Wooga Poplar scores career high as No. 13 Miami cruises past NJIT 101-60 in opener

It is far too early to predict how this season’s University of Miami men’s basketball team will compare with last year’s team, which reached the first Final Four in school history.

But this much was clear from the 13^th-ranked Hurricanes’ 101-60 win over New Jersey Institute of Technology in the season opener Monday night:

Wooga Poplar is ready to take center stage after being a role player the past few years. Norchad Omier has a new weapon in his arsenal. And Florida State University transfer Matt Cleveland looks like the impact player Miami coaches were hoping he’d be.

“This is a team that is much better, in my opinion, than being number 13 in the country,” said NJIT first-year coach Grant Billmeier. “I played against Final Four teams in my career as an assistant (with Seton Hall and Maryland). This is definitely a team that’s capable of playing in the final weekend again.”

Poplar, the 6-5 junior guard from Philadelphia, came on strong at the end of last season and his coaches and teammates predicted he would be the breakout player of this team. Coach Jim Larranaga went so far as to say the Hurricanes would have a hard time keeping him from the NBA come next spring.

Poplar led the Hurricanes with a game-high and career-high 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including five three-pointers on nine attempts. His long range shots drew big cheers from the student section, which was more crowded than usual for an early season non-conference game, clearly a by-product of the team’s success last spring.

“If he continues to do that throughout the year, that’s going to be a major advantage for Miami going forward; he looks like a player who could be a first-team All-ACC player,” Billmeier said.

Omier, the Nicaraguan power forward who delighted Hurricanes fans with his rebounding and thunderous dunks last season, has been working on his three-point shooting and it showed. After making just five three-pointers all last season, he made two in his first seven minutes against NJIT.

Omier dominated both ends of the court and started the season with a double-double in just 20 minutes of action. He filled the stat sheet with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.

“I got a chance to see Omier up close and personal last year twice in the Mohegan Sun, and he’s as good as any frontcourt player in college basketball,” Billmeier said.

Despite Omier’s impressive stats, the one stat Larranaga did not like was Omier’s two quick fouls. Asked if anything surprised him about his team in the opener, Larranaga said, “I didn’t expect Norchad to get two fouls so early…silly stuff, pushing a guy from behind on a fast break.”

Heading into this season, the biggest question was who would replace Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller, the Canes’ two leading scorers from the Final Four team. Based on how he played in the season opener, Cleveland certainly looks like he will fill Miller’s role with his versatility.

He got a double-double in his Miami debut, going 7-of-12 for 16 points with 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. “It was a lot of fun out there, playing with the guys,” Cleveland said. “They make it easy.”

Larranaga went with a starting lineup of Omier, Nijel Pack, Poplar, Cleveland, and Bensley Joseph.

Freshman 6-10 center Michael Nwoko got into the game early but picked up a pair of fouls in his first two minutes, and went back to the bench, where he remained until the final six minutes. He finished with nine points and three rebounds.

Swiss guard Kyshawn George, another freshman expected to get significant playing time, came off the bench early in the first half but struggled. He was the only player of 11 not to score.

Pack had eight points, nine assists and five rebounds. Joseph chipped in nine points. A.J. Casey had eight points and four rebounds and Christian Watson added seven points.

Told that the NJIT coach said Miami looked like a team that could reach the final weekend again, Larranaga smiled and said it was way too early for that kind of talk. He pointed out that they have a game against UCF on Friday, crosstown rival FIU on Monday, a Bahamas tournament with teams from the SEC, Big East and Big 12, and then, the ACC-SEC game at Kentucky.

“After these next few weeks, then ask me how good we are,” Larranaga said.

The Hurricanes will be back home Friday night against UCF, and the game will include a ceremony to raise Miami’s historic Final Four banner.