Ibis vs. Osprey: 'Canes Hoops Wins Battle of the Birds 94-56

After a blowout win over the Western Carolina Catamounts, the 'Canes set their basketball fury on the North Florida Ospreys, hoping to vault to 2-0 on the young season. Dressed in elfin green, it was difficult to see anything less than a lopsided win for Miami Hurricanes basketball - and that's exactly what happened.

Early on it was Miami opening a 21-13 lead, with accurate sharpshooting from downtown by Davon Reed and Anthony Lawrence, some solid work by Kamari Murphy and some good passing from Ja'Quan Newton. While Newton is an explosive scorer, it's going to be his ability to pass and get his teammates involved if the 'Canes are going to compete for a spot in the upper half of the ACC.

North Florida hung in there, bolstered by a decent home crowd at the UNF Arena, but it was evident that the size and athletic advantage was easily in Miami's favor. Bruce Brown proved that by grabbing a steal and scoring on an explosive drive on the other end. Reed continued his torrid pace and hit his 3rd three-ball of the game off the dribble and the 'Canes opened up a 10-point lead late in the first half. And they weren't done piling it on.

Frosh center Rodney Miller got into the action with a put-back off a Lawrence three-ball, and the 'Canes were putting together a nice run with an assortment of runners, layups and 3's. Dejan Vasiljevic got into the action with a pair of bombs and going into the locker room, the 'Canes commanded a dominating 48-20 lead.

In the second stanza it was MOTS - MORE OF THE SAME. The 'Canes extended the lead to over 30-points. The Osprey's hit a couple of threes, but there was no question as to the result of the game. Newton continued his stellar play, slicing to the rim for floaters and layups - and finding his mates for easy shots.

With 12 minutes left, the 'Canes had stacked a 67-27 lead and UNF fans were probably hoping for the mercy rule to go into effect. When all was said and done, the 'Canes claimed an impressive 94-56 win.

The Good: The 'Canes treated a fairly solid team as a cupcake with double chocolate frosting!

The Bad: There was some heavy offensive slop early in the first half that got cleaned up in a hurry.

The Ugly: Some of the shots North Florida had to take due to Miami's great defense. There was one sequence where Bruce Brown followed an Osprey around until he threw the ball off the top of the backboard. Good times.

Miami

starters	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
K. MurphyF	--	3-6	0-0	2-2	3	6	9	1	0	0	3	2	8
A. Lawrence Jr.F	--	4-8	1-3	1-2	1	4	5	2	1	1	4	1	10
E. IzunduC	--	2-2	0-0	0-0	3	1	4	0	0	0	0	1	4
D. ReedG	--	6-11	3-6	2-3	0	3	3	2	2	0	3	2	17
J. NewtonG	--	7-10	0-1	2-2	0	3	3	7	3	0	0	3	16
bench	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
D. HuellF	--	6-9	0-0	3-3	3	5	8	0	0	1	0	4	15
C. StowellF	--	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
R. MillerC	--	2-2	0-0	0-0	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	2	4
M. RobinsonG	--	0-2	0-2	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. VasiljevicG	--	4-10	3-6	2-2	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	3	13
B. BrownG	--	3-7	0-1	1-2	2	4	6	2	2	0	0	1	7
TEAM		37-68	7-20	13-16	15	31	46	14	9	2	10	19	94
		54.4%	35.0%	81.3%

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North Florida