Miami crushes Fairleigh Dickinson 113-72 in hoops season opener

From tipoff to the final horn, it was complete dominance from the Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team in their season-opening 113-72 win over Fairleigh Dickinson Monday night at the Watsco Center. 

Thanks to a hot shooting performance where Miami head coach Jim Larranaga’s squad shot 71 percent from the field in the first half and 62.9 percent in the entire matchup, the Hurricanes proved to be too much for the Knights.

“In our preparation for this game tonight, we told the team that they were 15th in the country in tempo, meaning it was going to be a race,” Larranaga said. “And if they outran us they would win and if we outran them we’d win. Fortunately for us, we ran very well, very efficiently, and we shared the ball very well. Had a hard time stopping them though. They shot 50 percent in the first half and 46 from three, so it wasn’t like our defense was lockdown. We just kept scoring at a high rate.”  

After overhauling the roster this offseason, Miami’s first starting lineup of the year featured four transfers as C Lynn Kidd, F Brandon Johnson, G AJ Staton-McCray and G Jalen Blackmon got the starting nods alongside G Nijel Pack. 

Out of the gates, Kidd made his presence felt, scoring 10 of Miami’s first 12 points while shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field as the Hurricanes jumped out to an early 12-3 lead. On the night, Kidd finished the evening with 24 points and nine rebounds while shooting 10-of-11 from the field.

“My teammates were putting me in really good spots to be successful,” Kidd said. “I was just following the game plan. We knew what we were going to expect coming in and we executed it really well tonight.” 

This offseason, Larranaga and Miami’s staff made it clear that they wanted to add size to this year’s roster after losing big man Norchad Omier, and it looks like the 6-foot-10 235-pounder was just what the Canes were looking for. 

“I’m hoping he’ll play like that all year long,” Larranaga said. “He’s not going to get the ball that easily. But he’s very efficient inside and has been all summer and fall. So we’re very pleased with his performance. I like that he rebounded; he had nine rebounds, and that’s really important.”

Last season, another one of Miami’s issues was simply the team’s lack of depth. This year’s team looks like it will have the complete opposite issue with multiple scorers who can find the bottom of the net.

Against the Knights, Miami’s bench chipped in 39 points thanks to the likes of Matthew Cleveland (9 points) who’s is working his way back from injury and sophomore Paul Djobet (4 points and 5 rebounds). It was something Larranaga loves seeing as his new-look team continues to mesh together. 

Behind Kidd’s team-high 24 points, the Hurricanes had three other scorers in double digits, with Pack chipping in 21 points and Blackmon adding 15 points. 

“The bench scored 39 points, and we’ve never had that,” Larranaga said. “You can’t do that unless guys are running fast and you need rest. With Nijel bringing the ball up the court the whole game with pressure, he needs rest so he can play at the top of his game. Those freshmen were able to give those guys some quality rest. Plus we had Matt Cleveland and Paul Djobet off the bench, and those two guys are experienced veterans.”

Ahead of this season, Larranaga mentioned how this year’s freshman class was a bit more advanced than his previous one. On Monday, two members of the 2024 class played significant minutes in the win, with Jalil Bethea and Divine Ugochukwu leading the group as the first freshmen off the bench, just seven minutes into the contest.

In the matchup, all four of Miami’s scholarship freshmen saw the floor, with Ugochukwu leading the group with 15 points followed by Bethea with nine. 

“At first I was kind of nervous,” Ugochukwu said. “But after seeing my first basket go down and being in the game, I calmed down a bit and I felt good.”

After Ugochukwu’s debut, Larranaga had high praise for the former unranked prospect, who the coaches once thought they would redshirt prior to the season. 

“We were going to redshirt him, and he was a guy we thought would be good on the scout team,” Larranaga said. “He has just impressed us, and he just keeps getting better and better. And you saw what he did today. His size, speed, and athletic ability to get the ball to the rim is very good.”

While the Hurricanes got buckets throughout, they looked scrappy on the defensive end of the court, forcing 15 turnovers. 

Miami capitalized on the Knights mistakes throughout the game, scoring 27 points off turnovers. On the boards, the Hurricanes also won the battle 37-22. Despite those efforts, Larranaga understands there is still room for improvement. Up next for Miami, the Hurricanes will host Binghamton on Sunday at 2 PM.

“We ended up forcing 15 turnovers, which is good,” Larranaga said. “But we need to do a better job of recognizing what the opponent is trying to do and making that job difficult.  We’re going to have to identify the opponents’ strengths and try to minimize those.”