The Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team behind the shadows of the college football’s team success have begun their season.
Hurricanes moved to 2-0 after a convincing 89-55 win over the Navy Midshipmen. Sophomore and Miami native Dewan Huell had his first career double 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Hurricanes. D.J. Vasilvejic scored 16 points to lead five players in double figures as the No. 12 Hurricanes beat Navy 89-55 on Sunday. This was the Hurricanes first win over the Midshipmen.
“The two things I was most concerned about coming into the season was defending and rebounding, we’ve done a good job.” Coach Jim Larranaga stated. “We need team rebounding.”
“The U” never trailed in the game. At one point there were up by as many as 20 points in the first half and Miami had five players in double figures in scoring for the second straight game.
Larranaga shared red-shirt forward Sam Waardenburg, who has missed the first two games because of an undisclosed injury, should make his debut against Florida A&M Thursday. Waardenburg, a 6-foot-10 forward from New Zealand, missed the 2016-17 season.
There is a buzz on campus for two new players on campus. Guards Chris Lykes and Lonnie Walker IV who by the way has cool Bart Simpson like hair. Lykes ranked 45 in ESPN Top 100 recruits for 2017. Walker is a 2017 McDonald’s All-American.
“They are both dynamic athletics and they both can really shoot. What they have to learn is we are not going make them faster or jump higher. “Larranaga stated. “They have to learn our system and make good decisions on both ends of the court.”
Lykes played 17 minutes was 3 of 5 shooting and eight points. Walker matched the eight points in 24 minutes of play.
The Midshipmen arrived in Miami Saturday afternoon and had a shoot-around session at the Watsco Center shortly thereafter. Did Fatigue hurt the Midshipmen?
“Tough turnaround but there’s no excuse,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “We didn’t handle the ball we didn’t do the things we needed to do to be successful.”
Miami has won 29 of its last 31 games at the Watsco Center. The beat goes on as the Hurricanes end their season-starting three-game homestand against Florida A&M on Thursday.