Miami Hurricanes Basketball: Newton’s Career-High 20 Points Leads Miami Past Charleston

For a college basketball player in today’s game, perhaps the most important part of your career is the jump you make from your freshman to your sophomore year. We are just ten games into the 2015-16 season, but it is safe to say Ja’Quan Newton has made that jump in leaps and bounds in his second season in Coral Gables.

Miami’s backup point guard scored a career-high 20 points and also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds as the Miami Hurricanes improved to 9-1 with an 85-63 victory over College of Charleston.

The game ended with the scoreline heavily tilted towards the Canes, but an average first-half and an extremely sloppy start to the second half got the Hurricanes dangerously close to having to squeak one out late. Luckily for Miami, Newton and Sheldon McClellan got the Hurricanes single-handedly out of their rut.

Whether it was bad decision-making on offense or just some laziness on defense, the Canes just looked sluggish for a huge majority of the game. With the game falling exactly a year to the day from when the Hurricanes were blown out at home by Eastern Kentucky, the nerves seemed to spread throughout the BankUnited Center as the Cougars were able to cut the deficit to 43-40 with 17:03 in the second half. After that though, Miami looked like a different team.

The key was the attack-focused mindset that Newton and McClellan brought to the Canes. While a lot of the team’s points often come from three-pointers, it’s important not to fall in love with the shot especially with the Hurricanes struggling mightily from behind the arc like they did today. With Newton and McClellan driving into the paint at-will, they were able to get easy shots at the free-throw line as well as sink a couple jumpers as the defenders sagged off them.

With those two going off, Miami went on a 36-12 run to pull away from Charleston and finally show what they are capable of as they claimed the victory.

While the scoreline and the victory look nice, it’s important for the Canes to once and for-all learn the lesson about underestimating teams, especially at home. For whatever reason they get off to slow starts against these middle-of-the-pack teams and the result can go either the way of the Northeastern game or the way it went today. If the Hurricanes are serious about making a run in March, they’ve got to learn to eliminate the consistent sluggish starts against these type of teams.

Now I know not every game is going to be a blowout victory, but think about Miami’s first game in March if they make it. As a likely high seed they would be playing a solid mid-major team that won their conference tournament. If the Canes show up like they did in the first 25 minutes of today’s game, they might not have a shot for a big run in the second half.

I know it’s a bit gloom and doom after a 22-point win, but this team shouldn’t be getting into tight games consistently with CAA opponents at home.

Nevertheless, the team has gotten to 9-1 for the second straight year and looks poised to move to 11-1 before ACC play. With the emergence of Ja’Quan Newton who has clearly made a huge jump from last season, the Canes now have at least three big-time scorers that can go off on any night. For any opponent of the Hurricanes, that’s a pretty scary thought.