The Hurricanes suffered their first loss of the season yesterday as they fell to the Green Bay Phoenix 68-55.
The Phoenix had three players in double figures with junior guard Carrington Love leading the way with 20 points followed by Keifer Sykes with 18.
For the Hurricanes the offense sputtered all night as guard Angel Rodriguez struggled shooting going 2-16 from the field, yet still managing to get 12 points. Deondre Burnett was the leading scorer for Miami as he had 21 points off the bench along with 3 rebounds.
Miami went into the half only trailing Green Bay by 2 points at 25-23 after trailing the majority of the first half. The second half was a different story as the Phoenix jumped out to 16 point lead with under ten minutes in the second half.
The Canes were able to lower the lead 5 with under 5 minutes left in the game, but Carrington Love was able to make a couple baskets to secure the win for the Phoenix.
The Hurricanes couldn’t find their three point shot during the game as they went 5-20 from beyond the arc. The glaring statistic to Hurricanes fans was Tonye Jekiri’s performance as Jekiri only had two points with three rebounds while going 2 shots off.
On the other hand, the Hurricanes had an appearance from Joe Thomas who rallied in 13 rebounds along with four points.
The Hurricanes now drop 8-1 and are looking for a morale building win against a 3-6 Savannah State team who is also 0-5 on the road.
Analysis: The biggest thing that sticks out about this game is the lack of low post presence the Hurricanes got from Jekiri and Sherman. Granted Joe Thomas played well with 13 rebounds, but the Hurricanes are going to need Sherman and specifically Jekiri to play better, especially once conference play starts. Sherman was a complete non-factor as he went scoreless along with grabbing only four rebounds. It’s early in the season and Sherman is certainly still learning, but the Hurricanes are definitely going to need better post play throughout the year. Jekiri was playing stellar up until this game as he recorded 37 rebounds in his last four games. It’s no question that this season will rely heavily upon how well Sherman, Jekiri and Thomas play throughout the year.
The Phoenix had three players in double figures with junior guard Carrington Love leading the way with 20 points followed by Keifer Sykes with 18.
For the Hurricanes the offense sputtered all night as guard Angel Rodriguez struggled shooting going 2-16 from the field, yet still managing to get 12 points. Deondre Burnett was the leading scorer for Miami as he had 21 points off the bench along with 3 rebounds.
Miami went into the half only trailing Green Bay by 2 points at 25-23 after trailing the majority of the first half. The second half was a different story as the Phoenix jumped out to 16 point lead with under ten minutes in the second half.
The Canes were able to lower the lead 5 with under 5 minutes left in the game, but Carrington Love was able to make a couple baskets to secure the win for the Phoenix.
The Hurricanes couldn’t find their three point shot during the game as they went 5-20 from beyond the arc. The glaring statistic to Hurricanes fans was Tonye Jekiri’s performance as Jekiri only had two points with three rebounds while going 2 shots off.
On the other hand, the Hurricanes had an appearance from Joe Thomas who rallied in 13 rebounds along with four points.
The Hurricanes now drop 8-1 and are looking for a morale building win against a 3-6 Savannah State team who is also 0-5 on the road.
Analysis: The biggest thing that sticks out about this game is the lack of low post presence the Hurricanes got from Jekiri and Sherman. Granted Joe Thomas played well with 13 rebounds, but the Hurricanes are going to need Sherman and specifically Jekiri to play better, especially once conference play starts. Sherman was a complete non-factor as he went scoreless along with grabbing only four rebounds. It’s early in the season and Sherman is certainly still learning, but the Hurricanes are definitely going to need better post play throughout the year. Jekiri was playing stellar up until this game as he recorded 37 rebounds in his last four games. It’s no question that this season will rely heavily upon how well Sherman, Jekiri and Thomas play throughout the year.
