New-look Miami Hurricanes begin season of optimism with double-digit win against Canisius
The Miami Hurricanes, for the first time in years, are optimistic about how this season could go. They’re deeper than they’ve been in years, have more top-end talent than they’ve had in years and are now far out from under the cloud of an FBI investigation, which hampered recruiting and roster construction for years.
It’s far too early to know whether its optimism is founded, but Miami at least survived its first test of the season Tuesday, beating the Canisius Golden Griffins, 77-67, to open the season in Coral Gables.
“It’s great to start the season with a win,” guard Kameron McGusty said. “We’re starting 1-0.”
While it wasn’t always convincing, the Hurricanes (1-0) pulled away in the second half and led by at least 10 for all but eight seconds of the final 10:44 to keep the 3,234 at the Watsco Center crowd at ease. Miami’s new-look starting lineup — featuring two transfers and another player who missed all of last season with an injury — combined for 55 points, with guards Charlie Moore and Kameron McGusty, and forward Sam Waardenburg all cracking double figures. The Hurricanes even went nine deep after they mostly was stuck with a seven-man rotation throughout Atlantic Coast Conference play last year.
McGusty led all scorers with 20 and notched a double-double with 10 rebounds, while Moore chipped in 13 and Waardenburg added 10. Off the bench, forward Anthony Walker scored 14 points and center Rodney Miller Jr. had eight. Miami won its opener despite getting just seven points from Isaiah Wong, who led the ACC in scoring last year and averaged more than 17 points per game.
“We’re the sum of our parts,” Walker said.
The question of whether the Hurricanes will end their three-year NCAA Tournament drought was never going to be answered Tuesday. The first day of the season was, however, the first real chance for coach Jim Larranaga to start figuring out how he can craft these parts — the deepest collection he has had since at least 2018 — to get them back there.
A different-looking Miami lineup
He started four guards around Waardenburg, his floor-spacing forward. He used nine players in the first half and had eight players log at least 12 minutes. Miami raced out to a 30-11 lead in the first half before letting Canisius (0-1) hang around with too-inconsistent offense, too many missed free throws and some expected defensive lapses.
After a layup by McGusty pushed the Hurricanes out to a 30-11 lead with 5:42 left in the first half, Miami went scoreless for the next 3:27 as the Golden Eagles chipped away and trimmed the Hurricanes’ lead to 30-27 before Miami rebuilt a 37-31 edge at the half.
McGusty went into halftime with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting to carry Miami as Wong went just 3 of 9 for six points in the first half. The star shooting guard finished 3 of 11 from the field.
“Isaiah did not have a huge night, but he’s going to have a lot of huge games,” Larranaga said. “He was just a little out of control.”
At the heart of whatever postseason hopes the Hurricanes have are these two guards. Both tested the NBA draft waters last year before ultimately deciding to return to South Florida to try to build their draft stock and finally prove they could guide a Tournament team. Last year, they combined to average 30.4 points per game, but the Hurricanes had the third worst scoring offense in the ACC with 66.4 points per game. This year, Miami believes it has outfitted them with an better supporting cast.
Moore and Jordan Miller, a pair of transfers, start alongside Wong and McGusty in a four-guard backcourt, and Waardenburg, who missed all of last season with a foot injury, rounds out the lineup as a nontraditional center.
The Hurricanes will sacrifice some defense and rebounding with its 6-foot-10, 225-pound redshirt senior as the only player taller than 6-7 in the lineup, but the tradeoff is a potentially high-octane offense. Although the offensive explosion wasn’t totally there Tuesday, the Hurricanes made up for it by outrebounding the Golden Griffins, 42-31, and holding them to 41.2-percent shooting.
A deeper Miami team
Winning with defense was a positive development because this team already believes in its offense.
Wong gives Miami an NBA-caliber engine, who can create his own shot and led the ACC in scoring last year. McGusty is a dynamite No. 2, who can score in bunches with or without Wong on the court. Moore, who transferred from the DePaul Blue Demons, is a true point guard, who led the Big East Conference in assists two years ago. Miller, who transferred from the George Mason Patriots, was an all-Atlantic 10 Conference last season. Waardenburg contributes to the offensive machine, too — when he was a freshman, he shot 43.8 percent from three-point range.
With those five, the Hurricanes have a promising foundation, but, perhaps more importantly, Larranaga has trust in more than just those five.
“What I was most pleased about was the bench really helped us out, as well,” Larranaga said. “If we can get our depth to be pretty productive, that’d be a real step in the right direction.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 9:37 PM.
