Freshman looks forward to his D.C. homecoming
CORAL GABLES — At 6-foot-11 and 220 pounds, Hurricanes forward Dewan Huell — a former McDonald’s All-American — looks every bit the typical college basketball player.
The freshman teammate he’s been guarding this week in practice, however, still seems to turn heads every time he takes the floor, the 5-foot-7, 160-pound Chris Lykes often standing inches shorter than most opponents he faces.
What Huell and those opponents have learned quickly is that the dynamic Lykes has speed, athleticism and a skill set that made him a coveted prospect at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C.
Eventually, it was No. 6 Miami that beat out the likes of top-ranked Villanova and hometown Georgetown to secure Lykes’ commitment. And this weekend, it’s likely few in the gym will be surprised when they see him play as the Hurricanes travel to face George Washington on Saturday at noon in the nation’s capital.
“He’s a pretty hard guy to guard,” Huell said with a laugh this week. “Chris is quick, so you fall back a second and he can just launch his shot and it’s going in. He creates separation a lot of the time and gets his shots off a lot.”
Like Huell, Miami coach Jim Larrañaga can’t stop raving about what Lykes — who is averaging 7.1 points and 16.6 minutes per game — has done in his short time on campus.
With sophomore Bruce Brown sidelined because of a hand injury, Lykes and fellow freshman Lonnie Walker IV have seen both of their minutes increase. They have delivered.
Against then 12th-ranked Minnesota on the road, Lykes came off the bench to spark the Hurricanes with 10 points and a season-best three steals. He started the second half and helped Miami go on a 9-2 run en route to the eventual 86-81 win.
Lykes had a career-high 13 points in the Hurricanes’ 90-59 win over Florida A&M, has connected on at least one 3-pointer in seven of Miami’s eight games and is shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc.
Early on, he’s been everything Larrañaga has hoped.
“Chris Lykes has a dynamic game, meaning his speed, quickness, jumping ability. If he were 6-5 or 6-6, he’d be Michael Jordan,” Larrañaga said. “That’s how dynamic he is. But he can impact the game. And it doesn’t really matter the size of your height. It’s the size of your heart in terms of what you’re capable of doing with your talent.
“With his talent, he needs to be a nuisance on defense, and he needs to push the tempo on offense. He needs to look for his 3-point shots, but he also needs to look to penetrate and pitch. He’s capable of doing those things.”
Lykes wouldn’t mind doing all of that Saturday, when he expects friends, family members and former high school teammates will be present to watch him and the Hurricanes (8-0) take on the Colonials (5-5).
While Larrañaga has often tried to make sure the Hurricanes visit the hometowns of most of their outof-state players — Miami, for example played a game in Walker’s hometown of Reading, Pa., earlier this year — Lykes had no idea he’d have the chance to play at home when he signed with the Hurricanes.
The game against George Washington proved a pleasant surprise when he saw Miami’s schedule earlier this year. And he’s expecting it to be a meaningful experience, especially after seeing what it meant to fellow freshman Walker when the Hurricanes played La Salle in Reading.
“It just shows that I really have coaches that do care about me,” Lykes said. “They want to see me go home and play in front of a lot of the people I’ve played in front of for a while. It’s going to be a great atmosphere. GW has a really good fan base, and it’s going to be a good game. They’re going to play hard. We just have to come out prepared and ready to play.”