Defense comes through in ACC opener
Canes shut down high-scoring offffffffffffense against Wolfpack.
CORAL GABLES — They had similar resumes before Saturday.
B o t h h a d d oubl e - d i g i t wins and two losses, with the defeats Thanksgiving week. North Carolina State fell to then-No. 20 Creighton and Illinois. Miami lost to then-No. 21 Iowa State and Florida.
Entering 2017, only one has an ACC win.
In the conference opener, the Hurricanes (11-2) used t heir l ong, l e an, at hl et i c defense to shut down one of the nation’s top offffffffffffenses. Miami routed the Wolfpack
63 at the Watsco Center on Saturday, holding them to a season low in points. Their previous low was 67.
A locked-in Ja’Quan Newton (21 points), steady Davon Reed (20), and freshman standout Bruce Brown (17 points, eight rebounds, four assists) provided most of Miami’s scoring. Forward Kamari Murphy added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“I’ve been so impressed with this team’s maturity and our poise,” Reed said. “Just coming ready to play. Our approach has been great.” North Carolina State (11which entered shooting 49.4 percent (third in the ACC), had fifive starters averaging in double fifigures. But only freshman guard Dennis Smith 21 points) and rugged forward Abdul-Malik Abu (11 points, nine rebounds) reached that mark Saturday.
The Wolfpack were tied for 24th nationally in scoring, at 84.6 per game. Miami held them without a point for a six-minute stretch midway through the second half.
“That was an outstanding performance from us defensively, from start to fifinish,” coach Jim Larranaga said.
One of the major reasons: UM cleaned up misses on both ends. Its 41-33 rebounding edge included 17-13 offffffffffffensively. It also kept its turnover number low (eight) and scored 17 points offff N. C. State’s 15 miscues. Miami, smaller than the Pack, used its guards to outscore N.C. State 40-16 in the paint.
Miami, which has won seven in a row, has allowed one opponent to score 70 p o i n t s ( I owa S t a t e ) a n d entered ranked No. 21 in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive effifficiency ratings.
After a 3-of-17 start, the Wolfpack hit 6 of 9, with three 3s, to tie it at 24 on a Smith layup with 7:32 left in the fifirst half. But Miami went on a 14-4 run and led 41-32 at the halftime. Newton had 15 points at the break, Reed had 12.
“It’s one of 18,” Reed said of the ACC opener. “We’ve got many more. There are many times in this league you can win two in a row, lose two, three in a row. It’s a grind. We’ll be happy with this one now and get back to work.”