After wobbling through a jittery first quarter, Miami overwhelmed Indiana University Southeast 94-40 on Thursday afternoon at Millett Hall, using a 77-25 surge over the final 27 minutes to move to 3-1 on the young season.
Six RedHawks scored in double figures and Miami shot 56.5% from the field, but Box left the floor talking as much about nerves and half-court defense as he did about a lopsided nonconference win.
“Obviously, we came out, we struggled a little bit in the first half,” the RedHawks third-year coach said. “I just felt the weight on our shoulders. I felt like our kids were playing with a lot of pressure, internal pressure.
“This was a team we felt like we were just gonna go out and just destroy — and myself included — and credit to them,” Box added. “They didn’t just allow us to do that. And they forced us to have to actually play basketball, and work through some things and make us do some things right. And so you give them credit, but we’re looking to continue to improve.”
Indiana-Southeast (2-2) jumped out to a 9-2 lead and pushed it to 11-4 before Miami finally settled in. The Grenadiers hit three 3-pointers in the opening quarter and led 15-13 with under a minute to go.
Then the game turned.
Freshman forward Emily VanTimmeren converted a layup to tie it, then drilled a right-wing 3-pointer with 42 seconds left to give Miami its first lead at 18-15. From there, the RedHawks never trailed again.
Miami outscored IU Southeast 24-12 in the second quarter to take a 42-27 lead at halftime, then blew the game open with a 26-8 third period and a 26-5 fourth, holding the visitors to 3-of-19 shooting after the break.
As dominant as the second half looked, Box said it only underscored where his focus is four games into the season.
“Half-court defense. Our half-court defense has not been very good,” Box said. “And I take the blame for that, obviously, and I feel like where we should be so much better, we’re not, and we just simply have to continue to strive.”
When Miami got defensive stops Thursday, its offense looked as explosive as advertised.
The RedHawks finished with 52 points in the paint, 28 points off turnovers and 18 fast-break points. They dominated the glass 44-19 and piled up 27 assists on 35 made field goals.
Brooke Blumenfeld came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds. Ilse de Vries added 14 points, seven boards and three blocks. VanTimmeren poured in 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Amber Tretter had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Miami’s backcourt was just as productive. Amber Scalia scored 15 points, hitting three 3-pointers to go with seven assists. Macie Taylor added 12 points, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and six rebounds.
Box said none of that offensive output surprised him.
“We scored. We’ve been fortunate, even the Coastal (Carolina) game, I think that’s been by far our worst offensive game,” Box said. “And that was just because we couldn’t make shots, and we still scored 58 points or something. And we missed a lot of open shots that game. Oakland, we scored 75 points and we missed 24 shots at the rim. Mostly layups.
“So you score 75 points in games where you’re missing all those point blank shots, you’re doing some good things. You’re just not putting it in. And we know that we have some firepower. We have some kids that can really score, but our issue right now is just defensively. We feel like we’re not as good as where we need to be. There’s a lot of miscommunication on the floor. There’s a lot of mistakes being made. But I do think that our kids, their intent, is there. They want to be better. They have the ability to be better. Therefore, we will be better.”
Miami’s depth showed in the box score. The RedHawks’ bench outscored the Grenadiers’ reserves 57-8, and nine Miami players logged at least 13 minutes.
Box said that balance — and the ability to score in bunches even when the details aren’t perfect — has been an early strength.
“I think we can score the ball,” Box said. “So I think being able to just have enough firepower when you’re not playing your best basketball, you can still, you know, put the ball in a basket, that, that, you know, that does a lot for you, because we’re still able to put some pressure on our opponents, because we’re, you know, we continue to mark.
Sophomore guard Tamar Singer finished with four points but had a career high 12 assists. She also grabbed four rebounds and swiped three steals while running the show for 30 minutes.
“She’s a tremendous leader, and she’s still growing as a player, which I feel really good,” Box said of Singer. “Ahe’s grown up a lot from last year, and I’m not just talking about off the court, but on the court. You can just tell she has more discretion when she’s on the court. There are times where last year she would have just chucked that pass. Now she’s like, ‘Ah, you know what? Maybe I shouldn’t chuck that pass.’ That’s where she’s starting to see things a little bit better. … She leads us defensively. That’s her biggest attribute.”
Miami travels to Bellarmine on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
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