Miami Basketball: 3 reasons why Hurricanes will improve for 2020-21 season

2. Why Miami Basketball will improve next season – Backcourt Development

The freshman duo of Harlond Beverly and Isaiah Wong, Miami’s 2019 recruiting class, was supposed to offer a lot of support for Chris Lykes last year. However, slow development and a lack of consistency didn’t allow that to happen for the Hurricanes. Going into their sophomore seasons, Beverly and Wong should be much more ready to play a big role on the team.

Beverly averaged 7.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game and showed early signs of success in non-conference meetings with Florida Atlantic, Central Florida, and Quinnipiac. He was the best facilitator behind Lykes and converted consistently when shot the ball. However, his scoring production and aggression in getting shots up varied on a nightly basis.

After double-digit scoring performances in the season’s first few games, Beverly was not able to reach back-to-back double-figure games until the middle of ACC play. His shooting in outings against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, North Carolina State, and Florida State didn’t translate to huge successes, but the effort to find scoring opportunities afforded him an average of 5.5 free throw attempts per game.

Fellow signee Wong averaged nearly identical statistics in his freshman campaign: 7.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Although he did not see as many opportunities to play early in the year, Wong poured it on once given the chance. In the middle of ACC play, he rattled off 9-straight games of 10+ points including three 20-point outings.

The impressive part of his streak was the confidence in his jump shot, despite not having consistent offensive looks earlier in the season. Wong rarely relied on the free throw line to boost his outputs, which bodes well for his ability to support Lykes and the Canes offense from sputtering.

Beverly and Wong should continue to develop this summer and start 2020 where they left off in 2019. Second-leading scorer in 2019, Dejan Vasiljevic, graduated in the offseason and offers plenty of minutes for both sophomores to increase their workload on both ends of the floor. If both guards can manage a step forward in their production, Miami’s backcourt will be formidable and much more dynamic for opposing defenses.