Everything Jai Lucas Said Ahead of Miami's Matchup Against No. 14 Virginia

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes are entering another ranked game with all the momentum in the world.

Head coach Jai Lucas continues to grow as a head coach and will be one of the best in the ACC as he prepares to take on another great head coach.

Here is everything he had to say before the the Caens hit the road to take on the Cavaliers.

On the locker rooms reaction...

You know, winning's hard. Winning is hard. And so when you do win, you want to make sure that everybody understands how hard it is and how big it is, you know what I mean?  So that's a, that's really the biggest part about it is just making sure we stay engaged and stay understanding that that's the most important thing. And when you do do it in any fashion, it needs to be celebrated in somewhere

On Malik Reneau Health...

He's doing a lot better.  He really, really rallied just to get back out there at the end. Just everything he had to go through in the past, and getting IBs and doing all that, doing whatever, to try to get back on the court.

It's a little bit of we still trying to figure out he has had them before.  Could have been dehydration. It could have been, you know, lack of sleep is just a bunch of things that it could have come down to, but, um, you know, we'll try to better hydrate him and get him ready for this game on Saturday.

On the Challenges against UVA...

Yeah, you know, they're really good. Like a lot of teams in ACC, but I would say they're one of the better ones.  I think they're one of the best teams that we have played all year. You know, I think they are better than Florida when we played them. Now, Florida's playing better now, but they are better than Florida when we played them.

You know, Coach Odom's been a great coach. Everywhere he's been, so I never know Ryan, they play exciting brand of basketball, you know, multiple drives, a bunch of threes. They got big bodies.  So it's a good test for us. You know, this game is what you want to be in, and it's a caliber team that can be in the sweet 16. So it's good to see where you are at this point in the season, especially getting later in the season.

On De Ridder...

You can tell he's been a long-time pro.  You can tell he's playing high-level basketball. He doesn't get sped up. He's physical.  He got great size. He plays inside, plays outside. You can play through them.  You know, he just does a good job just playing really well. And you can tell that he's playing professionally for a long time. I think that his best asset is that he just, he plays with great poise and great patience.

On slowing him down...

You have to just give them different looks.  You know, you have to keep them guessing. You have to play different coverages. You have to go at them. you know, you got to think, maybe travel, maybe you don't.  Um, just gotta keep them guessing to kind of keep them all balance. You know, he's one of those guys you're not necessarily gonna speed up because he's such a good player. So you just gotta make them think as much as possible.

On Dallin Hall...

He plays off 2 feet when he gets into paint. You know, he's another guy like their whole team. They play with great boys in the paint.  They come to stops. They let it settle. I make re, he defends.  Um, he runs and he plays in the picker roll. He's another guy who's older. You know, his time at B, BYU and everything he's done.  He's just, they have a team full of really, really, really good college players who have experience and you can see it.

And some of the experience, like the De Ridder comes from just playing basketball professionally, but you look at Malik Thomas, you look at Dallin Hall, you look at, you know, talking about the De Ridder, Chance Mallory plays older than he should as a freshman. And, you know, some of the Dwight comes off the bench.  So they have a bunch of people that they can throw out in Sam Lewis from Toledo, who's won a lot of games. So they, he's done I think one of the best jobs in the country with his roster construction and getting a bunch of people who fit his style blood.

On What has changed about college freshman this season...

I think a big part of what has changed this year, I think this class that came in has just top end talent throughout it. And a lot of the freshman class haven't had that in the past. I think this is the best one we've seen in a while.  To me still, I believe your freshman is one of your most talented players. You have these older guys on the portal who have more experience and who you know what you're going to get from them. I guess more.  

There can be more reliable, but your freshman, you, I mean, you look at it, they can come in, and they're just a certain level of talent that they possess that some older guys just don't, and it just is what it is, you know what I mean? And that's why guys like Caleb Wilson, Dybansta, and Boozer will end up being top 10 picks because of that level of talent.

On How Dante Allen Affects Winning...

I think the biggest part is, that all is what leads to it, is qualities of just winning.  You know, he's won, you know, he's one piece championship. He's one state championships. He's been around winning.  He comes from a family of basketball. So understanding the value of the game, like a lot of this stuff and a big part of this team and moving forward is you have to make sure the pedigree and the makeup of the people you bring in the building is about winning. And Dante is one of those people.  

And I've always felt that way watching him over the last, you know, 3 years, you know, watching him and recruiting people on his team. I saw that Dante and always said if I was somewhere that value with Dante Allen would bring to a program, I would recruit. And so when I got this job, it was one of the 1st people that was on my mind because everything that was happening never with no.  So for Dante, he has all the tangibles and his game is still developing. So he's going to get so much better as a basketball player, but he's able to impact right now because of his intangibles and because of his makeup.

On the Environment at UVA...

Well, you know, the one, the atmosphere here in the Wattsco has been fantastic. I think the students and everybody is showing really changed the building, and it adds the different excitement that this is what I envisioned this place being.  It's something like that for our, especially our ACC game. So moving forward, we need a Boston College, Louisville. I think the last two.

Now, Virginia, to me, is one of the top 4 venues to play at.  In the ACC behind Cameron [Indoor]. Um, behind North Carolina State, which is always crazy. I played Virginia right there and then Louisville, Carolina, also in that breath.  But they have a basketball tradition. They have basketball fans, they have pride in the university. So it's always a great crowd in 14,000, and what I'm excited about is our guys have lived in these moments already this year.  You know, we've been able to win on the road. We've been able to win in tough environments, so it shouldn't be anything that's shocking to us. I'm just excited that we're one of the teams that people want to show up and watch.  You know what I mean? That's just a testament for them.

On the Team's Winning Mentaility...

When we're in those moments like North Carolina State and Virginia Tech, where there's no quit, you know, where it's still the whole time, it's thinking about how can we win, find a ways to win, find a ways to push through. And in these moments, you know, for us and for me, still haven't done anything. You know what I mean?  Like, it's nothing is set in stone.

You know, everything we want, we still have to go get and we have to go take, and that's just game by game. You know, like I said before, it's not like we're sitting here in 1st place.  It's not like we're sitting here a top 10 team. You know, it's not like we're sitting here as a one seat. So if you're not in those situations, you can't rest on anything and especially us, like we can't rest on anything.  We have to be the ones that always hunt.

On Tru Washinton's Return...

He's huge. He's always been a big part of our team. I thought North Carolina State, his impact on the game and getting lost in the game, was a huge force.  And of course, the free throws, but I thought the 23s he hit, some of the defensive possessions within that game was big. Now against Virginia Tech. He didn't play as good, but nobody.  We really didn't have our best stuff, you know, without Tre.

Tre was the one down the stretch and kind of wheeled us. But like, Malik wasn't good.  Shelton wasn't good. Like, we didn't play great. Uh, so no one played good and I thought, um, in that game, everybody just, we found a way when we didn't have our best stuff, but, you know, moving forward is and our best version of us is with Tru. in it and playing his best as well.  So it's just getting him and continuing to get him re-acclimated to the team. And, you know, as the season goes on, rules change and things change, you know,

Dante has played a little bit more now in his absence, and he's kind of earned some equity in that position. And so now, you know, it's Tru's job to, and I've always said it's Tru, you know, he's one of the guys who's one of our X factors who can impact us and make us our best version, and we still need that from him.