No. 22 Miami Tames SMU's Offense, Striking Gold from Beyond the Arc
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No. 22 Miami starts its "tournament week" on the road against SMU and slows down the electric offense, defeating the Mustangs 77-69, thanks to a forgotten sniper, elite defense, and a focused team that wants more.
Starting the game, the Hurricanes would be missing one of the best shooters on the team, freshman Timo Malovec. However, in his place would be the old man, freshman Noam Dovrat, finding himself in the right spots to be open from beyond the arc.
Dovrat has found himself playing at the right time when the team needs him most. He has been lights out from beyond the arc in the past two games, but what's better is how he is doing it. Against the Mustangs, he was 4/4 from three, scoring 12 points, and at times, he was talking to the other team.
His confidence has skyrocketed, just at the right time, as Miami continues to look for more on the bench. It also helps when the Canes have some of the best defensive players in the country backing him up.
Ernest Udeh Jr. continues to be a defensive force for the team. Over his past three games, he has averaged three blocks per game, and against the Mustangs, he took it a step further with four.
Udeh has grown into the all-defensive player that head coach Jai Lucas has seen in him from the start. Now he is consistently playing like it, giving the Hurricanes one of the best defensive players in the country. Along with the blocks, the 6-foot-11 big man finished with eight points and 10 boards.
This also comes with an off night from the Canes' leading scorer, Malik Reneau. Had Reneau played to his standard, this could have been a bigger disaster for the Mustangs.
Over the last few games, Reneau has had something off. He has picked up a few nagging injuries that have slowed him down. In Dallas, he finished with 14 points on 4-14 shooting, but still managed to snag 11 rebounds and three steals.
Moreover, star point guard Tre Donaldson continues to show that he is the Miami Hurricanes' closer, providing elite-level guard play, scoring, and facilitating the ball.
Donaldson finished the game with 17 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds, nearly completing a triple-double. He also added three triples for the Canes, helping the team match their season high of 11 made.
This win has tied the program record for regular-season wins and also locked UM into the third seed of the ACC tournament. The Canes will now face off against another tournament team in the final home game of the season, the Louisville Cardinals, searching for their best regular season in program history.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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