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Hurricanes Men's Basketball Ranked No. 17 After Tournament Win

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It's been an impressive start to the Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team's season.

They made a statement by traveling to Gainesville and defeating No. 7 Florida, who had their school-record 33-game home winning streak snapped.

Then, the Hurricanes traveled to South Carolina to compete in the Charleston Classic and breezed through the competition, winning their three games by 20, 28 and 19 points en route to the tournament title.

The Canes, who have opened the season 5-0 for the first time since 2009, were rewarded for their strong start on Monday when the new AP poll came out with Miami ranked No. 17 in the nation.

The Hurricanes feature only two returning players from a season ago and are being led by junior transfer Angel Rodriguez.

He scored 24 points against the Gators, including several big three-pointers, though none were bigger than the fall away three he hit with 16 seconds left to put the Canes up for good.

Then during the Charleston Classic, Rodriguez was named tournament MVP averaging 14.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 3.0 steals in the three games that Miami played.

Head coach Jim Larranaga has a very strong group of players this year, and with only one senior on the roster the Hurricanes could be on the brink of becoming a consistent contender in the ACC for the next several years.

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