Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Defense shines in ACC opener for ’Canes
CORAL GABLES — It was as solid a performance as the Miami Hurricanes could have wanted in their ACC opener.
The Miami men outrebounded, outshot, outscored and basically outplayed North Carolina State in every way en route to an 81-63 win over the Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon at the Watsco Center.
But neither coach Jim Larrañaga nor two of his top players — senior leader Davon Reed and freshman sensation Bruce Brown — seemed all that satisfied with Miami’s performance.
They all noted that while the win — Miami’s seventh in a row and 21st straight at home — was a solid start in ACC play, there’s still a long road to travel in one of college basketball’s premier conferences.
“It’s only one. It’s a very important one. You’d like to get off to a good start, but it’s only one of 18 [conference games],” Larrañaga said. “We’ll have to put this one quickly behind us and get ready for the next one. … They’re really great in the open court and scoring off of turnovers and the last time out, we had 20-something turnovers. Tonight, we only had eight. We took care of the basketball and did not make miscues that did not lead to their fast-break layups and dunks.”
NC State, which entered the game riding a six-game win streak, struggled from the field early — and Miami (11-2, 1-0) capitalized. While the Wolfpack (11-3, 0-1) missed open layups, jumpers and had three shots that didn’t even hit the rim in the first half, the Hurricanes had four players finish in double figures.
Junior Ja’Quan Newton led the way with 21 points, while Reed had 20. Brown, who has already earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors this season, finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. It’s the sixth time this season the freshman has pulled down at least eight boards, while teammate Kamari Murphy had 11 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Though midway through the first half the NC State shots began to fall during a 14-6 run that tied the game at 24, Miami needed little time to regain control.
Reed, who entered Saturday’s game having hit 14 shots from 3-point range in Miami’s previous four games, connected from beyond the arc to end NC State’s run. After that, Miami outscored NC State 17-8 in the half ’s final minutes to build a 41-32 lead with Reed and Newton combining for 27 points.
The second half was more of the same, with Miami outrebounding the Wolfpack 22-14 in the latter period and forcing NC State into nine turnovers.
Dennis Smith Jr. had a team-high 16 points for the NC State, but there was little he could do alone, with the Hurricanes holding the rest of the Wolfpack’s lineup to single figures.
Considering how young the Hurricanes are — they have four freshmen logging minutes — it was a performance that should give Miami confidence as it prepares for its first conference road game at Syracuse on Wednesday.
“I’m so impressed with this team’s maturity and poise,” Reed said.
’Canes add Waardenburg
Ahead of its conference opener, UM announced forward Sam Waardenburg had signed a grant-in-aid agreement and was joining Miami’s roster.
The 6-foot-9, 205-pound Waardenburg is eligible to play immediately, though the Hurricanes intend to redshirt him. Waardenburg, who hails from New Zealand and has represented his country in multiple international tournaments, rounds out a four-player signing class for Larrañaga that includes three ESPN Top 100 players in guard Chris
Lykes, guard Lonnie Walker and forward Deng Gak.