Though the student section was vacant for the Thanksgiving holiday, Miami men’s basketball was certainly alive as it coasted to a 79-56 victory over the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers on Wednesday night at the Watsco Center.
After previously suffering a tough loss to Maryland in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament championship game on Sunday, the ‘Canes improved to 5-1 on the season, powered primarily by the impressive work of their transfer players.
Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack scored 23 points, which was the most by a Hurricane this season. Pack made 9 of his 13 field goal attempts, including 3 of 6 shots from beyond the arc.
“My teammates found me and gave me opportunities, and my coaches have been instilling a lot of confidence in me the past few days,” Pack said.
Norchad Omier, a transfer forward from Arkansas State, had a solid performance as well. The former Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year recorded his third double-double of the season, posting 13 points and 10 rebounds, along with four steals, one block and two assists.
“We needed a loss early to show we’re not perfect, and we’re obviously beatable,” Pack said. “It stings when you lose, but we learned stuff from that game. Now we have ACC play coming up soon and I’d rather take the loss early than later.”
Other Hurricanes also played well against St. Francis Brooklyn. Fourth-year junior guard Isaiah Wong recorded 10 points, six rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks.
Miami’s bench played well on the defensive side of the ball, and several freshmen received playing time, including AJ Casey, Danilo Jovanovich, Christian Watson and Favour Aire, who had one of several slam dunks in the game.
“I go out there, play the role I’m supposed to, and show coach he can trust me and that’s my main focus right now,” Casey said.
Miami initially got off to a slow start against the Terriers. The ‘Canes failed to score a single field goal in the first four minutes of the game, while St. Francis Brooklyn took an eight-point lead at the five-minute mark with nine unanswered points.
“Not having a normal crowd because of Thanksgiving break, coach told us we had to bring our own energy,” Pack said. “I thought we came out a little dead, but were able to pick that up pretty quickly. Our defense picked up, we got stops and scored in transition and that got us rolling.”
In the second half, Miami dominated the Terriers on its way to a resounding win. Pack had picked up two fouls in the first half, but came back strong in the second, helping Miami widen the gap to double digits with his 23-point performance.
“We had to stick together in hard times; we bounced back and won by 25,” Omier said.
St. Francis Brooklyn’s Tedrick Wilcox Jr. led the team in scoring with 18 points, 15 of which came from 3-point shots.
Miami’s next matchup will be in Orlando on Sunday, as the Canes take on UCF at Addition Financial Arena at 5 p.m. before heading back to Coral Gables to face Rutgers for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Nov. 30 at 7:15 p.m.