{"id":998,"date":"2025-12-07T18:09:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/?p=998"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:09:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:09:28","slug":"miamis-second-half-surge-takes-care-of-southern-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/?p=998","title":{"rendered":"Miami\u2019s Second Half Surge Takes Care of Southern Miss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Miami, FL<\/em> – Miami<\/strong> gets the win against Southern Miss<\/strong> 88\u201364, but the game didn\u2019t start that way at all. Southern Miss came out with an 8\u20130 run, matching Miami physically and dictating the pace early. Miami answered with Malik Reneau<\/strong> hitting back-to-back threes to calm everything down and make it 8\u20136 about five minutes in. Miami tried switching into 3-2 and 1-3-1 zone looks after scoring possessions, but both teams were struggling to create shots. The first ten minutes felt like a grind, effort on both sides, but no real rhythm offensively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southern Miss<\/strong> stayed man-to-man the entire first half and that defensive approach, plus their physical play, gave Miami problems. Miami\u2019s zone coverage was not working at all, players staying planted with too many gaps, Southern Miss was attacking those holes easily in the first half. Man-to-man was just simply the better option for this noon game, but Miami didn\u2019t fully lean on it until later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At halftime the game was tied at 34\u201334. Miami shot 36% FG, Southern Miss was better at 50%. The rebounding edge went to Southern Miss. They brought physical energy on both ends. Miami wasn\u2019t efficient because they weren\u2019t getting clean looks, Southern Mississippi\u2019s length and effort made them real uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five minutes into the second half Miami built a 3-point lead, still shooting under 40%, but the talent difference was obvious. Southern Miss defended well and played tough but Miami still controlled the margin. The real shift occurred when Miami completely ditched the zone, exactly what needed to happen. Once they locked into man-to-man, everything flipped. Miami went on a 32\u201317 run across the next ten minutes and took full command, 66\u201351.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there Miami opened a 20-point lead. They went back to zone a bit once the game was basically wrapped. Their starting five showed they are the group Miami can rely on. Southern Miss went to their reserves with five minutes left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A huge part of Miami\u2019s second-half surge was the performance from freshman Timotej Malovec<\/strong>. It was a breakout game for him. He finished with 16 points on 5-of-11 FG and 4-of-10 from three. His fundamentals are raw, but the tools are obviously there, good feel, smooth mechanics, great arc on the jumper. He only had one drive all game, but that euro-step finish told me everything I needed about his touch and pacing. Once he adds strength to his frame, his game is going to open up. I asked him about his role and he kept it simple: he does what the coaches ask. That discipline is going to take him far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reneau<\/strong> was Miami\u2019s tone-setter. 21 points in 18 minutes on 6-of-12 FG and 2-of-3 from deep. Every shot looked comfortable. He\u2019s Miami\u2019s best producer on both sides. When he\u2019s locked in, he has one of the strongest physical\/skill combos in college basketball. The only critique from today\u2019s game is pace. He plays slow at times, maybe part of Miami\u2019s offensive structure, but if he pushes to impact every possession, he can rise quickly on draft boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelton Henderson<\/strong> quietly had one of the most complete performances: 12 points on 4-of-5 FG, plus 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block. His defense was huge, especially in Miami\u2019s zone packages where he had the freedom to use his physicality on the wing. I asked him about sometimes appearing passive offensively and loved his answer; he lets the game come to him and executes what coaches ask. With how much information young players have to process in today\u2019s NCAA systems, that mindset makes sense. Some draft boards don\u2019t even have him top-60, which is hard for me to understand. The size, the frame, the defensive reliability, he can match an NBA wing physically on defense today. He has first-round type tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southern Miss\u2019s Isaac Taveras<\/strong>, a skilled 6 ‘6 junior, had an off night. The coaching staff said it plainly: they couldn\u2019t handle Miami physically, and execution broke down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Miami\u2019s second-half shift to man-to-man and the talent advantage from their core group blew the game open. The starting five showed they can stabilize and take over once they lock into what works. The first half exposed the weaknesses of the zone, but the second half was a complete response; physicality, discipline, shot-making, with young players stepping into real roles. Miami figured the game out and dominated the exact moment they needed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was written by Matias Deya, a correspondent and scout for <\/em><\/a>NetScouts Basketball<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> You can follow us on <\/em>Instagram<\/a>, or on <\/em>twitter.<\/em> <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are looking for those interested in our <\/em>basketball scout apprenticeship program<\/a>. For information <\/em>contact us <\/em><\/a>and forward your resume.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miami, FL – Miami gets the win against Southern Miss 88\u201364, but the game didn\u2019t start that way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[150,19,148,73,195],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","tag-acc-hoops","tag-college-basketball","tag-miami-hurricanes","tag-netscouts-basketball","tag-southern-miss-basketball"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Miami1.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Miami1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Carl Berman","author_link":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}