SECOND-HALF SUPREMACY: the MIAMI hurricanes WAKE UP, WHOOPS SOUTHERN MISS & REMINDS EVERYONE WHO THEY ARE

Miami vs Southern Miss was supposed to be a light jog, a smoothie, a warmup stretch or at least so the Hurricanes thought it would be.

Instead, the Hurricanes spent the first half playing the world’s sloppiest game of pickup basketball while Southern Miss swung like they showed up to steal an ACC bid becase the first 20 minutes were straight chaos.

Not disaster. Not catastrophe.

Chaos.

Offensively? To put it bluntly and politely, the Hurricanes offensively looked as sloppy as sloppy as a toddler with a bowl of spaghetti.”

The bright side, the toddlers of the team, the freshman diaper dandies stepped up for this team in a grand way. Shelton Henderson and Timotej Malovec were all over the court bombing from three, getting to the rim, scoring passing and defending.

Each of them played extremely well (but we’ll get back to them both) and because there’s always a bright side, that bright side today was defensively because Miami LOCKED THE HELL IN.

Southern Miss came out on an 8–0 run, and Miami responded like your cousin trying to start the car with the wrong key. But eventually the Canes tied it at 13–13, tied it again at 34–34, and somehow went into halftime not losing their minds.

And then?

The second half started.

And Miami said: “Alright, enough. Let’s stop playing with our food.”

Because the doors… were blown off. Sawn off. Removed from the hinges.

88–64.

A full spiritual cleansing.

Malik & Tre came to play 

Malik Reneau spent half the day fighting foul trouble like it was an SEC offensive lineman, picked up his fourth early in the second half, and STILL led the team in scoring with 21 in 18 minutes.

Two huge threes.

Dominant footwork.

Another night where he looked like an NBA player doing community service.

Southern Miss had no answer. Their coach Jay Ladner literally said:

“I knew watching Miami vs Ole Miss, they were impressive. Very good team, well coached… They have a real chance in the NCAA Tournament.”

He said that mid-beatdown. Bless that man.

Meanwhile, point guard Tre Donaldson was out here throwing alley-oops like he had a takeover meter attached to his name. One of them was violent enough to need a parental advisory sticker, as he threw down the exclamation point to seal the game late.

His stat line?

12 PTS, 3 REB, 11 AST, 3 STOCKS.

Second double-double of the season.

Tre shot 4–15 but who cares, the man had 11 assists and ONE turnover. Southern Miss broke before he did.

He even missed a dunk that became an alley-oop the other way because that was the vibe early. A spiritual comedy routine. A blooper reel.

THE FRESHMAN PROBLEM!!!  

If you’re a grown man trying to guard Shelton Henderson…I hope you wrote your will.

Every night he’s shoving dudes into the earth’s crust like he’s cleaning out storage. It’s been less than two months in his collegiate career, and we’ve yet to see someone move him off the block. Henderson’s either drawing a charge against him because someone’s trying to flop, or someone man’s up and accepts the challenge and ends up getting put into the blender. Southern Miss tried the latter and got cooked.

Henderson today:

12 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST, 4 STOCKS, +24, 80% FG

Jai Lucas said it perfectly:

 

“The biggest thing for Shelton is getting more and more comfortable… I grade them off how hard and how much intensity they’re playing with. Shelton finally looked to attack.”

And when Shelton attacks?

The game bends.

Additionally, we have to talk about  Timotej Malovec, because the second half was his personal TED Talk.

Timo came in, hit shots, and Southern Miss instantly acted like they’d never seen a European shooter before in their lives.

13 of his 16 points came in the second half, including:

Three back-breaking threes. Corner dagger that sparked the 7–0 run and gave Miami the momentum flip that it needed.

Jay Ladner said:

 

“They don’t have guys like that in Mississippi.”

Brother… he said that from his SOUL.

Jai Lucas added:

“He’s really talented… we’re asking him to shoot and space the floor. We’re able to plug and play him in different spots.”

Translation:

He’s the certified Rec Center flamethrower.

We’re saying Rec because it looked like Timo was out there playing 2K Rec Play and Tre was throwing him dimes. Each time Timo let it fly it looked like an automatic green.

THE COACHING VIBES WERE INSANE

Miami used the 1–3–1 zone like a curveball. Sometimes it confused Southern Miss like they’d never seen geometry before. Other times Southern Miss cracked it.

But Jai Lucas is honest:

 

“The zone wasn’t great today… everything is trial and error for us. But it’s a good curveball with our size. We just gotta clean it up.”

Translation:
This thing might cook later, but right now it’s under construction.

You can hear Jai Lucas coaching from the 200s section and that’s a compliment. He’s barking coverages, calling out fixes, clapping the defense awake.

He’s in Year 1 and his fingerprints are already everywhere.

He literally said:

“Nobody cares that we’re banged up. No one cares we’re not 100 percent.”

That’s the culture.

And Miami played like it in the second half.

The first half? Ugly, confused, sleepy.

The second half?

          56.8% shooting.
          54 points.
          Domination.

Miami won by 24 and controlled every inch of the floor once they woke up.

This team is banged up. Missing pieces. Still experimenting.

But the identity is forming:

Defense, pace, spacing, attacking downhill, and letting Reneau & Shelton bully the world.

ULM pulls up next.

Pray for them.