Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse for the depleted University of Miami men’s basketball team, which lost 66-54 at Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon, guard Isaiah Wong hobbled off the court with a sprained ankle.
The Hurricanes had just six scholarship players available for the game, after a rash of injuries and the departure of freshman Matt Cross, so the sight of Wong getting injured in the closing minutes was especially troubling to coach Jim Larranaga and his team.
Wong, who scored 14 points and had seven rebounds before the injury, has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season for Miami, which dropped to 6-10 and 2-9 in the ACC. It was UM’s fourth loss in a row.
“Right now I’m more concerned about Isaiah Wong, who sprained his ankle at the end of the game than I am about the game,” Larranaga said. “We obviously are very beat up and don’t have a lot of weapons right now. I was proud of the effort we gave in the second half to put ourselves in position to go on a run, but we just don’t have enough offense to complete the plays.”
Larranaga said the severity of Wong’s injury is unknown.
“We’ll wait to see how he responds to treatment,” the coach said. “He has sprained it before and recovered pretty quickly, but we were home then. You go on an airplane and everybody’s feet swell.”
The UM roster, already thin with injuries to Chris Lykes, Earl Timberlake, Elijah Olaniyi, Sam Waardenburg and Rodney Miller, got even slimmer on Thursday when Larranaga parted ways with freshman Matt Cross.
“Sometimes you recruit someone who has a lot of the qualities you’re looking for and then they arrive on campus and things are going pretty well, you’re headed in the right direction, and then for one reason or another it just got to a point where I felt like he probably needed to make a change,” Larranaga said, when asked to explain what went into the decision. “I probably just wasn’t the right coach for him. I have my own way of doing things, and you have to buy into that approach. If you don’t it probably makes you unhappy that you don’t feel it’s an ideal fit. So, I came to the conclusion that the best thing would be for him to find someplace he’d be happier at.”
UM jumped to a 7-0 lead as Wake Forest missed 12 of its first 13 shots, but the Demon Deacons got hot from the perimeter and scored nine first-half three-pointers to take a 34-24 lead. Miami got no closer than five the rest of the game.
Kam McGusty led UM with 17 points. Anthony Walker added 12 points and seven boards. Wake Forest (5-7, 2-7) had four players in double figures, led by Daivian Williamson with 16.
Center Deng Gak started for the first time.
“Deng was the only player on our team who hasn’t started, so we gave him the opportunity,” Larranaga said. “He’s been playing more minutes and playing better. He gives us a rim protector, he can block some shots, gets some defensive rebounds. I like the way he’s playing right now.”
Things won’t get any easier. The Hurricanes play at home against Duke on Monday.
“We’re playing on Big Monday on ESPN against Duke, and they’ve been playing better theses last couple of games,” Larranaga said. “They’re always a threat to have a great game. They’ve got so many talented players.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 5:17 PM.