Oooh You Know We Need Ya... Right Here Is Where We Need Ya

Welcome back, Lance Hurdle.

After missing the season opener, the Hurricanes' projected starter at point guard made his presence felt in a big way on Friday afternoon as the Hurricanes took down the Golden Eagles , 70 to 60.  Hurdle finished with 13 points in 24 minutes and helped lead the Canes to the semi-final round of the Paradise Jam tournament.  The Canes play the winner of tonight's Connecticut/LaSalle match-up on Sunday night at 6:00 PM EST.  

The senior added explosiveness to a Hurricane squad in need of a spark.  Hurdle had numerous highlight reel plays, including a fast break that saw him blaze through the Golden Eagles' defense by himself and finish with an easy bucket.

"We're a different team with Lance," said Head Coach Frank Haith in a post-game interview.  "We play at a different speed when he's out there."

Hurdle had his typical solid day from the free throw line, missing only one attempt (5 for 6) from the charity stripe and finishing 3-5 from the field, including two three-pointers.  As the buzzer sounded, Hurdle sent the Canes to the locker room up by 12 at half with a crazy-looking three point shot that bounced high off the rim and sailed right back through.

"Lance was outstanding," Haith added. "To be honest, I'm pretty surprised he was able to play this well today without playing in our first few games."

Senior Jack McClinton added 13 points of his own, finishing 3 for 6 from downtown.  He missed a free throw in the second half that saw his streak of 44 consecutive free throws made come to an end.

"What's great is we do it without Jack having to have a monster game, and I think that's the development of this team, getting the other guys involved," Haith said.  "We want to create our own identity, throw different guys at you, and I think we did that today."

The Canes had nine players register points today, including 22 from frontcourt mates Dwayne Collins (14) and Jimmy Graham (8).

Southern Miss was lead by junior Jeremy Wise (21 points) and senior Courtney Beasley (14 points).  R.L. Horton and Andre Stephens both fouled out of the game for the Golden Eagles.

The Canes were slow from downtown early on (starting only 1 for 9), but finished a much more respectable 6-20 (30%) by the game's conclusion.  The Canes struggled with bad shot selection early in the first half, but settled in to finish the game shooting 44% from the field.

Redshirt junior Cyrus McGowan fouled out of the game late in the second half, finishing with four points in 24 minutes.  Graham came in to stabilize the front court after Cyrus' foul-plagued outing.

"I thought Graham had a very good game off the bench," said Haith about his the senior, who added six rebounds and a few strong blocks to his eight point totals.

The Canes will have to play consistently better on both ends of the court to enjoy any type of success if they end up (as expected) playing UConn on Sunday.  The Canes let up too many breaks after bad shot selection early, and played very streaky throughout the game, ending the first half up 12 on a 10-0 run, just after allowing an equally dominant run by the Golden Eagles.  Miami will also have to rebound better (only won the battle on the boards by four - 32-28) if they hope to contain the Huskies' monstrous front court, including 7-3 junior Hasheem Thabeet.      

In the end, however, the Canes got the job done and played well for a good chunk of the game today against a far-from-horrible Southern Miss team.   If they can play with more consistency and get contributions from their bench as they did today, the Canes should stand a good shot of running with the #2 Huskies on Sunday night.  

Let's see what happens as the rest of Day One from the Virgin Islands unfolds.     

I Guess I'll Clean Up My Act Like Prince Would Do

The excitement surrounding the Hurricane Basketball Team's return to action seemed to trump any sort of conclusions to be drawn from the Canes' opening contest against Florida Southern.  Last night's 36-point thrashing definitively had its own positives and negatives, so without further ado:  

The Good:

1) Let's begin with something non-team related.  The student section showing was pretty solid for an opener against a Division II school, remarkably better than last year's.  Way to show up and support the team - I guess those pre-season rankings do help to establish some sort of wake-up call to fans.  Although the student turnout was stronger than the general admission, the rest of the building certainly wasn't empty.

2) Eddie Rios' performance at point guard.  Good might be an understatement here; Rios was probably the most impressive player on the court last night.  He shot 6 for 10 from the field and a perfect 3 for 3 from three-ball range on his way to 17 points.  He also tied for team-high in assists with four, and had only two turnovers in 27 minutes.  Rios was shooting the ball with pure confidence, and did not shy away from any open looks as he tended to last season after the occasional miss.  His passing was spot on, and he had a few drives to the basket that opened the eyes of many, with one unlucky teardrop in particular that still had fans cheering for his newfound ability after the rimout.  While it's too early to say he's turned a page in the figurative book, it's nice to know that, at least for the time being, Canes fans don't anticipate shielding their eyes from the television when Rios is in the game at Cameron Indoor or College Park.  Very encouraging indeed.    

