In the Zone: Canes romp Loyola 71-48 with Impressive D, Balanced O

The Miami Hurricanes played their most complete game of the season and romped Loyola Md 71-48  this evening at the BUC.

The game was not nearly as close as the score.

In a game Coach Larranaga probably wishes he could bottle up and replicate time and time again for 2014, UM ended this calendar year on a very strong note.

Miami opened the game on a 14-2 run behind the all around game of Davon Reed. When he wasn't swishing open jumpers or getting fouled, he was finding teammates for good looks and causing havoc defensively.

Two three pointers by Eric Laster cut the lead to 3, but UM tightened up their 2-3 zone and completely took over.

Miami's length on the perimeter caused issues for Loyola all night long.

Rion Brown got hot from deep, and James Kelly used his athleticism and deep shooting touch to supplement the D and spark a monster run.

The lead quickly swelled to double figures and eventually the 'Canes doubled up the Greyhounds. During the very efficient stretch Brown also flushed a Grant Hill-esque alley hoop that was as good a finish as you will see.

In another promising development, the 'Canes also got a nice contribution from Tonye Jekiri (6 first half points). Jekiri would finish with 10 points, and has now surpassed his career high in back to back games.

Reed had 5 first half assists and RB and Kelly led the way with 11 points a piece. Brown also soared to 8 big first half boards, as UM would head to to intermission with a commanding 43-20 advantage.

UM shot 60% from the floor in the first half.

In the second half, Miami kept the pressure up on D and pushed the ball inside on O, to complete the rout.

Donnavan Kirk was a presence on the offensive glass with a few nice stick backs in the final 20 minutes.

Brown would hit his 3rd and 4th triples of the game back-to-back to stretch it to 63-30 at the ten minute mark, and that was pretty much that.

The Greyhounds leading scorer Dylon Cormier, who came in averaging 24 ppg, was held in check with just 11 points on 4-12 shooting.

Loyola is certainly not an ACC type team, but they did hang around against UConn earlier this year.  The fact that Miami was able to dismantle them so thoroughly is extremely encouraging.

They may not be the class of the conference this season, but certainly have a much better chance to make some noise, now that the roles seem to be defined and the team has an identity.

Next up: The Canes will test their new found success in the zone, against the master of the 2-3, Jim Boeheim and his #2 ranked Syracuse Orange. (Saturday 1/4/14 2PM EST)

Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: None