“As a freshman, it was fun out there playing,” said McKnight, who logged 23 minutes off the bench. “It gave me a good sense of where I need to get to in the future. Other than that, I know I’ll be fine and our team will be fine.”
Fellow rookie Reggie Johnson fired in 20 points last Tuesday against Grambling State and scored five Sunday. They’ve been impact players right out of the gate.
“Overall, we’re real comfortable,” McKnight said. “The coach threw us in there, and he’s held us accountable. We’ve got to mature fast.”
The 6-foot-3, 175-pound guard said he felt fine playing in hostile arenas at North Carolina State and Louisville, though neither game was competitive.
“We were never intimidated,” McKnight said. “It’s a different type of skill play. I would say North Carolina State’s got a lot more scoring abiilty. They didn’t thrive as much off defense as Louisville did.”
Through three games, McKnight has 16 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and five steals. Joihnson has 32 points, seven boards, one assist and seven steals.
Local boy hurt: Miami junior guard Josh Sewell was looking forward to playing in Louisville, his hometown. But he suffered an ankle injury during Sunday's shootaround and did not dress.
“As the score stretched to 40, maybe he might’ve been happy,” RedHawks coach John Cooper said. “We hope it’s only a sprain. He may not play in our next game.”
MU travels to Williamsburg, Va., to meet William & Mary on Wednesday.
Shooting woes: Miami shot 29.8 percent from the field and made just 4-of-20 treys. Cooper said that's not going to get it done against one of the nation's best teams.
“If you’re not making shots, and we haven’t shown the ability to make shots, then it makes it even worse than what it really is,” he said. “Being able to knock down shots is a great equalizer.
“I told the team in the locker room, ‘I’m not going anywhere. I’m not abandoning ship. I’ve had my tail kicked plenty of times as a coach and as an assistant, and it is not the end of the world.’ What we do from here will determine the complexion that we look back on this game. If we figure it out and get on a roll, we’ll say, ‘Hey, maybe we learned something from that game.’ “
Cards on a roll: Among Louisville's top performers were guard Peyton Siva (6 points, 10 assists, four steals), 6-11 center Gorgui Dieng (11 points, nine rebounds) and forward Wayne Blackshear (career-high 14 points).
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