No. 14 Miami Grabs First Win of the Season, Finding Themselves In The Closing Minutes

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Many elements came into the home opener for No. 14 Miami (1-1) against Wagner (0-2).

First was the 9:00 p.m. ET tipoff. Miami played slowly on offense, but its defense continues to be its backbone for how good it is.

Second was the emotional letdown after narrowly coming close to beating No. 1 Florida. The Hurricanes' intensity showed up in a game that could have kickstarted their season with the ultimate boost.

Third, there was a slight step back in the returning players from last season. In the second half, they showed signs of improvement that pushed them into the NCAA Tournament. Nevertheless, the Hurricanes still blew out the Seahawks by nearly 30, winning 83-57.

"You know, I thought we were bad," Lucas said after the game. "I thought we were bad both halves. And it's just for me, you know, the standard we're trying to have here, and then what we want to be and where we want to compete at the level we want to compete at, we're nowhere near."

Miami wanted to set a tone coming out of the Gators' loss, but it took until the second half for the team to flip that switch.

The first half consisted of Shelton Henderson not getting to where he wanted on the floor, missed shots from three from the bench, but having some bright spots, making free throws of all things, and freshman star Caleb Gaskins.

"I mean, he's a good kid," Malik Reneau said about Gaskins. "I mean, he's always asking questions.  He's always willing to do whatever it takes to win and just being in the gym every single day, being in that work is but you can see it. I mean, he's a three level scorer and he works at it every single day."

Moreover, with his energy, the second half would be cleaner and better, and the championship-hungry squad would deliver.

"I think we pick up our intensity and felt like we started the game and played without intensity," Lucas said. "And we came out the second half on and we had it in spurts. We really created a lot of offense when our defense, especially Shelton, getting some of those turnovers and getting out and being able to play fast. We want to play fast, get stops, rebound run, get out and play.  And more we can do that, the better we going to be."

Henderson would finish the first half with three points. In the second half, he would score 16. It started with his defense, and he got out on the break and scored at will. "He eats weights" as Wagner head coach Dwan McMillan mentioned, and he was unstoppable.

The star sophomore struggled against Florida, shooting 2-for-13 from the field. A rebound game was what he needed, and one that he had. He finished with 19 points, five assists, and three steals.

Moreover, the second half would show the signs of the gel Miami's offense has needed over the first three and a half halves of gameplay this season.

"I mean, just knew we had to pick it up our defense's offense, and that's's our main thing offense is running out, getting transition, getting deflections," Henderson said. "And I think once we do that at a high level, it's going to be hard to stop us."

Miami will turn its attention to North Florida for another home game on Nov. 9.

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