The Miami Hurricanes travel to John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia, for an ACC matchup versus the 14th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers Monday night at 6 pm EST. Virginia is currently favored by 15-points for this contest.
The Hurricanes continue to take a dive as they enter this contest losers of 5-straight after falling by 8-points on the road versus the Clemson Tigers Saturday. And while their struggling offense shot a surprising 49% for the contest, the team could only muster 58 points en route to their 15th loss on the year alongside 7 wins. And while they allowed the Tigers 66 points, the home team did so on 50% shooting both from the floor as well as from long-range. Despite the loss, the Hurricanes were able to cover as 13-point dogs in the contest, increasing their record to 3-7 in their last 10, overall.
The Cavaliers dropped their 3rd-straight outing after falling short at home versus the North Carolina State Wolfpack last Wednesday as the road team was able to hold the offense for the Cavaliers to only 37% shooting on the night while Virginia could only nail 7 of 25 shots from deep. Leading scorer Sam Hauser led the team with 21 points on 7-16 FG while hitting 5 of 11 treys while Jay Huff shot 50% (1-6 3FG) while posting a double-double. However, the remainder of the starters shot a combined 4-17 FG along with 1-7 from long-range as the Cavaliers fell to 15-6 on the year. Virginia also failed to cover for the 3rd-straight game as 11-point favorites.
The Cavaliers are 7-3 SU in their last 10 meetings versus their conference foe while winning outright in 4 of 5 at John Paul Jones Arena. Furthermore, Virginia is also 6-4 ATS during this time while covering in 3 of their last 5 at home versus Miami.
Hurricanes losers of 9 of 10
Aside from a huge win over the Duke Blue Devils February 1st by 2-points, Miami continues to stink it up on both ends of the court as the defense has given up 80 or more in 5 of 9 losses while the offense is averaging an awful 61 points during this time. And while Isaiah Wong (18 ppg, 5 rebs) along with Kameron McGusty (12 ppg) and Elijah Olaniyi (11 ppg, 5 rebs) have attempted to keep the team competitive on the offensive end (particularly Wong), it is clear that the team has not been able to rebound from losing their offensive leader in guard Chris Lykes (16 ppg, 4 rebs, 2 stls), who was declared out for the season with an ankle injury.The offense is πππππππ for @CanesHoops pic.twitter.com/sTdWFWD3Hs
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) February 27, 2021
And while the defense for the Hurricanes have been able to get the job done in recent meetings versus Virginia, the offense has continued to look miserable averaging just 51 points in their last 4 meetings. In fact, in their last road contest versus the Cavaliers, Miami only mustered 46 points on 34% shooting while missing 17 of 21 3-point attempts in a 10-point defeat.Important to add that Miami is only 1-7 SU in 8 road games this season while going 3-5 ATS during this time.
Cavaliers suffer yet again from lack of consistent offense
With just 2 games remaining in the regular season, Virginia, at 15-6 on the year, must finish up strong at home versus the struggling Hurricanes in addition to on the road when they wrap up versus the 13-5 Louisville Cardinals. However, if their offense continues to struggled the way it has during their 3-game skid, the road will continue to be tough for Virginia moving forward. In fact, the team, which is putting up only 69 points per game, albeit on an efficient 48% shooting along with 39% from long-range (29th and 8th in the nation), is only averaging 62 points in their last 3 outings.π₯ @tyjerome_ feeds @JJacks_44
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 27, 2021
Thatβs Tyβs 7th assist, new record for a player in his Thunder debut! pic.twitter.com/GtPrMrQAR9
Hauser (15 ppg, 7 rebs) continues to be their main source of offensive as he is shooting a solid 51% from the floor along with 45% from long-range on the year. Furthermore, Hauser led with 21 points on a decent shooting night versus the Wolfpack. Huff (14 ppg, 7 rebs, 3 blks) has also been a force making over 60% of his shots while connecting on 42% from the deep perimeters.
However, guards Trey Murphy III (11 ppg) along with Kihei Clark (10 ppg) continue to struggle at a critical point in the year with the former averaging just 6 ppg in his last 6 outings while the latter is currently shooting just 42% FG along with 32% from deep. Again, while Virginia has had the upper hand in terms of wins and losses versus Miami in recent outings, their offense has struggled mightily. In fact, the team has failed to shoot better than 42% in their last 2 meetings.
Stats & Trends
- Hurricanes are 3-7 ATS in last 10 games.
- Hurricanes are 1-4 ATS in last 4 road games.
- Cavaliers are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400.
- Cavaliers are 4-2 ATS in last 6 meetings.
The Pick
While the Cavaliers have struggled on the offensive end to close out their 2020-21 campaign, the fact is that the Hurricanes have not been able to find any type of consistency on either side of the floor lately as well as throughout the season.Β Virginia has dominated against the spread in their last 5 homers versus their conference foe (4-1 ATS) and I expect them to use this contest to get back on track after some ugly set of losses.