SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga didn’t like the look of his team during its pregame shootaround before opening the Puerto Rico Tip-off.
The Hurricanes sure had their coach fooled.
Sheldon McClellan scored 18 points Thursday and Miami jumped to a huge first-half lead on the way to a 105-79 win against Mississippi State in the first round.
Ja’Quan Newton added 15 points for the Hurricanes (3-0), who led by 29 points before the break in a can’t-miss opening 20 minutes. Miami made 17 of its first 21 shots, including a run of nine straight, and used a 16-0 burst to blow the game open.
While the offense stirred a buzz, Larranaga had reason to feel good about the defense, too.
“I thought we were able to consistently make good defensive decisions,” Larranaga said. “They ended up resulting in good offensive play. A lot of times your defense creates your offense. I thought that’s what happened in the first half.”
Miami shot 63 percent on the way to tying the tournament single-half record with 59 points. Miami shot 57 percent from the field and had seven players in double figures against MSU (1-2).
“We always know offensively we have a lot of weapons,” point guard Angel Rodriguez said. “We felt that way last year as well. Our mentality this year is to truly improve as much as we can on defense.
“By outscoring people … it’s not going to win championships.”
Miami fell just shy of the Tipoff’s single-game scoring record of 107 points, set by North Carolina against Hofstra in 2010.
It was a great way to start the stay in San Juan for a veteran team picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Gavin Ware and Craig Sword each scored 20 points for MSU, which got no closer than 18 points after halftime in a follow-up to its loss to Southern on Monday in Starkville.
It was a performance that had first-year coach Ben Howland saying, “Defensively, we’ve got to get way better.
“That obviously is a real good team that we took a shellacking from tonight. You’ve got to give them credit — they’re well-coached, extremely talented, unbelievably experienced, just a veteran club.”
Miami topped the 100-point mark for the first time since 2004. MSU allowed 100 points for the first time since a 2012 loss to Massachusetts in the National Invitation Tournament.
The loss dropped MSU into a game at 4 p.m. today against Texas Tech, which lost to No. 16 Utah 73-63. ESPNU will broadcast the game live.
Ware was 10 of 15 from the field, while Sword was 6 of 12. In his second appearance, freshman Malik Newman had 15 points. Ware had a team-high five rebounds. Miami held a 41-27 rebounding advantage.
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