Takeaways from Miami’s 75-66 win over Ole Miss

After two losses to ranked opponents, Jai Lucas’ Miami Hurricanes are starting to find their stride. Miami traveled to Ole Miss on Tuesday night for its first true road test of the season and passed with flying colors, winning 75-66. 

Miami won despite missing two of its top bench players. UM Athletics announced before the game that freshman guard Dante Allen (upper body) and forward Marcus Allen (lower body) were to miss the Hurricanes’ matchup against the Rebels. Unfortunately for Miami, Dante Allen is expected to miss multiple weeks, while Marcus Allen is considered game-by-game.

“It was definitely a team effort. Everybody who came into the game contributed. Whenever you can get four guys in double figures, it means you’re having a good day,” Lucas, a first-time head coach, said. “I thought we battled. It wasn’t perfect; it wasn’t great, but we battled.”

Freshman forward Shelton Henderson led the way for the Hurricanes on both ends of the floor. He finished with a career-high 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds and turned away multiple shots at the rim, recording a pair of blocks. We’ll dive more into his performance later.

This marks the Hurricanes’ first road win since January 2024. They lost their previous 16 games, both in conference and out of conference, away from home.

Miami will return to Coral Gables for its next game on Saturday against Southern Miss. Here are three takeaways from UM’s win over Ole Miss.

Henderson is growing comfort, confidence

When freshman forward Shelton Henderson flipped his commitment from Duke to Miami in the offseason, many expected Henderson to make an immediate impact. Through the Hurricanes’ first nine games, he’s steadily improved and is proving himself as one of the ACC’s top first-year players. He had his best showing yet against Ole Miss.

The Rebels had a difficult time slowing down Henderson’s rare blend of size and speed, which makes him a force when driving downhill. He made seven of his 12 shots and also flashed his playmaking ability, dishing out a season-high five assists.

“This is who he is, and this is why I’ve known him since the seventh grade. This is who he’s always been,” Lucas said about Henderson. “Part of being a true freshman in college is that you have to go through some experiences, and things are going to happen, and he needed one of these games. This was the one for him, and he turned the corner.”

Defensively, Henderson utilizes his physical tools to his advantage. He uses his body to absorb and deflect contact when opposing offensive players drive into him, and he has plenty of verticality to contest taller players at the rim.

Canes stifle Rebels’ leading scorer

Entering Tuesday’s game, senior guard Ilias Kamardine was the Rebels’ leading scorer, averaging 15.1 points per game.

The Frenchman didn’t score his first field goal until the last minute of the game, finishing with a season-low four points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field. As a team, Ole Miss shot just 34.8% from the field.

To show Ole Miss a unique look defensively, Miami entered into a 2-3 zone for chunks of the game. Not only did this defensive adjustment slow the game down, but it also allowed the Hurricanes’ injury-riddled rotation to run less on some defensive possessions.

“With having low numbers, we got tired, so we went to zone,” Lucas said. “And the zone was good for us. It changed up the momentum of the game. It was a good curveball. It gave our guys a chance to kind of rest just enough, and it slowed the game down for us because we really had to slow this one down.”

Canes get shooting lift off the bench

As both Dante and Marcus Allen were unavailable to play, Lucas turned to junior guard Noam Dovrat and freshman forward Timo Malovec for contributions.

The two international players stepped up and brought much-needed shooting off the Hurricanes’ bench. Dovrat made two of his three attempts from beyond the arc, and while Malovec was less efficient, his two threes came at big moments. For the game, he shot 2-of-8 from deep.

As a team, the Hurricanes knocked down 11 triples.

“It was huge,” Lucas said about his team’s shooting performance. “And the way they played benefitted us in us being able to make threes. Those are the threes I always talk about – the high-quality. Where we penetrate, they collapse, they put a lot of people on the ball, we kick it out, we make one more [pass] and we make those threes.”