CanesToday Hoops: Recapping Miami Basketball’s First Win
Last night, The Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team played their season opener against NJIT, and boy let me tell you it was absolutely domination by the Miami Hurricanes, and it was not even close.
The No. 13 Hurricanes cruised to a 101-60 victory over the NJIT Highlander’s on Monday night in Watsco Center, the first real game of the regular season for both programs. the ‘Canes took control of the contest early and earned its first win of the 2023-24 season in the process.
Wooga Poplar led the way with 21 points on 8-16 shooting, including a 5/9 clip from distance. He was aided by 20 points from Norchad Omier, who shot 8-11 from the floor while adding four assists and ten rebounds. Matthew Cleveland and Nijel Pack contributed 24 points apiece, with Nwoko going for three rebounds and nine points.
Much like Miami’s first exhibition win last week over TCNJ, it was a slow-moving first couple of minutes. NJIT took a quick 3-2 lead not even two minutes into the night before UM broke the game wide open. Halfway through the first 20 minutes of action, the ‘Canes were already ahead by double-digits and continued to balloon its lead from there.
At the intermission, Miami was up 52-32 behind a combined 24 points from Poplar (13) and Cleveland (11). Omier also chipped in eleven points and two rebounds in the first half of action as UM shot over 50 percent from the field and over 40 percent from long range. On the other end, NJIT was held to just 33.0 percent overall shooting at the midway point.
Out of the halftime break, it was more of the same. Miami’s advantage swelled to 40-plus points before settling on the 41-point win. When it was all said and done, the ‘Canes finished with a shooting split of 54.8 percent from the field, 43 percent (12-28) from deep, and 65 percent (11-17) from the free-throw line. NJIT failed to shoot better than 35 percent from the field and 3-point range.
The Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team will tip off at Watsco Center, and they will be playing against UCF on Friday night 7:00 p.m. EST, and you can catch that game at ESPN+.
Trinton is the owner of CanesToday. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, he is a freshman in high school and wants to graduate from the University of Miami
