The spring breaks of years past always seem to come and go like a flash of lightning. There are bright lights, the potential to not make it out alive, and in the end it gets remembered as one big flash.
The sports world never takes a week off. It’s time to shake out the cobwebs now that spring break is over. Check out this spring break Miami Hurricanes sports recap to get back up to speed.
Women’s basketball:
The ‘Canes women’s basketball team made a run at the ACC Tournament championship before ultimately coming up short in the semifinal round.
Miami entered the tournament as the ACC’s fifth seed and beat Pittsburgh in the second round of by 22 points, 77-55. Guard Adrienne Motley led the way for Miami with a game-high 19 points, 3 assists and 3 blocks (also a game-high).
The ‘Canes continued their hot play by nearly-missing out on recording their second-straight 20-point victory with a 74-56 win against rival Florida State in the quarterfinals. This time it was guard Jessica Thomas guiding Miami to victory. She contributed a game-high 21 points and tossed in 5 assists as well.
Miami faced No. 2 in the country Notre Dame in the semifinals. The Fighting Irish entered the game with only one loss on the season and were heavy favorites against the ‘Canes.
Going into halftime Miami was only down by one after having held a four-point lead. The outcome of the game was still very much up in the air.
Then Notre Dame showed everyone why they are one of the best teams in the country. Miami got outscored by 10 points for the rest of the game, even falling behind by as much as 15 for several minutes. Thomas again was the leading scorer for the ‘Canes, tying Notre Dame’s Brianna Turner with a game-high 17 points.
Miami (24-8) will next play in the upcoming NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The fifth-seeded ‘Canes face-off against 11th-seeded South Dakota State (26-6). If Miami wins, they would see either fourth-seeded Stanford (24-7) or 13th-seeded San Francisco (21-11) in the second round.
Men’s basketball:
The ‘Canes men’s basketball team started out the break as if they had just came back from a break themselves.
Miami lost their regular season finale against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Vir, 77-62. The ‘Canes combined to shoot a mere 16.7% from three during the game, with Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez going 1-6 each.
Jim Larrañaga had 4 days to prepare his players for the ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C. for what turned out to be a grudge match with Virginia Tech. The ‘Canes earned a No. 3 seed in the tournament and had byes through to the quarterfinal round.
Miami would ultimately beat the Hokies 88-82. The ‘Canes were led by McClellan and Rodriguez as the duo combined to score 31 second half points. Miami led by as much as 15 points over the last 20 minutes after leading by only one at halftime.
With the win the ‘Canes moved on to play Virginia for the third time this season, losing 73-68. Ja’Quan Newton led Miami in scoring with 19 points, although the ‘Canes never held a lead.
The semifinal loss means the NCAA Tournament will be the final games Miami plays on the season. Miami earned a third-seed in the tournament, where they will play 14th-seeded Buffalo (20-14) 6:50 p.m. Thursday on TNT.
Baseball:
Miami swept a three-game series against Manhattan to start the break. After the first two games the ‘Canes had outscored the Jaspers by 20 runs, 24-4 overall, with a 10-0 shutout and 14-4 blowout.
Miami pitcher Thomas Woodrey (2-1) threw a gem in game one, going eight innings while striking out 10 batters. All ‘Canes batters with at least two at-bats recorded a hit.
Game two was more of the same from game one, while game three was the closest as Miami pulled out a 7-4 win.
The ‘Canes went on to play five more game over the break. They won back-to-back game against Maine, 6-2, and against Stetson, 4-2.
Miami finished up the break by winning two games against Virginia Tech after losing the first game of the three-game series. The ‘Canes were beaten badly, 14-3, in game one, falling behind by five runs after the first inning. Woodrey gave up eight runs in all.
Although the ‘Canes won, 11-6, game two had a similarly ominous start as Miami starting pitcher Michael Mediavilla gave up three runs in the first inning. Although he struck out nine, he never quite settled down and was replaced after going four innings. The ‘Canes would come back and score seven runs in innings seven-nine.
Miami won game three 7-2. Catcher Zack Collins hit his fifth home-run of the year while starting pitcher Danny Garcia (3-1) struck out seven over seven innings.
The series marked the beginning of ACC play.
Miami is now 10-2 on the year, with the only two losses coming at the hands of top-ranked Florida.
Next up for Miami is Central Florida(10-7)Wednesday, before starting a three-game series Friday against No. 4 Louisville (14-2). Saturday’s game is bring-your-dog-to-the-ballpark day.
Alex Goldman is a senior majoring in journalism with a minor in political science. He is currently the Sports Editor of distractionmagazine.com. He’s a Northern California native and loves snowboarding, writing, and above all the Green Bay Packers.
words_ alexander goldman.