Deacs loss to Hurricanes 79-52

CORAL GABLES, Fla.

It was easy to spot the team playing with desperation on Wednesday night in the Wake Forest-Miami game.

The Hurricanes, smarting from three straight losses, fired on all cylinders in a 79-52 blowout of the slow-footed Deacons.

All of sudden the Deacons' inspiring victories over North Carolina and Duke seem like a long time ago.

Packing in an effective zone the Hurricanes dared the Deacons to shoot from the outside. And the Deacons cooperated by missing shots at an alarming rate. The Deacons shot just 32 percent and were just 3 of 20 on 3-point attempts as they had their lowest scoring output of the season.

Coach Dino Gaudio of the Deacons didn't mince words to his team afterward and it was all about defense.

"I told our kids 'If we never scored a point tonight we should be able to guard on the other end of the floor,'" Gaudio said. "And I think we lost a little discipline on the defensive end of the floor and our offense was affected by our defense and that should never happen."

Doing the most damage for the Hurricanes (15-7, 4-5 ACC) was senior guard Jack McClinton, who scored 32 points. He saw six different Deacons guard him at various points in the game, but it hardly mattered.

McClinton hit 11 of 19 shots and was especially effective beyond the 3-point line. He was 6 of 10 on 3-point attempts and didn't mind taking a step back on a defender deep behind the line and hoisting a shot.

"I thought McClinton had one of the very good performances in many, many years in this league," Gaudio said. "It's one of the best performances I've seen in the ACC in the eight years I've been in the league."

Despite the Deacons' struggles on offense in the first half they trailed just 29-26 at the break but McClinton and Adrian Thomas (14 points) got the Hurricanes going. When Thomas, who tied his career high, made two free throws with 15:30 left the Hurricanes led by 13.

It got worse for the Deacons (17-3, 4-3) when McClinton made a layup and Jeff Graham got inside for two straight baskets and Thomas nailed a 3-pointer for a 54-34 lead with 10:46 to play.

It never got any better as the Deacons eventually fell behind by 24 after McClinton took a step back with the shot clock winding down and in front of James Johnson made a 3-pointer with 4:39 to go.

"He was playing well and when he's hitting fall away threes like that it's hard to guard him, but that's what good players do," guard Jeff Teague of the Deacons said about McClinton.

Teague led the Deacons with 19 points, but was just 6 of 14 from the field. Johnson had 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots but fouled out.

One tweak that Gaudio made was to his starting lineup as he replaced center Chas McFarland with David Weaver. It was the first time all season that Gaudio changed his starting lineup.

"It has nothing to do with Chas' play," Gaudio said. "I was just upset with him from the prior game (against Georgia Tech) with how he reacted to calls … Last game out he was too engaged in the officials and that's why we didn't start him, but he's learning and he's young and he's going to be a good player for us."

McFarland took the benching in stride and said he has to work harder to get back his spot.

"We didn't do the fundamental things right that we were supposed to do," McFarland said about the outcome. "We had some easy breakdowns on defense and we didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight."

The Deacons have lost two in a row on the road in the ACC, something that doesn't have guard Ish Smith concerned – yet.

"It's tough on the road and it's nothing these guys haven't seen," Smith said. "We just have to be prepared better and maybe this is a wake up call. We can wake up and smell the coffee a little bit."

Gaudio spent a little extra time with his team in the locker room afterward, and said: "I was pretty mad. I was just disappointed in our defense. We have to be able to lock down; you can't give up 50 points in the second half."

Gaudio said that with the zone packed in they settled for the outside shots and it backfired.

"We were relying way too much on the 3-point shot," Gaudio said. "I think it was a little Fool's Gold because I think we hit our first two. And we weren't going inside enough … We tried to shoot our way out of problems."

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com