Don't be misled by the title of this blog entry. The Canes have no huge winning streak going. They haven't managed their way into anybody's Top-10. And after a loss at the hands of #2 Connecticut on Saturday, the Canes were anything but on fire heading into their consolation match against San Diego.
The #21/#22 Canes, however, put a quick end to the bleeding yesterday, thrashing the San Diego Toreros en route to a 80 - 45 win in the consolation match of the Paradise Jam tournament. The win gives the Canes a third-place finish in the tournament and improves Miami's record to 3-1 in their first four games.
When (and if) the Canes finally get their shooting going, teams should be very wary. Even when the Canes' shots are not dropping in overwhelming numbers, Miami has the versatility and capability of simply dominating games. Last night was a prime example of this (against a tournament team, no less).
After a 13-point loss to the Huskies in their second-round matchup, the Canes dropped about five spots in the polls (#21 in one, #22 in another). Miami rebounded from the loss with their most lopsided win since last year's 43-point, 104-61 season opening win over Florida Southern.
The Canes did not need a standout performance from their captain and star senior Jack McClinton to pull this one out. Four players scored in double-figures for the Canes, with McClinton only managing nine points in 27 minutes. Fresh off a 27-point, awe-inspiring performance against Connecticut, McClinton shot only 1-6 from behind the arc and 2-7 overall.
Luckily for Jack, his teammates were there to help him this time - unlike in the previous game, when other than Dwayne Collins (16 points), the rest of the team recorded twenty points total.
One of the questions going into the night was how Frank Haith would divide his team's minutes after a lackluster performance from too many players against Connecticut. Well, no player other than Jack played more than 22 minutes, and every player other than Adrian Thomas got at least 15 minutes on the night. Sure, a lot of that had to do with the score quickly turning into a blowout in the second half (Gamble with as many minutes as Graham?), but Haith was still rotating early and often.
Jimmy Graham recorded his first double double of the season in only fifteen minutes on the court. You read that right. He finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds in his outrageously effective time on the floor, all while coming off the bench. Double-Zero helped pick up a lackluster showing from Dwayne Collins, who started the game off hot but finished with only eight points and four boards.
Lance Hurdle once again started the game on the bench, but came in and finished with 10 points (two three-pointers) in an effective 18 minutes. The star of the night may have been Brian Asbury, who took over the game in the middle of the second half by scoring six straight points and grabbing rebounds in between possessions, finishing with 14 points in only 17 minutes. He was a perfect 6 for 6 from the stripe.
The James Dews watch is still on; the junior's game has been missing all season, and last night was no different. He finished with six points, missed both his three-point attempts, and did not find his way to the free throw stripe for the third time this year. After shooting over 90% from the line last year, Dews has managed only two free throw attempts the whole season.
It might be time to get a little worried about Dews. Although it's only four games into the season, he has been shockingly bad in the early going. He's shooting 31% from the field, 13% from three-point range, and averaging only 5.5 points a game in his starting role. Coach Haith is going to need more than that from his junior shooting guard, who averaged over 10 points a game last year and shot over 40% from the field. No one should be giving up on him just yet, but for a player who was expected to help take over the scoring duties once Jack graduates next year, early returns are not positive whatsoever.
Luckily (as mentioned before), the team's two leading scorers from last year were picked up by the performances of their teammates. Nine Miami players recorded points in the game, and the Canes outrebounded San Diego by a 42- 28 margin on the way to a thorough stomping of a potential tournament team.
Team defense may have been the most encouraging part of the season heading into last night's game, and the trend certainly continued; the Canes held the Toreros to only 32.7% shooting from the field. Miami outscored USD by a scandalous 42 to 15 margin in the second frame.
The Canes did not perform particularly well after losses last season, with six of their L's coming on two three-game losing streaks in the regular season. Luckily they ended the pain quickly this time. USD was led by senior Brandon Johnson (10 points) and Chris Lewis (11 points).
The next two weeks are some of the most important weeks for Canes basketball in some time (excluding March Madness, of course). After a matchup with Stetson on Saturday (11/29), the Canes play Ohio State at home on 12/2 and then travel to Kentucky four days later (12/6).
Both games are ESPN match-ups and potential opportunities for Frank Haith to prove his team is the real deal. Out of any team ranked in the preseason Top 25, Miami had the worst Vegas odds of running the table and winning it all.
Those two games may end up in people laying down their life savings on the Hurricanes as champions, sure, but they also could end up in disaster. The last thing Coach Haith and the Hurricanes need is to lose the support of fans with two losses to surprisingly unranked teams. Two losses and the loss of their ranking would give Miami yet another "us against the world" mentality (which always seems to help athletes thrive at the U), but let's just hope for two wins. This program could really use them.
After all is said and done, the Canes finish with a medal-winning performance in the Paradise Jam. While it would have been nice to play a ranked Wisconsin team in the championship tilt with a shot at gold, bronze isn't bad for a team who had their path to the championship detoured by a monster roadblock named Hasheem Thabeet.
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