Miami Hurricanes make short work of overmatched Quinnipiac, 80-52
After a sluggish first half the Miami Hurricanes dominated the final 20 minutes and defeated Quinnipiac, 80-52, Saturday afternoon at the Watsco Center.
The Canes led at halftime by only five points, 29-24, but never trailed in the game after an early 10-8 Bobcats lead. Miami scored the first 10 points of the second half, including a DJ Vasjevic three-pointer and layup, and never looked back. With 7:50 to play the lead was 20, 57-37.
“At halftime I was very, very concerned,” coach Jim Larranaga said. “We weren’t shooting the ball very well.
“(In the second half) we got a bunch of stops, then caught fire from there making 11 out of 15 in the second half. … very, very happy with the overall team effort. Played nine games, they all scored. Ended up with a very nice home win.”
Redshirt junior guard Kameron McGusty led Miami's (3-1, 0-1 ACC) scoring attack with 22 points on seven of 11 shooting.
After sitting out last year following a transfer McGusty said today that "I see improvement in a little bit of everything - my conditioning, my decision-making is better. Just overall I'm a lot better player."
UM had three other double-digit scorers - Vasiljevic (13 points, four of 11 shooting and a team high 10 rebounds), Chris Lykes (12 points, five of 12 shooting) and Harlond Beverly (10 points on four of 13 shooting).
"The second half I told the guys we were playing too tense, were not having fun," Vasiljevic said. "I think that's when everyone started to relax, make shots."
The Bobcats shot just 31.7 percent for the game, making five of 30 three-pointers.
“For stretches of the game I was proud of the effort we had, the way we were able to execute,” Quinnipiac coach Baker Dunleavy said. “Because of how good they are, how well coached they are, you’re just not going to be at your best for 40 minutes.”
Miami hit on 41.7 percent from the floor and 12 of 26 threes. The Canes also held a 45-41 rebounding edge and UM turned the ball over nine times and had five blocks and six steals.
"This was the first game where we won the rebound battle," Larranaga said.
The Hurricanes now travel to Charleston, S.C., where they begin play in the Charleston Classic Nov. 21 at 11:30 a.m. against Missouri State at TD Arena, live on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
MIAMI HURRICANES POSTGAME NOTES
- The Hurricanes are now 2-0 all-time against Quinnipiac, including 2-0 at home and 1-0 in Larrañaga’s tenure.
- Larrañaga, who entered the evening with the 10th-most victories of any active Division I coach, is now 648-432 in 36 years as a head coach, including 178-98 in nine seasons at Miami.
- For the fourth time in as many games this season, Miami used a starting lineup of Lykes, McGusty, Vasiljevic, redshirt junior center Rodney Miller, Jr., and redshirt junior forward Sam Waardenburg.
- Since joining the ACC prior to the 2004-05 season, the only time Miami hade more made 3-pointers in a half than it did in the second half against the Bobcats was Nov. 16, 2009, when it went 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) in the first half versus Nova Southeastern.
- Miami’s 73.3 percent mark from 3-point range after the intermission was its second-best in a half with 10-plus makes since joining the ACC, as well as its top mark in non-conference play, trailing only the 90.9 percent (10-of-11) clip at Wake Forest on Jan. 29, 2005.
- The last time the Hurricanes held an opponent under 20 percent from 3-point range was Feb. 13, 2019, when Clemson went 3-of-19 for a 15.8 percent clip.
- Miami last held an opponent to five or fewer 3-point makes was also in the Feb. 13, 2019 victory over the Tigers.
- The Hurricanes’ 51 points in the second half were their most in a session since logging 53 in the first half of the first game of last season, Nov. 13, 2018, against Stephen F. Austin.
- Quinnipiac posted the lowest point total by a Miami opponent since Notre Dame notched 47 points on Feb. 6, 2019.
- Nine different Hurricanes scored four-plus points and logged a made field goal.
- McGusty notched 20-plus points for the seventh time in his career and reached double figures for the 31st time.
- Beverly scored in double digits for the third straight game after notching nine points in his collegiate debut.
- Vasiljevic amassed the 45th double-figure scoring output of his career, as well as his second 10-rebound performance.
- Lykes scored in double digits for the fourth time in as many contests this season and for the 47th time in his career.
- Freshman guard Filippos Gkogkos made his Miami debut, while junior guard Willie Herenton saw his first action of the season.