Miami Hurricanes Men's Basketball Runs Away From St. Leo
CORAL GABLES - It might have been an exhibition against a lower-tier opponent, but center Lynn Kidd looked very good in his University of Miami debut.
The senior transfer from Virginia Tech scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Miami past St. Leo's 94-61 Wednesday night at the Watsco Center on the University of Miami campus.
“I had a little bit of a rough start, but overall I was excited and feel I had a good game,” Kidd said. “Brandon [Johnson] is the perfect [front court partner] for me. I don’t see a hole in his game. He can pass, shoot, dribble, play defense, rebound, he’s a complete player.”
Nigel Pack led all scorers with 18 points.
Paul Djobet joined Kidd with 16 points. Johnson also led Miami with 12 rebounds.
“Paul has been practicing very hard from the summer, he got in the weight room, he’s stronger he’s jumping better,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “He has kind of grown up. He’s no longer a freshman learning, he’s a sophomore leading.”
Pack had nothing but good things to say about Djobet.
“Paul plays that high-energy level all the time, and that’s something we can really benefit from coming off the bench, bringing that spark,"" Pack said. "If he can continue that the rest of the year, it sets us up really well.”
Miami really did well cleaning the glass. They were active on the offensive boards and got a lot of second chance points. Miami outrebounded the Lions 43-28 and had 17 offensive boards.
The Canes won comfortably despite going 2:25 without hitting a field goal attempt.
Jalil Bethea was ejected from the game as he was called for flagrant two foul with 13:37 left in the game. He left the game with 10 points and two rebounds. It appeared as though he was scrapping for a loose ball with St. Leo's Trey Murray and the referee called a foul. It did not appear as though the play was worth a flagrant two, especially in an exhibition game.
“He had 10 points at halftime, got into a scrum in the second half, and unfortunately, the way the officials saw it, he had to leave the game,” Larranaga said.
It's preseason for the officials too.
Here is video of the Jalil Bethea ejection. It does look like there was a punch thrown. pic.twitter.com/o5EiS8nGgM
— Buckets 🪣 (@Buckets_Canes) October 31, 2024
They then went to the monitor and deemed it a flagrant two. That spelled the night for Bethea who was having a good game.
In the first half, the Canes went on a 16-3 run in the last 4:50 to take a 54-24 lead at the intermission. Paul Djobet led the Canes with 11 first-half points, while Kidd was impressive in his Miami debut as he pulled down eight rebounds.
The Canes shot a whopping 51 percent from the field in the first half, compared to 35 percent for St. Leo's. Miami outrebounded the Lions 29-10 in the opening stanza.
The Canes also played a relatively clean first half. They only had two turnovers, compared to eight for the Lions.
St. Leo played tough games already against Florida Atlantic and Florida State and kept them close. Miami blew the doors off the building.
Miami accomplished all of this while playing without Matthew Cleveland and Kiree Huie who missed the exhibition due to injuries.
Cleveland missed the game due to an upper body injury, while Huie was sidelined with a hand injury.
Cleveland is expected to return in the coming weeks. The timetable for Huie’s return remains to be determined.
Cleveland averaged 13.7 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Hurricanes in 2023-24. Huie joined the Hurricanes after a season at Idaho State where he averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest.
The Canes will open their regular season at home against Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday at 7 p.m.
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Scott Salomon joined On SI in April 2024 covering breaking news and analysis for the Miami Dolphins site, and has since contributed to the Miami Heat, Back in the Day NBA, Miami Hurricanes and San Antonio Spurs sites. Scott is based in South Florida and has been covering the local and national sports scene for 35 years. He's covered and has been credentialed for the Super Bowl, the NFL Combine, various Orange Bowls and college football championship games. Scott was also credentialed for the NBA All-Star game and covered the Miami Heat during their first six seasons for USA TODAY. Scott is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Communication and the St. Thomas University School of Law. Scott has two sons and his hobbies include watching sports on television and binge watching shows on various streaming services.