Miami, FL
CanesCounty – Live Game Thread and Preview: Miami Basketball Vs. Florida State
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 2024
WHERE: Coral Gables, FL, Watsco Center
TIME/TV: 7:00 EST/ACC Network
LIVE AUDIO: 560 WQAM
MIAMI: Official Website | Schedule | Roster | Stats | Twitter
FLORIDA STATE: Official Website | Schedule | Roster | Stats | Twitter
LINE: MIAMI -6.5
Miami (12-4, 3-2 ACC) defeated Virginia Tech 75-71 on the road in its last game.
Florida State (10-6, 4-1 ACC) defeated Notre Dame 67-58 in its last contest.
Series History
Miami returns to the Watsco Center on Wednesday to host in-state rival Florida State for the first of two meetings this season.
The all-time series between Miami and Florida State dates back to before the program rebirth, with the first game between the two schools occurring in 1950. Overall, Florida State is leading the series 54-37, but Miami holds a 27-17 advantage when playing at home. This is the 92nd meeting between Miami and FSU, the most games in any series in Miami program history.
The teams met twice in 2022-23, with each school coming away with a victory. The last meeting came on Feb. 25, 2023, an upset win for Florida State in Coral Gables. The Seminoles came back from down 25 to defeat the Hurricanes 85-84 on a last-second 3-pointer by Matthew Cleveland (yes, the Matthew Cleveland who now plays for the Hurricanes).
It’s been six years since Miami last defeated Florida State in the Watsco Center (W, 80-74, 1/7/18).
Last Game
Miami recorded its first true road win on Saturday, defeating the Virginia Tech Hokies, 75-71, in Cassell Coliseum.
The game featured eight ties and ten lead changes and was a single-digit game for the second half. Ultimately, Miami used a 65 percent second-half shooting effort to take the victory and move to 3-2 in ACC play.
Notable Miami Statistics
Nijel Pack has found his rhythm from 3-point range, shooting 51.6 percent (16-of-31) over the last seven games, with just one game under 50 percent.
Conversely, in the season’s first seven games, Pack was 37.8 percent (14-of-37) from distance with five games under 50 percent. When Pack shoots above 50 percent from 3-point range, the Hurricanes are 6-2, with the only losses coming to Colorado and Wake Forest.
Pack is just 22 points away from 1,500 career points, which will make him one of 77 active Division I players to eclipse the 1,500-point mark. When he reaches the milestone, Miami will be one of 13 teams with two active 1,500-point scorers, as Norchad Omier sits at 1,558 career points.
Junior Cleveland eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark Saturday against Virginia Tech, pouring in 21 points to bring his career total to 1,010. Miami is one of 39 Division I teams with three 1,000-point scorers on the roster. However, only 14 of the 39 (Miami included) have a true junior as one of the scorers.
Only 31 Division I players are averaging 15.0 or more points and shooting 55 percent from the field this season, and two of them play for Miami – Omier (17.3 ppg, .619 FG%) and Cleveland (16.4 ppg, .560 FG%). Miami is the only school with two players recording those numbers. Furthermore, Cleveland and Omier are the only ACC players with those stats.
Since the calendar flipped to 2024, Cleveland has averaged 20.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Cleveland has scored in double-figures in 15 of 16 games and sits second on the team, scoring at 16.4.
Cleveland has been dominant in ACC play through five conference games, averaging 19.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in league play. In conference games, only Cleveland ranks in the top ten in the ACC in five categories: scoring (19.4 – 2nd), field goal percentage (58 percent – 5th), steals (2 – 3rd), and minutes played (37.6 – 1st).
The Hurricanes are 21-2 (.913) when Omier has a double-double since he joined the team (2022-23).
Omier is currently one of three ACC players (Kyle Filipowski & Quinten Post) in the top 10 in the conference in scoring (eighth) and rebounding (third).
The forward is one of four Division I players to average 17.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and shoot 60 percent from the field this season (Zach Edey, Purdue; Hunter Dickinson, Kansas; Joel Soriano, St. John’s).
The Opponent
Notable Florida State Statistics
The Seminoles enter Wednesday’s contest on a four-game win streak, most recently defeating Notre Dame, 67-58.
