While the Miami basketball team hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament over the past few seasons, this year’s Hurricane’s squad has a chance to end that streak.
The last time Miami reached March Madness was 2023, when Jim Larranaga was still at the helm in Coral Gables. Now, Jai Lucas is in his first year with the team, and the Hurricanes have a chance to make another run to the NCAA Tournament with a few NBA Draft prospects on the roster.
In a Tuesday-night matchup against Stetson, Miami duo Malik Reneau and Shelton Henderson each performed well as the pair of former highly touted prospects try to make their case to be selected in the 2026 class.
Lucas’ team took down Stetson 102-61 while Reneau led all scorers with 22 points. The veteran forward added 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 1-of-1 from 3-point range.
Coming out of high school, Reneau was rated the No. 30 overall prospect and No. 4 power forward in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
Listed at 6-foot-9 and 238 pounds, Reneau spent the past three seasons at Indiana before heading to Miami. During the 2024-25 campaign, Reneau averaged 13.3 points, 6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 55.2% from the field and 12.5% from the field on less than one attempt per game.
Henderson was originally pledged to Duke, but when Lucas left his previous position as an assistant for the Blue Devils, Henderson changed his commitment.
So far, Miami has seen early returns on the former five-star prospect. Against Stetson, Henderson notched 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while shooting 6-of-8 from the field.
In the first three games of his college career, the talented wing is averaging 12.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 58.3% from the field, starting each contest. Hailing from the Houston area, Henderson was rated the No. 23 overall prospect and No. 6 small forward in the 2025 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
While Henderson hasn’t gotten as much NBA Draft attention as other members of the 2025 cycle, the 6-foot-6 wing should have plenty of opportunity with the Hurricanes this season. Some five-star prospect around the country have been buried in their team’s rotation behind a number of veterans of other five-star recruits, but Henderson shouldn’t have the same issue.
With good size and athleticism on the wing, a big season in the ACC could be enough to earn Henderson a spot in the 2026 NBA Draft.
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