CANES HOLD ON FOR 86-81 ACC VICTORY OVER N.C. STATE
UM beats Wolfpack with 26 assists, 10 3-point baskets.
Miami coach
RALEIGH, N.C. — Jim Larranaga and his staff spent recent practices pushing his players to whip the ball around the perimeter, keep things moving and set up each other for good looks.
The results looked pretty good.
Bruce Brown Jr. scored 19 points and No. 25 Miami shot 58 percent to hold off North Carolina State 86-81 on Sunday, turning in its best offensive output since November.
Larranaga quickly pointed to one stat to explain why: his team’s 26 assists — five more than its previous high — on 34 baskets.
“I wish coaching was that easy, because on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, my coaches kept emphasizing to our players: We need more assists, we need more assists, this is how you get them,” Larranaga said. “And the players listened and executed.”
The Hurricanes (14-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) came in averaging 67.8 points
and shooting 42 percent in five league games, including just 30 percent from 3-point range to rank 14th in the 15-team conference. They blew past those marks Sunday, from shooting 60 per- cent after halftime to making 10 of 19 3s for the game.
“We’re a great catch-and- shoot team,” Brown said. “And we have recently shot a lot of 3s off the dribble or late in the shot clock. But today it was just easy for us: drive, kick, open 3s, one more pass. It was in rhythm.”
The Hurricanes led the entire second half, but strug-
gled to put away the Wolf- pack (13-7, 3-4). They stayed in control by committing just 10 turnovers.
Omer Yurtseven had 28 points for N.C. State, which had a humming-along offense of its own.
The Wolfpack shot 63 percent after halftime and 54 percent for the game, getting as close as one point
midway through the sec- ond half.
Lineup shuffle: Miami gave 5-foot-7 freshman Chris Lykes his first start with fellow rookie Lonnie Walker IV battling a back problem. Lykes had six points and five assists in 22 minutes. Larranaga said Walker’s back tightened up so badly Friday night that he couldn’t bend
enough to touch his knees, keeping him out of Satur- day’s practice and putting his status in question until tipoff. Walker finished with 12 points in 30 minutes.
Big production: Miami’s Anthony Lawrence II and Ebuka Izundu each scored 15 points, with Izundu going 7 for 7 off the bench after managing just 12 points and six made baskets in his previous six games combined.