Three Seminoles are averaging double-figures this season, paced by Jamir Watkins at 13 points per game. Watkins enters Wednesday’s game against Miami, looking to become the first player in Florida State history to lead the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals.
Through the first 16 games of the season, he is averaging a team-leading 13.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.6 steals. Watkins is the only ACC player leading his team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals.
Junior Jalen Warley enters Wednesday’s game against Miami with 99 career steals in the first 79 games of his career. He averages 1.3 steals per game and needs just one steal to reach 100 for his career. Warley has ten steals in four career games against Miami, including three in two games between the teams during the 2022-23 season.
Florida State enters Wednesday’s game at Miami ranked second in the ACC in steals with 147 and a 9.2 steals per-game average. The Seminoles totaled ten steals in their victory over Wake Forest and nine on the road in their win over Maimi.
Florida State averages 8.5 steals per game (34 total steals) during their current four-game ACC winning streak. The Seminoles have earned 10 or more steals in six different games and totaled a season-high 17 steals in their win over No. 18 Colorado in the championship game of the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach on November 21.
Darin Green is ranked fifth in the ACC with 42 3-point field goals made, eighth in the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage (.408), and seventh in the ACC with a 2.63 3-point field goals made per game average. He has made multiple 3-point shots in each of the last eight games and has made numerous 3-point shots in 14 of Florida State’s 16 games this season.
Miami Athletics and Florida State Athletics Contributed to this report
Talk with Canes Fans about the game on Inside Canes Hoops
Miami, FL
Cain, Kushner launch South Florida JV with plans for Edgewater rental tower
Cain and Kushner are launching a South Florida real estate joint venture, planning a luxury apartment tower in Edgewater for their first project, The Real Deal has learned.
London-based Cain, led by Jonathan Goldstein, and New York-based Kushner, led by Laurent Morali and Nicole Kushner Meyer, plan a 40-story, 364-unit project on Cain’s 1.5-acre site at 614 and 720 Northeast 27th Street in Miami, according to a news release. The property is near the Missoni Baia condo tower that Cain co-developed with Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group.
BDT & MSD Partners provided a $42 million loan for the project, which is in the pre-development phase. Construction is expected to start late next year, the release says.
The Cain-Kushner JV is targeting residential and mixed-use investments and developments in the tri-county region.
“We are looking at all opportunities that we think are sensible,” Goldstein said.
Their South Florida JV comes as the region is experiencing another influx of out-of-staters after the pandemic-era boom, only this time the in-migration is primarily of wealthy individuals and their companies amid the blue-to-red-state migration.
Yet, Cain and Kushner’s plans for Edgewater apartments come as the multifamily market has softened due to hefty deliveries in recent years. A record 18,600 units were completed in 2024, outpacing leasing that year by about 20 percent, CoStar Group data shows. Although construction starts have slowed, last year’s 12,718 unit completions still surpassed total leasing for the year by about 1,000 apartments.
It has led to slower lease-ups, more concessions and a drop in the average asking rents across South Florida.
Developers starting projects now have said demand will catch up by the time they finish their buildings, with many adding that South Florida remains a strong apartment market. Many are betting on luxury rentals, which CoStar’s data showed made up the bulk of leasing in recent years.
“We are big believers in South Florida and big believers in Miami,” Goldstein said.
Cain, backed by Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, has been investing in South Florida for nearly a decade, with the JV in some ways marking its second chapter in the region.
Cain’s most recent project is the Delano Miami Beach renovation. The hotel, which closed in 2020, is expected to reopen in time for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix early next month.
Aside from the Missoni Baia condo tower, Cain also partnered with OKO on the Una Residences condo tower in Brickell and the 57-story 830 Brickell office tower. The office building was completed in 2024 fully pre-leased, catching a demand surge during the pandemic-era in-migration of out-of-state companies to Miami. Cain also is an investor in Doronin’s hospitality firm Aman Group.
Kushner has a presence in Miami’s Edgewater, completing the 37-story, 420-unit apartment tower at 2000 Biscayne Boulevard in 2024, with plans for more residential development next-door at 1900 Biscayne Boulevard. It also purchased the 276-unit Hamilton apartment building at 555 Northeast 34th Street from Aimco.
