they will face the winner of SMU or Syracuse in the first round for an opportunity to take on the #3 seeded Hurricanes this upcoming Thursday.
As for Jai Lucas and his team, they will enter a four day break before awaiting the winner of that game on Thursday.
(Photo: Christian Proscia, NewEraPrep)
