Everything Jai Lucas Said After Miami's 'Hesitant' Performance against FSU

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes are in a funk.

Back-to-back losses in conference play have left head coach Jai Lucas confused and frustrated. It's not because he knows the team is bad; it's the standard they are not currently playing with at this time.

Against FSU, the Hurricanes failed to have that standard and dropped another game.

Here is what Lucas had to say after the Game:

On What Went Wrong...

It's a combination of both. Um, you know, I think it started when we got we had a little rhythm going and then we had three straight turnovers. I believe we had an inbound turnover and then Tre turned it over, and then our rhythm is kind of out of whack after that. They did a good job of switching between man and zone in the middle of the possession, which isn't abnormal, but we just we let the ball stick again for the second straight game. Um, and we weren't flowing and getting to our second side and getting to our after actions. And right now, youknow, the biggest thing besides all that is just I didn't feel like we played with the urgency and the desperation needed for this game. You know, whenever a team hasn't won a conference game,they're going to play with every gamethey've been in except for North Carolina State to be honest with you.You know, Syracuse, they were therem Wake Forest, they lost on a buzzer beater. Kind of similar to the night.Same thing. Uh Duke game, they're right there. So, you know, they were the irdesperation and their belief was there. And I didn't think we matched it. And that's the one thing I got to figure out. The one thing that's got me messed up right now. And I got to get the team back to where we have been. And youknow, we had a little bit of a run going and seasons are long. So, youknow, they come in waves. So, we had a 10-game win streak or whatever itwas. And now we've got a little funk and now we've got to get out of it.

On the Team Possibly Being Comfortable...

I hope not, but I think anything's on the table with the way we play. We don't have much complacency around here, but you know, given how we've played the last two games, that's not far-fetched.

Lack of Offensive Assertiveness...

We just look gunshy. You know, we just look like we were second guessing and hesitant. And that's not us. And that's not who we are. Um, and who we've been. And I got to figure out why uh why we why we are that way. And once we get that cleaned up and figured out, we'll be fine. But right now, we just kind of look we just look gunshy. And it just felt like the game like we were just kind of hesitant a little bit.

On Turnovers...

And for them, that's how you give them life. I mean, if you look at the stat sheet, you're holding a team, a high-scoring team and a team that makes almost 11 threes a game, and they only shoot 17 when they're shooting 32. Uh, I thought who we are and what we're about and our desperation showed up when they match us in free throws. We only rent win the glass by plus five and we only win the paint by two. You know, for me, that shows where our mindset and our physicality and our assertiveness is. If our stat sheet looks like that, then we aren't playing with the right intensity.

On the Teaching Moment From these Losses...

Exactly what I talked about, our urgency and our desperation. If we do that, I think everything else will take care of it. Um, we know and we've always known how people will guard us once they've scouted us and once we see it and nothing's going to change with that. Um, but our pace with what we play is what's supposed to offset it. And right now, we're just kind of sluggishly getting through our stuff and we got to change that.

On the Lack of Depth...

With Dante and then Timo and Noam, you know those guys we put they're floor spacers so they got to shoot some of these threes that they're getting. Ithought they turned some down. I thought Tre turned down a bunch in the second half when they were going under the ball screens and stuff, and that's what I waskind of saying. We just felt like we started second-guessing ourselves, and it gave them opportunities within the game to kind of stay there but also pull away cause then most of the second half we were kind of playing from behind a little bit.

On the Importance of Games Like this With Recruiting...

I think they're important. It's a different time now. You know usually back, I guess 10 years ago each team would have a bunch of kids from Florida. I think maybe they have two maybe and we have the most, but it's a rivalry. So, it means somethingto the fan base. It means something to the university. So, that's always important to me.

On if These Losses are the Biggest Challenge he has faced all Early into his Career...

I mean, nah, my biggest challenge started the day I got the job, you know, building the program how I wanted, hiring a staff. Um, and we're still a young program. We're still learning and growing together, and this loss and part of this right here is um part of building our culture. You know, we got 12 13 new guys. Although they've played a bunch ofcollege basketball, we've never done ittogether. So, this is a lesson and ateaching point, and we just got to moveon and try not to learn this lesson too many more times.