Jim Larranaga credits Bensley Joseph stepping into starting lineup
Miami guard Bensley Joseph is used to coming off of the bench for the Hurricanes, but made his first start of his collegiate career on Saturday against St. Francis. Hurricanes head coach Jim Larranaga explains why Joseph got the start and evaluated his performance.
“Well Nijel Pack was under the weather so he didn’t practice yesterday or dress today, we’re hoping he’ll feel better tomorrow,” Larranaga said. “But Bensley stepped in, he got himself in a little bit of foul trouble which was a tremendous concern of mine.”
Joseph made the most of his opportunity in the starting lineup, logging career highs in points and rebounds with 14 and seven. He also tied his career high in assists with six and three-pointers made knocking down four shots from beyond the arc.
“But he battled the foul situations, made several key three-point shots, and then shared the ball very well, and defended very well,” Larranaga said. “We changed and put Isaiah Wong on more in the second half to keep Bensley out of foul trouble and Isaiah did a great job at both ends of the court.”
Wong ended the game as Miami’s leading scorer with 22 points, but Joseph is still a valuable piece to the Hurricane’s success. Despite normally coming off of the bench, he still averages the fifth most minutes on the Hurricanes squad and has the second-highest three-point shooting percentage on the team.
Pack is likely to return to the starting lineup when he’s healthy, but it will be interesting to see if Joseph has an increased role moving forward following his strong showing in the starting lineup.
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Ahead of their Tuesday night matchup on the court, Miami basketball players paid tribute to recent tragic shooting at Virginia. The players took the court with their warm-up shirts bearing the player numbers of Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry — the three players killed during a shooting on the Virginia campus earlier this season.
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“Miami Hurricanes Stand With UVA,” read the front of the shirts, with “UVA Strong” written on the back with the Cavaliers logo.
The tragic death of Davis, Chandler and Perry recently rocked Virginia and the sports world in November, and multiple football programs around the nation paid tributes of their own with stickers on their helmets and the like.
Miami’s show of support for their ACC rival is definitely a touching act to see, showing that the thoughts of Miami’s players and fans are still with Virginia during this difficult time.
On the court, the Tuesday night conference showdown is a hotly competitive one with No. 6 Virginia taking on No. 22 Miami in their gym. Both teams come into the game without a conference loss, and one loss on the season each. Virginia is coming off their first loss of the season to No. 3 Houston over the weekend, looking to rally and continue their early dominance on the year.