Statement Made: Team Effort

Kartik Krishnaiyer/Canes Rising Staff

The Hurricanes entered a must win game at the Bank United Center in woeful shape. Three straight close losses two of them in overtime had the team reeling. Additionally, losing to inferior teams like NC State and Maryland are potential killers come tournament selection time. The reality of dropping games to both of those teams is that Miami needed to win at least one of the three game set coming up against Top 10 teams nationally, and may need to win two of them.

That left little margin for error entering tonight’s contest. Well the Canes responded with their best effort of the season and quite possibly their best effort in several years. It was a team effort which propelled the Canes back into the NCAA discussion after a resounding 79-52 win.

• Adrian Thomas was huge. Not just shooting but also in moving off the ball and making some great defensive stops. This point cannot be overstated: Thomas has kept Miami’s season alive with his amazing play coming back from two horrible injuries which had kept him out of action for all but three games in 06-07 and 07-08. I was quoted several months ago when Kenny Boynton signed with Florida as saying Broward County does not produce good Basketball players anymore, but AT is proving me wrong.
• Cyrus McGowan and Jimmy Graham provided amazing energy in the paint keeping plays alive and playing good defense. McGowan provided a spark for the first time in a while.
• Jack McClinton may be a wonderful shooter but he needs to settle down. At issue with me is the three he popped after a steal on an inbounds pass. Leading by double digits you NEVER do that.
• I liked DeQuan Jones handling the ball in transition. He still looks a little shaky passing the ball, but has the athleticism that the Canes on the whole lack. He’s a potential game changer against better teams like Wake and UNC.
• Despite not scoring a whole lot inside early, Dwayne Collins was effective setting up the outside game by holding down the paint in the second half. Foul trouble plagued DC for the first time in a while tonight.
• Obviously Frank Haith had a conversation with Lance Hurdle about playing too fast and out of control. A few times tonight he made mistakes in transition but also several times wisely held up or passed the ball to keep a possession alive.