Hurricanes overcome slow second-half start

MIAMI — There were times they looked like a Jim Larrañaga-coached team.

Then there was that brief stretch where the Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team appeared to have no guidance. Fortunately, the latter was just a short stint in UM’s 74-57 victory against Wofford on Saturday in the HoopHall Invitational at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“I think we noticed that we came out a little flat in the second half,” UM guard Ja’Quan Newton said. “Coach called a timeout. We just had to regroup and get ourselves together. Once we started getting defensive stops we needed, we just started scoring on offense.”

Newton led four Hurricanes in double-figures with 15 points and nine assists. Forward Kamari Murphy had a career-high 14 points and 10 rebounds while Davon Reed finished with 15 points and freshman Bruce Brown added 12 points. Wofford reseve Cameron Jackson led all scorers with 16 points.

The Hurricanes (6-2) overcame a sluggish second-half start to win their second game in a row since dropping a pair of games last week to Iowa State and Florida. It wasn’t as easy as expected. Despite having no victories against Division I opponents this season, Wofford put a small scare into the Hurricanes.

After trailing by 12 at the half, the Terriers (2-6) opened with a 9-0 run. They pulled to within 36-33 on guard Fletcher Magee’s driving layup with 16 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. It was at that point when the Hurricanes awakened.

“I thought Wofford did a great job in the second half cutting the lead,” Larrañaga said. “I thought our guys hung tough after we took a timeout. We came out and played very well.”

Brown broke the scoreless stretch with a pair of free throws. After four free throws from Newton and center Ebuka Izundu, consecutive 3-pointers by DJ Vasiljevic and Brown capped a 12-1 run.

A breakaway dunk by Reed put the Hurricanes comfortably ahead 59-43 with 5:50 remaining.

“We had our moments and made them work,” Wofford coach Mike Young said. “Coach Larrañaga has another quality team. Bigger, stronger athletes ultimately get the best of you and I thought that’s what happened.”

The Hurricanes made it a point to take away Wofford’s perimeter scoring. The Terriers entered shooting 42 percent from the 3-point line, which led the Southern Conference. They made just 5 of 23 against the Hurricanes, with many of the attempts well contested.

“That was all part of the game plan,” Murphy said. “We knew Magee was one of the top shooters in the country. In warmups, we emphasized getting out to the 3-point line and guards chasing them off the 3-point line as well. We executed our game plan and made them take tough 3s. They got it going in the post a little but we took away what their strength was.”

The Hurricanes appeared headed toward another runaway, non-conference victory after opening the game by scoring 17 of the first 21 points. They shot 57 percent in the first half while limiting Wofford to just 10-of-31 shooting. UM led by many as 18 points before the early second-half struggles.