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Message: [QUOTE="Tenspro2002, post: 4604204, member: 889"] Miami has lost only 2 games in the last two months, but they may be instructive towards answering the question of "when Miami loses, why?" Notably, in both losses, to FSU and Duke, they gave up 85 points. If Miami is losing, it's probably because of their defense. The first is Florida State. This was a bad, bad loss to an awful team where they blew a 25 point lead. Looking through the play by play, FSU did a lot of their damage in the 2nd half at the rim. A lot of layups and dunks. Some free throws. For the game, they were 26/43 inside the arc. This is consistent with the take that Miami doesn't foul much because they don't challenge shots. Notably, FSU's run was dominated by big guards and wings, a lot of 6'5-6'7 guys, like we have. We'll need to get Newton going downhill and finishing at the rim -- Hawkins and Jackson too -- especially if outside shots aren't falling. The other loss was to Duke in the ACC Tournament. Duke killed them everywhere -- 8/16 from 3, 20/35 from 2, 21/25 from the line. Their centers, Filipowski and Lively, were unstoppable (12/14), though there's a big caveat here that Omier was basically unavailable (played 1 minute). Sanogo won't have that kind of advantage unless we can get Omier out of the game. 6'7-ish forwards Mitchell, Proctor, and Whitehead all had strong games. It seems like Duke just overwhelmed them with size (outrebounded Miami 36-24), balanced with enough outside shooting to keep the D honest. Miami also had a mediocre outside shooting day (8/26), which they may resort to when undersized (though we can't guarantee they'll do it badly). Bottom line: When Miami loses, they struggle defending height or slashing guards (and sometimes the 3 point line) and can't make up for it with enough of their own shooting. [/QUOTE]

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