Miami bounces back after loss to Florida behind strong play from starting five

The Hurricanes used a dominant second half to blow past Elon 99-72 at the Watsco Center, bouncing back from their lone loss of the season and moving to 4-1 in year one under head coach Jai Lucas.

Miami vs Elon game recap

Miami led just 48-41 at halftime. The Hurricanes again struggled from the perimeter and at the line early, starting 4 of 14 from three and 6 of 10 at the stripe in the first 20 minutes. Those misses let Elon hang around, with Miami's lead swinging from as little as one point to as many as 10 before the break.

Everything changed after halftime. Miami finally caught fire from deep, and the game flipped in a hurry. Dante Allen drilled two 3-pointers and Tru Washington added another during an 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 66-41 early in the second half. Elon briefly trimmed the margin to single digits, but the Hurricanes answered with a series of runs to stretch the advantage to 25 and cruise home.

Three Hurricanes finished with 18 or more points: Tre Donaldson with 18 points (6 of 11 from the field with five assists), Washington with 18 (7 of 9 shooting with 10 rebounds and three assists) and Malik Reneau with 19 points. Freshman wing Shelton Henderson had 16 points, while Allen chipped in 14 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.

Miami did all of that without starting center Ernest Udeh Jr., who missed the game with a lower-body injury after opening the season as the team's top rebounder at 9.3 boards per game. In his absence, the Hurricanes still controlled the interior, finishing with a 37-23 edge on the glass and forcing 18 turnovers while committing only 10.

Elon actually shot the ball well, hitting 51% from the field and 10 of 21 from three, but the Phoenix could not overcome their mistakes and Miami's pressure. The Hurricanes shot 54%, 9 of 24 from deep and 16 of 23 at the line.

Thursday continued what has been an encouraging start to the Jai Lucas era. Miami opened the season with blowout wins over Jacksonville, Bethune-Cookman and Stetson before falling 82-68 to No. 10 Florida in Jacksonville, a game where Reneau posted 22 points and 11 rebounds in a losing effort.