Coming into this game, both the Miami Hurricanes and the Illinois Fighting Illini had undefeated records so therefore, someone was leaving the BankUnited Center with a blemish in the loss column. Luckily for Miami Hurricane fans, that team was Illinois after a 70-61 ‘Canes win, behind a career-high 19-point, 8-rebound performance by Deandre Burnett.
The first half was a great one for the Miami Hurricanes. The Canes held the Fighting Illini to 24 first-half points on 25% shooting. The Illini came into this game leading the Big-Ten in points per game at over 90 a game and the Canes made sure to get them out of rhythm early. The only player that got it going for Illinois in the first half was Rayvonte Rice and he led the Illini with 11 first half points on 4-for-8 shooting.
For the Canes, it was Carol City’s own Deandre Burnett who came up with 12 big first-half points to give the Hurricanes a 13-point lead heading into the break. Burnett looked for his shot early and you could just tell that he was feeling it after his first made jump shot.
The Canes also got 21 points combined from Manu Lecomte, Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan to jump out to the early lead.
Despite an impressive first half by the Hurricanes, the Fighting Illini crushed the Canes on the offensive glass in the first half, gathering up 8 offensive rebounds. 10 of the first 15 points for Illinois came off second chance points.
The second half got a lot more interesting and the high-powered offenses that we came to see, were finally on display.
It’s usually the Hurricanes who come out of the break with the hot hand, but there was a role reversal in this one and it was the Canes who got punched in the mouth to start the half. Illinois jumped out to a quick 10-run to cut Miami’s lead down to three before Lecomte, who finished with 14 points, knocked down a huge three to end the run almost four minutes into the second half.
The Illini came as close as two after a Kendrick Nunn layup with a little under 10 to play. But like they have all season, Miami answered with a 7-0 run of their own which was highlighted by an Omar Sherman three-pointer and a nice pass by Sherman to a cutting McCllelan for an easy slam.
McClellan had 14 points for the Canes and was one rebound shy of a double-double.
Once the Canes got the lead, they let their go-to guy (at least for the night) go to work. And that was Deandre Burnett. Coming into this game, Burnett had played in three games and had scored a combined 21 points. He had 19 on Tuesday to lead all Canes scorers in the win. We knew Burnett is lighting in a bottle and can erupt for 20 points any given night and Miami is glad that he did that tonight.
Tonye Jekiri was also huge for the Canes in this one controlling the paint and bounced back nicely with 6 points and 9 rebounds after picking up two early first-half fouls.
The Illini fought back, but the Canes found a way to win and held an explosive offense to just 61 points, which is a good sign for this team. The Hurricanes also cleaned up their rebounding issues in the first half and evened out the rebounding battle at 44.
With a lot of bad going on other sports *cough* football *cough*, the Hurricanes basketball team is giving Miami a lot to cheer about and with this win they improve to 8-0 on the season.
The Hurricanes go for win number 9 on Saturday at The BUC against Green Bay.