Miami Basketball Grills LaSalle in Philly, 95-49

With ACC play just around the corner, the 13th ranked Miami Hurricanes continue to round into form.

Sparked by a balanced attack and some sticky D,  UM dominated LaSalle from the Palestra in Philadelphia, in an easy 95-49 win to improve to 10-1 on the season.

The Hurricanes were scary good.

Early on the Explorers 2-3 zone slowed down the UM offense.

Miami adjusted and got going though and jumped out in front,  thanks to an early three from James Palmer, and a fast break lay in by Ja'Quan Newton.

Newton would score again a possession later, this time in the half court, to extend to a 17-11 lead.

The Philly native would lead the Hurricanes with 8 first half points, as clearly he was comfortable in front of his home town crowd.

And despite 6 quick points from LaSalle's leading scorer Jordan Price,  Miami would extend to a double digit lead as the opening half progressed.

Price would finish the game with just the 6 he scored, essentially all scored in one first half spurt,  as he struggled to find good looks all game.

UM on the other hand, repeatedly dribble drove and either found a big down low for a finish, or kicked out for an open jumper.

The result was a 40-22 lead at the half.

Miami shot 50% from the floor and assisted on 9 of 15 buckets in the opening 20 minutes.  Sheldon McClellan led in the helper category, with 4 of the 9 assists.

McClellan called his own number to start the second stanza though, nailing a three and getting a lay up off a steal, to quickly swell the lead over 20.

In the opening minutes of the final stanza, the Hurricanes swarmed on D to ensure there would be no let down. Similarly to their last contest Vs Charleston, their defense had periods of sheer brilliance.

5 minutes in, the lead was 30 following a Kamari Murphy tip dunk.

The Explorers did not have a single second half FG until the 14 minute mark.

From there, the lead just kept getting bigger and bigger.  Ivan Cruz Uceda and Tonye Jekiri both got loose on the offensive end as the Hurricanes doubled up LaSalle 82-41 with 5 minutes left.

Cruz Uceda finished with a team high 20 off the bench.

The Hurricanes reserves helped finish the resounding victory.

UM certainly has tougher challenges ahead.

But if they continue to play this well, it might not matter.

Watch out ACC.

Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: None

Next Up:  Miami faces Princeton on 12/29 at the BUC (7PM EST) in their final OOC game.