No more warm-up games. The new year begins with a pair of tough Atlantic Coast Conference season openers for the University of Miami’s men’s and women’s basketball teams.
The men’s team, on a three-game winning streak, plays at home Thursday night against 18th-ranked North Carolina State (12-1), one of the hottest teams in the conference. The Wolfpack leads the ACC in field-goal percentage at 52.6 percent and ranks third in scoring with 89.4 points per game.
The UM women open their ACC season at home on Thursday at 2 p.m. against Virginia Tech (13-0). The Hurricanes (12-3) were ranked in the Top 25 most of the nonconference season but slipped out this week following a 10-point loss to Central Michigan.