Elsewhere, Kushner plans a 932-unit multifamily development at 300 West Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. It borrowed a $115 million construction loan last year for a luxury 68-unit apartment project in Surfside. And it scored approval in October for a 470-unit rental building and synagogue development near Hollywood’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
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Ranking the Miami Heat’s Top Trade Targets
The Miami Heat are heading into another crucial offseason, and they MUST make changes. This team has been mediocre for the past few seasons and has been stuck in the Play-in Tournament. The Heat can’t currently compete with the way the roster is constructed. They need to trade for a star who can lead this team, and if a star becomes available, Miami will be involved. The real question is which direction actually makes the most sense.
The Heat could go after three potential targets this summer: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, and Donovan Mitchell. Who should Miami target? Let’s stack rank them based on fit, risk, and potential.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo: The Only Move That Changes Everything
The Miami Heat need to go all-in for Giannis. This is a trade that would completely reshape the franchise. Giannnis could potentially turn the Heat into a contender overnight. Even with his recent injury cutting his season short, nothing about his overall impact has changed. He still bends defenses in a way very few players can. Teams build entire game plans around simply trying to slow him down, and most of the time, it doesn’t work.
The Miami Heat have desperately needed a true superstar who can take over games late in crunch time. The Heat have been relying on undrafted players and role players to create and execute their offense. Giannis flips that instantly by creating advantages on his own, possession after possession.
I think the most interesting part will be pairing Giannis with Bam Adebayo. They would automatically become the best defensive frontcourt duo in the NBA. Giannis and Bam could both guard 1-5, and their switchability and rim protection would be elite. Offensively, Bam’s versatility allows Giannis to stay aggressive without needing to adjust his game too much.
The risk is obvious. Injuries have started to creep into the conversation, and committing everything to one player always carries weight. Still, Miami has never been a franchise that plays it safe. If Giannis is available, the conversation starts and ends there.
2. Donovan Mitchell: The Cleanest Basketball Fit
If Giannis is the bold swing, Mitchell is the move that makes the most basketball sense from top to bottom. At this stage of his career, Donovan Mitchell knows exactly who he is as a player. He can control tempo, create offense in isolation, and take over stretches of games when things stall out and that is something Miami has struggled with consistently.
This is less about transforming the roster and more about fixing a specific problem. The Heat have lacked a reliable perimeter engine. Mitchell fills that gap immediately. What makes him especially appealing is how easily he fits into different lineups. He doesn’t need the ball every possession to be effective, but he can handle that role when needed. That flexibility matters on a team that values structure as much as Miami does.
There’s also a timeline advantage here. Mitchell is younger than the other options and doesn’t come with the same long-term durability concerns. He gives Miami a clearer runway to build around, rather than a shorter window that demands immediate results. He may not bring the same overwhelming presence as Giannis, but he raises the overall level of the team in a way that feels sustainable.
3. Kawhi Leonard: Elite Talent With Too Many Variables
When Kawhi Leonard is available and healthy, he’s still one of the most controlled and efficient players in the league. His season with the Los Angeles Clippers was a reminder of that. Playing 65 games was a big step, and when he was on the floor, he looked like himself, methodical, physical, and impossible to speed up. From a pure basketball standpoint, he fits Miami’s identity. He defends, doesn’t force offense, and thrives in structured environments.
The hesitation comes from everything outside of that. Kawhi’s availability has been unpredictable for years, and even in seasons where he plays a high number of games, there’s always uncertainty about how things will hold up deep into a playoff run. Age adds another layer. Miami wouldn’t just be trading for a player; they’d be betting on a timeline that may already be shrinking. There’s no denying the upside. A healthy Kawhi still moves the needle in a big way. It’s just harder to justify that gamble compared to the other two options.
Final Take
Each path offers something different. Giannis is the all-in swing that could put Miami back in the championship conversation overnight. Mitchell is the calculated move that stabilizes the offense and fits long-term. Kawhi is the wildcard, still elite, but with more uncertainty than the Heat can comfortably ignore.
If Miami is serious about breaking out of the middle, they need to pick a direction and commit fully. Giannis is the dream, Mitchell is the smartest bet, and Kawhi is the toughest sell.
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