Takeaways from Miami’s 80-66 NCAA tournament win over Missouri

Tre Donaldson and Malik Reneau scored 36 of Miami’s 53 second-half points, powering the Hurricanes past Missouri 80-66 in the Round of 64 of the NCAA tournament.

Reneau and Donaldson started slow, scoring just eight points in the first half. Reneau was especially ineffective, making just two of his 10 field goal attempts in these first 20 minutes.

So, what changed in the second half?

“Just calming down,” Reneau said. “Everybody [was] just telling me to be patient and just let the game come to you, and I think I did very well at that. Early, the shots I think I was just overhyped with my shots and pushing it too hard and falling short on a lot of my shots. So just being able to calm down on the court and relax and then take my time on my shots.”

Miami, a seven seed, will take on two-seed Purdue on Sunday at 12:10 p.m. This will be the Hurricanes’ eighth all-time game in the second round of the tournament.

Here are five takeaways from the Hurricanes’ win over Missouri.

Rebounding sets the tone

Miami created many second and third chance opportunities for itself on offense by dominating the glass. The Hurricanes held a 46-30 rebounding advantage, including a 16-7 edge on offensive rebounds.

Center Ernest Udeh Jr. led with a team-high five offensive rebounds. Reneau also had four.

“We’ve been emphasizing offensive rebounding since we got here, since the summer time,” Reneau said. “That’s all we’ve been doing. Just constant every single day, we’re offensive rebounding. We’re doing box-out drills, rebounding drills, so it’s just drilled in us to constantly keep pushing the rebounds on both sides of the end.” 

Navigating the road environment 

With the game being played at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, located just a two-hour drive away from Mizzou’s campus, the crowd was full of rowdy Tigers fans.

The Hurricanes were booed throughout the game, but that’s the type of environment they thrive in. In true road games this season, Miami is 8-2.

“We had a good idea coming into the game, what we were going to see in the stands. And [Lucas’] biggest thing is just treat it like a normal road game. Don’t try to over complicate it. Do nothing different. We’ve won some of these, and that’s what we got to go do tonight,” Donaldson said. “And I feel like we did a really good job of staying poised, staying together, understanding what the task was at hand, and handling it well.”

Mitchell held in check

Mizzou star forward Mark Mitchell finished with 19 points, but he made just four shots and failed to score a field goal until the 11:57 mark of the second half. Miami showed Mitchell a variety of defensive looks, leading to its success against the All-SEC Second Team forward.

“He was a big part of our game plan and trying to slow him down,” Lucas said about Mitchell. “We knew he led them in points, rebounds and assists, so we just tried to make it hard. We kind of switched our matchup, which we put Ernest on him, tried to give him a different look early.”

The Tigers as a team weren’t any better offensively, shooting 35.1% from the field. Lucas will have to bring another impressive defensive game plan against Purdue, who ranks second nationally in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric.

Freshmen come up big

First-year players Dante Allen and Shelton Henderson both made pivotal plays for the Hurricanes throughout the win.

Allen made a pair of first-half threes and competed well both defensively and on the glass, finishing with nine points and five rebounds. Henderson was a constant source of offense for Miami, using his blend of strength and speed to generate plenty of rim pressure. He had 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Last offseason Allen and Henderson were the first two high school players that committed to the Lucas-led Hurricanes.

“Dante and Sheldon are really my first freshman recruits, and so they’re kind of the foundation of the program, along with [Donaldson and Reneau], unless they go somewhere,” Lucas said. “But they were the ones I identified early, and I had the utmost trust in them, and that’s why they play those amount of minutes.”

Next up, Purdue

With a Sweet 16 berth on the line, the Hurricanes will take on Purdue, who defeated 15 seed Queens 104-71 in its first-round matchup.

The Boilermakers are led by All-American point guard Braden Smith, who surpassed former Duke guard Bobby Hurley as the all-time career assist leader in college basketball on Friday afternoon. For the season, Smith averages 14.0 points and 9.1 assists per game.

CaneSport will have more on the Boilermakers ahead of this tournament matchup.