No. 23 Hurricanes Look To Stay Hot Against Visiting Georgia Tech
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CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami/AP) – After a brief stay earlier in the season, the Miami Hurricanes find themselves ranked once again.
Having learned from its first stay in the Top 25 this season, Miami is poised not to take anything for granted this time around.
After returning to the poll, the No. 23 Hurricanes try to keep visiting Georgia Tech winless in ACC play Wednesday night.
Miami (14-5, 4-2) started 8-0 and was ranked as high as No. 15 before falling out following home losses to Green Bay and Eastern Kentucky during a three-game December stretch. The Hurricanes opened league play with an 89-80 double-overtime defeat to then-No. 3 Virginia on Jan. 3, but they've gone 4-1 since.
A 66-62 win at Syracuse on Saturday helped Miami return to the Top 25 a much wiser team.
"We're very excited to be (ranked) but we can't lose that edge like we did earlier in the season," said guard Sheldon McClellan, who averages a team-high 15.0 points. "We've can't let the number get to us, we can't get complacent."
The Hurricanes might have felt they could get by on talent alone, but they proved unable to do so while averaging 53.7 points and 33.5 percent shooting in defeats to Green Bay, EKU and Providence.
"When you play a game that you're favored (in), you need to prove that," coach Jim Larranaga said. "Nothing is ever given. You've got to practice correctly. You've got to prepare correctly, then you have to execute."
The Hurricanes have done that over the last five games, a stretch highlighted by a 51.8-percent shooting performance in a 90-74 win that snapped Duke's 41-game home winning streak Jan. 13. They followed with a 75-70 loss at then-No. 12 Notre Dame, then showed their mettle by beating North Carolina State and Syracuse by a combined nine points.
Miami used a 16-6 run to break open a tie game at halftime and held off the Orange on Saturday. It shot 41.1 percent overall but made 10 3-pointers, held a 15-3 advantage in bench scoring and took advantage of Syracuse's 8-of-19 performance from the free-throw line.
Tonye Jekiri had 13 points with 15 rebounds and Angel Rodriguez added eight assists and four steals. Jekiri is averaging a league-leading 10.3 rebounds and 12.5 in ACC play.
"Hopefully we've learned some things about ourselves that have allowed us to be better each game," Larranaga said.
The Hurricanes have won 10 of 13 against Georgia Tech (9-10, 0-7), but the Yellow Jackets got a Marcus Georges-Hunt tip-in of his own miss as time expired to win 71-69 in their last trip to Miami on March 6, 2013. Chris Bolden, who verbally committed to Miami before choosing Georgia Tech, scored a career-high 21 points in that contest.
The Yellow Jackets, who fell 56-42 at home to Miami last Jan. 18 in the teams' only meeting last season, are trying to avoid their first 0-8 league start since going winless in the ACC in 1980-81. Though Georgia Tech ranks last in the conference in field-goal percentage at 40.8 and second-to-last in points at 63.5 per game, six of their conference losses have come by seven or fewer points and three by three or fewer.
Three days after an embarrassing 57-28 defeat at second-ranked Virginia, the Yellow Jackets were much more competitive in a 64-62 home loss to Boston College on Sunday.
"We know that we can play," said forward Quinton Stephens, who had 17 points. "We're going to break through this wall. We're going to get it together."
Georges-Hunt, who averages a team-leading 12.9 points, scored 20 on Sunday.
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