Canes’ opening offense impressive; Larrañaga unhappy with defense
Their chairs on the bench were farther apart than usual. Coaches wore masks. And the only fans in the Watsco Center were a few dozen family members.
There were no cheerleaders. No pep band. No mascot. Just loud music and fake crowd noise pumped in through the loudspeakers.
Welcome to the 2020-21 college basketball season, coronavirus style.
The University of Miami Hurricanes managed to energize themselves in the cavernous arena Sunday night and win their season opener 77-59 against a University of North Florida team that led the nation in three-point shots taken and made last season.
The Jacksonville-based Ospreys launched 40 three-pointers Sunday night and made 12 of them, nine in the first half before the Hurricanes defense clamped down. By comparison, Miami took 15 shots from beyond the arc and made five. UNF provided a good test for a UM defense that was one of the poorest in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season.
Despite the victory and five players scoring in double figures, UM coach Jim Larrañaga was displeased with his team’s defense.
“It’s always nice to win your first game, but we have some things that clearly need to be worked on and improved,” Larrañaga said. “We’re a very good three-point shooting team and did not have a good three-point shooting game. We relaxed defensively after the first five minutes, gave them way too many threes, they were 9 of 21 at halftime from three.”
The coach has been frustrated that his players are not employing the defensive principles he has been stressing since last season.
“It’s very hard for me to understand, I’ve coached a very long time, I’ve used the same 10 commitments, practice them every day and the first is to get back and set the defense,” Larrañaga said. “Yet, despite all the emphasis since July, and all of last year, for some reason, our guys have yet to understand that is how you become a good team.”
The Hurricanes showed no rust offensively. They opened with an 11-0 run and were shooting 71 percent well into the first half.
Sophomore guard Isaiah Wong exploited UNF’s zone defense, going to the middle time and again and led the Canes with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He also grabbed seven rebounds.
Harlond Beverly, the other sophomore guard, had 11 points and 11 rebounds — 10 of them on the defensive end. Senior Chris Lykes, a preseason
All-ACC point guard, struggled with his shot going 3 for 13, but scored 11 points and had five assists. Kam McGusty added 10 points.
Freshman Matt Cross, starting in place of injured senior Sam Waardenburg, showed why UM coaches were so high on him. The 6-7 forward from Beverly, Massachusetts, played like a veteran, moving well with and without the ball. He went 4 of 5 for 10 points with seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks, a steal and no turnovers in 26 minutes.
“Matt did a very good job of playing within himself, didn’t try to do too much,” Larrañaga said. “He’s someone who is really valuable to us because we’re missing Sam. Matt has stepped into that starting job, is able to make threes, is a stretch four, can handle the ball, but very conservatively, which is good. No turnovers. He can make shots, layup, three or free throw.”
Another new face in the starting lineup was Nysier Brooks, a 23-year-old 7foot transfer from the University of Cincinnati who brings energy and leadership to the group. He had seven points and four rebounds.
“Nysier is going to be needed to be our rim protector and finishing around the basket,” Larrañaga said. “He needs to do a better finishing.”
North Florida was led by preseason All-Atlantic Sun guard/forward Carter Hendrickson, who had 21 points and made five threepointers.
The season began with some bad news for the Hurricanes. Highly touted freshman guard Earl Timberlake will miss the next three to five weeks due to a right ankle injury sustained in practice. He re-sprained the ankle when he stepped on a teammate’s foot.
“Earl is a vital member of our team and we are disappointed for him that he will not be able to begin the season alongside his teammates,” Larrañaga said. “However, we know Earl will be back in action shortly and look forward to him soon taking the court as a Hurricane.”
Timberlake was the second key player to get injured before the season began. Waardenburg, a 6-10 senior forward from New Zealand, injured his left foot in lateOctober and is out for the season. He used a scooter to get around the court during warmups and cheered his teammates on from the sideline.
The Hurricanes play at home again on Friday night against Stetson, a game that was postponed from last week due to COVID-19 cases in the Stetson program.
North Florida, which went 21-12 last season, finishing first in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 13-3 record, dropped to 0-3.