Canyon Barry, College of Charleston struggle at Miami

The College of Charleston may have fallen 67-40 to Miami on Tuesday night, but the focus was on Charleston redshirt sophomore guard, Canyon Barry, for most of the evening.

Canyon is the youngest son of the former Miami great, Rick Barry, who of course went on to star in both the ABA and NBA. While being the son of a legendary player comes with publicity, especially since he is the only son to share Rick's patented underhand free throw, Tuesday gave Canyon a rare chance to play where his father's number is retired.

Rick averaged an astonishing 37.4 points per game as a senior at The U, and while Canyon won't ever live up to those gaudy numbers, he is an up and coming talent in the Colonial Athletic Association. Canyon averages a Charleston-leading 12 points per game after finishing his freshman season with just over nine points per contest.

With 15 or so family members in the crowd, Charleston's Barry went ice cold from the floor, failing to score as the Cougars struggled to find other options.

Miami got to the free throw line 12 times compared to Charleston's zero in the first half en route to a 20 point halftime advantage. Charleston turned the ball over 10 times in the first half and failed to score a basket until the 11-minute mark.

Angel Rodriguez paced the Hurricanes with 15 points.

Barry, Anthony Stitt and Joe Chealey, who combine to average nearly 35 points for Charleston, managed just 15 points, highlighting the Cougars struggles in this matchup.

While Charleston head coach Earl Grant said that he doesn't quite know how good his Cougars are at this point, he may have a better idea once league play begins on Saturday at William and Mary.

The Cougars have played stiff competition in nonconference play, including UConn, Texas A&M, George Mason, West Virginia and LSU prior to the loss to the Hurricanes. Charleston came away with just one victory in that bunch, surviving the matchup vs. George Mason, 61-60.

While the loss to Miami won't be lifting any spirits on the Charleston bench, Barry will have the extremely rare opportunity to play in back-to-back arenas where his parents have their jerseys retired. While Rick's number hangs in the Miami rafters, his wife Lynn has her number retired by William and Mary and is heralded as the most talented women's player in the history of the college.

Bottom line is that the College of Charleston can't compete with a power conference school with their edition of the Barry family going scoreless. The good news is he'll probably have better luck up at his mother's alma mater.

Charleston travels to William and Mary on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip before returning to South Carolina for a three-game home stand next week.