Transfers Pack, Omier have big nights as Miami Hurricanes cruise past St. Francis (NY)
The student section at the Watsco Center was nearly empty Wednesday night as Thanksgiving break had already begun at the University of Miami. Not even the pep band was there. But the men’s basketball team showed up to work, rolling over St. Francis of Brooklyn 79-56.
Miami, which was eager to get back to winning after dropping a game on the road against Maryland, improved to 5-1.
Transfers Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier had big nights.
Pack went 9-of-13 and scored a game-high 23 points, despite spending most of the first half on the bench with two fouls. Omier had his third double-double since arriving at UM from Arkansas State. The Nicaraguan power forward scored 15 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had four steals, two assists and a block.
“My teammates found me and gave me opportunities, and my coaches have been instilling a lot of confidence in me the past few days,” said Pack, who transferred to Miami from Kansas State. “I got to see a few go in early and that gave me confidence the rest of the game.”
The Hurricanes learned from the loss to the Terrapins, Pack said.
“We needed a loss early to show we’re not perfect, and we’re obviously beatable,” Pack said. “It stings when you lose, but we learned stuff from that game. Now we have ACC play coming up soon and I’d rather take the loss early than later.”
“We had to stick together in hard times, we bounced back and won by 25,” Omier said.
Isaiah Wong added 10 points, six rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks. By the end of the night, 13 UM players had gotten in the game and 10 of them scored. It would have been 11, but Harlond Beverly’s dunk at the final buzzer didn’t count.
Coach Jim Larranaga said he was pleased with the way the bench played, especially on the defensive end, and was happy to see freshmen Favour Aire, AJ Casey, Danilo Jovanovich, and Christian Watson get minutes.
Aire had a dunk, Watson had a driving layup and made free throws, Casey played well in the first half and second-year freshman Jakai Robinson played strong defense and handled the ball well.
“The coaches trusted in me,” Casey said. “I go out there, play the role I’m supposed to, and shows Coach he can trust me and that’s my main focus right now.”
Larranaga said he told the freshmen the way to get on the court is to defend, rebound and not turn the ball over.
The Hurricanes got off to another sluggish start Wednesday, failed to score a field goal over a four-minute stretch, and the Terriers went on a 9-0 run to take an eight-point lead at the five-minute mark.
“Not having a normal crowd because of Thanksgiving break, Coach told us we had to bring our own energy,” Pack said. “I thought we came out a little dead, but were able to pick that up pretty quickly, our defense picked up, we got stops and scored in transition and that got us rolling.”
Miami held a 27-7 edge over the Terriers in fast break points and 42-22 in points in the paint. “We need fast break points because we’re not a big team,” Larranaga said. “We have to use our speed, and that means open court.”
After trailing early, UM clamped down on defense, found its shot, scored the next eight points, and tied it up 15-15 on a pair of Bensley Joseph free throws. Pack hit back-to-back threes to give Miami the lead and seven consecutive points from Wooga Poplar helped Miami open a 12-point cushion.
Miami outscored St. Francis 31-11 to end the half and headed to the locker room with a 38-26 advantage. Pack had 12 early points but played only nine first-half points after picking up two fouls.
Pack was back for the start of the second half and made a layup within the first minute. Miami widened the gap to 20 with a 10-0 run, capitalizing on steals, fast break points and points off turnovers.
Senior guard Tedrick Wilcox Jr. made five threes and scored a team-high 18 points for St. Francis (2-3), a Northeast Conference school based in Brooklyn, New York.
The Hurricanes head to Orlando this weekend for a Sunday 5 p.m. game against University of Central Florida (4-1) and are back home on Nov. 30 against Rutgers for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.