Takeaways from Miami Hoops’ 91-75 Win Over St. Francis PA
With a matchup against top-ranked Virginia on tap for Tuesday, the Hurricanes started slowly against St. Francis (Pa.) but used a big second half to storm past the Red Flash, 91-75.
Guard Isaiah Wong led the Hurricanes with 22 points in addition to a career high 10 assists.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
1. Isaiah Wong is reaching new heights as a playmaker.
Throughout Wong’s career at Miami, he blossomed into one of college basketball’s most prolific scorers.
Now in his fourth season, Wong’s development as a facilitator has grown, and Miami’s offense has reaped the benefits of it.
Wong has averaged eight assists per game over Miami’s last three contests, with the Hurricanes scoring at least 80 points in every game.
2. Bensley Joseph stepped up in Nijel Pack’s absence.
With Pack out due to an illness, Joseph was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time in his collegiate career.
The sophomore guard delivered, totaling 14 points (career-high), seven rebounds (career-high) and six assists (tied for a career-high).
“It went well,” Joseph told reporters after the game about his first collegiate start. “Credit to my teammates … They [were] finding me and I was hitting shots today … All credit to my teammates.”
3. Wooga Poplar set a career-high in points.
Poplar continued his breakout sophomore campaign against St. Francis, scoring 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field.
His scoring contribution was needed as a result of Pack’s unavailability.
“[Pack’s] a huge piece to our team, so it was really good to have everybody play through it because that just shows that [we are] just good as a team in general,” Poplar said after the game. “If Nijel was here we would’ve been a better team too.”
4. Josh Cohen was the focal point for St. Francis.
The Red Flash’s offensive game plan centered around getting Cohen the ball, and the forward put together one of his most impressive performances of the season against Miami.
The 6-foot-10 junior scored 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
This was Cohen’s third time this season scoring at least 30 points.
“He is really good. He is really hard to guard because those four perimeter players move the ball so well, so if you front on one side, they just move the ball to the other side. Before you can front him on the other side they just bounce it into him,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said after the game about Cohen.
“We probably should feel good he only had 30 cause in two of the games he had 40.”
5. Miami will now face top-ranked Virginia.
The Cavaliers enter Tuesday’s matchup against Miami as the No. 2 team in the country, per the AP Top 25. This will be the highest-ranked team the Hurricanes will play up to this point of the season.
Over Larrañaga’s tenure at Miami, Virginia has dominated the ‘Canes, winning 11 of the past 14 matchups, including the last six.
“[Virginia head coach] Tony Bennett. I just think he’s a great coach. I think he has a great system … He’s put his players in a position to play really well at every position,” Larrañaga said when asked why Virginia is so good. “The big guys do their job. They know their role and they do it very well, and the guards are terrific at defending, sharing the ball, making shots … That’s why they’re a great team and why they’ve been so good since I’ve been in the ACC.”
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