All five starters reached double figures for the University of Miami basketball team Friday night at the Watsco Center, as Jim Larrañaga began his eighth season at the helm with the Hurricanes topping Lehigh, 83-62.
Sophomore guard Chris Lykes capped off the season opener with a career-high 22 points, converting on a career-high eight free-throws and tying a career high with four 3-pointers.
Stuffing the stat sheet senior guard Anthony Lawrence II picked up his third career double-double, notching 19 points and a team-high 12 rebounds, while blocking a trio of shots, dishing out a pair of assists and recording a team-high three steals.
Also chipping in on the offensive end, junior guard Dejan Vasiljevic finished the night with 16 points, sophomore forward Sam Waardenburg scored 11 and senior center Ebuka Izundu capped off the night with 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
Trailing 2-0 in the opening minute, Lawrence knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Canes a lead they would not look back on. Moments later, off of a block by Lawrence, sophomore guard Lykes found himself on the fast break before knocking down Miami's second three of the night.
Overall, the Canes went on a 16-3 run following the opening basket by the Mountain Hawks, to jump in front 16-5, with 16:09 to play in the half.
Leading 25-16, Lykes nearly ripped the roof off the building with a cross-over move that sent his defender to the floor. The Mitchellville, Md., native followed up the ankle-breaking move with a three to place the Canes up 12. Momentum continued to swing in favor of Miami as sophomore forward Sam Waardenburg finished back-to-back end ones to give Miami its largest lead of the half, 34-16.
Following the run, both teams got cold to close out the half, combining to shoot 2-of-26 from the field. Despite the offensive struggles, the Hurricanes continued to wreak havoc on the defensive front closing out the half with a combined six blocks, while also holding the Mountain Hawks to shoot 23.2-percent (7-of-30) from the field, as they took a 12-point, 38-26, lead into the break.
Shooting 1-of-3 from 3-point range in the opening frame, Vasiljevic came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, knocking down back-to-back threes and a pair of free-throws scoring eight of the Canes first 10 points of the period.
Following the offensive explosion, Lehigh began to claw its way back into the contest, cutting the Miami lead to as little as six points, 53-47, with 12:24 to play.
The Canes quickly returned to a double-digit lead after a sequence of events, beginning with a 3-pointer by Lykes with 10:48 to go. Moments later, Lawrence took advantage of a bad pass, which led to a pair of free-throws for Lykes on the opposite end, before Lykes returned the favor by sending Lawrence a beautiful up-court pass, as the senior finished the lay-up to secure his double-double performance.
Miami went on to take its largest lead of the game with 1:26 remaining, when Lawrence drained his fourth three of the night to give the Canes a 24-point advantage, 83-59.
Posted by: Go Canes!! | November 10, 2018 at 11:27 PM
Miami NEEDS 3 coaches: OC, ST & OL. So 3 coaches have to go. 1 QBs, 2 OL, so either Brown, Dugans or Hartley has to go, or maybe 1 of Banda or Rumph since they are redundant.
Posted by: His Majesty The Dude on High | November 10, 2018 at 11:43 PM
TD no way Dugans or Hartley go imo, they’re way too important for recruiting.
Searels should be out tomorrow, Jr right after. The rest I’ll leave to CMR since his job is riding on it.
Posted by: Go Canes!! | November 10, 2018 at 11:50 PM
Brown should probably be gone also, but then someone has to pick up the slack at RB, perhaps Hartley or Dugans could double up positions. Probably Hartley since that would put him at about 10 scholarships to manage.
Posted by: His Majesty The Dude on High | November 10, 2018 at 11:54 PM
Canes suck. We are a historical footnote. Nothing more. Get used to it. Doesn’t matter and don’t give a fuk who is the coach moving forward.
Posted by: BEERicane | November 10, 2018 at 11:55 PM
We havent won anything of note in HD. Our grainy 2000s highlights must look like Notre Dame's black and white glory days.
Posted by: His Majesty The Dude on High | November 10, 2018 at 11:57 PM
NDs glory days are a current factor. Us not so much
Posted by: BEERicane | November 10, 2018 at 11:59 PM
It’s sad but we will end this year on a 6 game losing streak and are going to get crushed by UF to open next year!
UNLESS huge changes are made and as long as loser richt is our HC I don’t think it matters what changes are made - they won’t be enough until he goes!
Posted by: AeroCane | November 11, 2018 at 12:03 AM
By the way Butch ain't walking thru Dem doors, so quit worrying about it. Give the Butch stuff a rest. Hell he's 67 or 68 yrs. Old. That was then, this is now. He couldn't save us no more than Richt has. We need to dump the pro style and let's get with the times before we are the last ones to the party.
Posted by: Herbieibis | November 11, 2018 at 12:05 AM
You all are crazy if you think there are going to be changes in the staff. Nothing will happen in the off-season. Maybe in 2020 or 2021, butnot now.
The only changes we see in the offseason will be the 20-39 transfers that take place
Posted by: TonyCane | November 11, 2018 at 12:07 AM
the new words to the old song we sang at the ob we will rock you are we will we will su uck su uck..we will we will su uck su uck
Posted by: mi@mic@ne | November 11, 2018 at 12:15 AM
Miami is a basketball score.
Posted by: Rex | November 11, 2018 at 12:36 AM
Miami is a basketball school
Posted by: Rex | November 11, 2018 at 12:37 AM
New Blog is up!
Posted by: 86Cane | November 11, 2018 at 12:40 AM