3) When Coach Haith told me Cyrus McGowan was one of the most opportunistic rebounders he'd ever coached, he wasn't kidding.  Cyrus seemed to get a hold of every loose board up for grabs in his time on the court, finishing with 10 rebounds and 7 points in only 15 minutes.  Many expected big Jimmy Graham to continue with his role in the starting line-up, but the 6-9 Arkansas transfer was given the nod instead.  He hit a three-pointer to extend the team's lead to 13 points (23-10) early on in the contest, and provided finishing ability in the paint.  Despite a 50% performance from the free throw line (2-4), Cyrus is another under-the-radar guy to get excited about.

4) Dwayne Collins did not notch any real teabag victims in the team's opener, but he had a few reverse dunks that should have left 7-foot UGa transfer Rashaad Singleton questioning his own desire to live, let alone play basketball.  Dwayne finished with a monster double-double (18, 16) and had only two turnovers, one of which was a patented Dwayne travel early in the first half.  He showed a much improved post-game arsenal, including a turnaround lefty one-hand jumper late in the game that must have had fans in disbelief.  The most impressive of Dwanye's stats: a perfect 6 for 6 from the free throw line.  D.C. is going to have to shoot better than the 50% he did from the stripe last season, and he got started on the right foot last night.

5) Jack McClinton played like we've come to expect.  He finished with 18 points on the night in a team-high 29 minutes, shooting 2-4 from behind the arc and a "to-be-expected" 4-4 from the free throw line.  While his points may not have been as thunderous as Dwayne's or as eye-opening as Eddie's, Jack's output was done in typical Jack fashion.  Other than a few lay-ups, most of Jack's points were notched on his pure shooting ability.  A good showing from the Captain for the most part, but the three turnovers in an already sloppy game didn't help the cause.

The Bad:

1)  Although James Dews started and played over 25 minutes, he registered only five points on 2 for 7 shooting on the night.  It was a little too quiet of a performance from the junior shooting guard, especially considering his overmatched opponents.  Let's see if Dews has to re-earn his starting job over Brian Asbury, who played tremendously in his 21 minutes off the bench (6 for 9, 13 points, 7 rebounds).  Dews didn't drive to the basket particularly hard (as he was forced to last season with no slashers on the team), and the 90% free throw shooter didn't find himself at the line once all night.  Let's hope for a big Paradise Jam from Dews, who used the Puerto Rico tournament as his coming-out party last season.

2) Adrian Thomas' reputation as a defensive stud and three point shooter were not on display last night.  He finished with five points on 2-7 shooting in 12 minutes off the bench, but was foul-plagued (3) in limited action.  Although the team defense was more than impressive, Thomas' individual job was not.  

3)  Although the Canes outrebounded the Moccasins  52-33 on the night, the Canes managed to give up 13 offensive boards down low that ended up in multiple second chance points for the Mocs.  The Canes don't have a man over 6'9'' on the roster, and it showed at times last night.  Opportunistic rebounding will have to happen en masse this year, as it did for most of the time when Big Dwayne and Cyrus were in the paint.

4)  Jimmy Graham's five boards were helpful, but he finished with only two points (and one GIGANTIC swat of the 7-footer Singleton).  He played 17 minutes on the night off the bench, and was not able to create his own offense: he didn't make an appearance at the line all game, and managed only three field goal attempts.  Has he lost his starting job to Cyrus "The Virus" McGowan  (as one devoted student section member described him awkwardly)?  We shall see.

5)  Even when Frank Haith announces that he'll be out and all of the hoopheads on campus know it's going to happen, it still sucks seeing Lance Hurdle in street clothes, doesn't it?  Easily one of the most likable guys on the team, Lance was greeted with cheers from the crowd that he seemed to appreciate.  If he is healthy enough to participate in the Virgin Islands starting on 11/21 - and that's a big if - the team will be better off as a result, even with the strong showing by Rios last night.

The Ugly:

DeQuan Jones first half performance was nothing short of brutal, but it's fair to chalk that one up to opening jitters.  Jones airballed his first two field goal attempts, and, when he finally found his way to the free throw line in the second half, he clanked his first attempt there as well.  He had two turnovers on the night, but when he hit his second free throw and notched his first point as a Hurricane, things went a lot more smoothly.  He had an outrageous alley-oop dunk and nearly shoved Adrian Thomas out of the way to make sure he was the one to slam it down.  He finished with seven points on the night.

To The Students:

Thanks for coming out to the BankUnited Center last night, but if you're not wearing a basketball jersey, just wear orange to the next game for god's sake. The school's "Wear Orange" campaign is hitting the big time and, at least according to the school, the new lanes on either end of the court are now orange in support of the campaign.  The least you can do is just wear orange like the rest of the students and not look like an assclown in your blue or red t-shirt.  Enough bitterness, though. 

Wrap-Up:

The team offense looked significantly more polished than it ever has, as did team defense; you can thank Coach Haith for that one.  The team did, however, commit 14 turnovers and played sloppy early on.  The Canes seemed to get more comfortable with each other as the game progressed, but they're going to have to play a lot better to expect any tangible success (read: championship) in next week's Paradise Jam.