Jack McClinton forgot his game jersey. Luckily he remembered his shooting touch.
Forced to miss the first 2 minutes, 44 seconds yesterday after leaving his jersey in the dressing room, McClinton scored 17 points and No. 22 Miami defeated North Carolina A&T, 95-64, to stretch its season-opening winning streak to 12 games.
"Coach gave us a [pregame] speech and I was zoning on it," McClinton said. "I was focused on the game."
McClinton made up for his brief memory lapse by going 6-for-10 from the field, 3-for-6 from three-point range.
James Dews and Raymond Hicks each scored 16 points for the Hurricanes, who are two games shy of the school record for victories to open a season set in 2001-02.
"It's a tough time of the year," Miami coach Frank Haith said. "A lot of these guys have plane tickets and are thinking about going home."
The Hurricanes opened with a 17-0 run in the first 5:07 and were never threatened.
"Miami played tremendous today and they jumped out on us," Aggies coach Jerry Eaves said. "We are in a sluggish position during the season right now but Miami created it. They hit big shots and were physical - just like they've been doing all year."
The Hurricanes shot a season-high 58 percent from the field to remain one of nine unbeaten Division I teams.
Down 45-25 at halftime, the Aggies (5-7) got no closer than 47-32 after James Porter's field goal 2:55 into the second half.
In another Top 25 game:
* At Idaho State, Derrick Low scored 20 points and Kyle Weaver had 18, leading No. 7 Washington State to a 75-45 victory over the Bengals.
The Cougars (11-0) took control in the early going and coasted the rest of the way, leading by more than 20 points most of the second half.
Low hit five three-pointers. His 16 first-half points helped the Cougars twice build 16-point leads.
Weaver's turn came in the second half, when he scored seven of Washington State's first 13 points. His three-pointer at the 16:03 mark put the Cougars up, 47-23, and the Bengals (2-8) failed to get much closer the rest of the way. Matt Stucki led the Bengals with 10 points. *