Everything Jai Lucas Said Ahead of Matchup Against North Carolina

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes (18-5, 7-3 ACC) are in need of a massive win for a resume booster.

They are 1-3 in quad-one games, but the biggest one this season enters Watsco Center Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN as the Canes prepare to face No. 11 North Carolina.

Head coach Jai Lucas is familiar with the level of play from the Tar Heels, reliving times with Duke as an assistant coach. Now he prepares his Hurricanes team for a massive game in a near sell-out crowd at home.

On the Tar Heels...

I mean, it's North Carolina.  You know, a program, the history of basketball, that is one of the best ones, and it's no different. You know, they have really good players. But the one thing that's always been the same is that I've ever since I played against North Carolina's transition.  They're one of the fastest teams ever, and it's no different this year. You know, they have a great size. When you look at Caleb Wilson, they have Veesaar on the inside, but their speed and their ability to turn make-or-miss shots into layups on the other end.  That's one of the things they do best. just doing that and in a battle on the glass, it's going to be huge, you know, because they're big, they're athletic, they're physical. You know, we got to kind of match them in that. If we do that, we'll be fine.

On the Student Section being Sold Out...

I mean, it's huge. It's huge.  You know, I feel like our guys deserve it. The way they compete, the way they play. It's just a testament to them to get some engagement and to put us in situations like this where we can get the fans out. And we need them out. This game, with every game, especially down the stretch.  So I'm excited to just feel the building and see the environment.

On the Similarities between Miami and North Carolina...

It's kind of scary because we run a lot of the same stuff. So, you know, it's very similar in what we do. And that's why I feel like it is a good matchup for us.  Now, they're playing their best basketball of the year. And I think they show the next step of their resilience and their character because I know what it's like to play in that game and I know what it's like to get down in that game and have to battle back and win that just shows to their pedigree of where they are right now.

You know, I think you know, it's going to come down to whose identity shows more, you know, because we're very similar in how we play.  We both are high scoring teams, both like to play in transition, both play double bigs, and love the offensive rebound. So that's going to be a big part of the game. So it's going to see who wins those trenches, who wins those wars more will kind of be the separate in the game to make.

On Caleb Wilson...

He's really good.  I see what all the hypes about. You know, the thing that shows just from watching. Am was watching him also, when he was on the circuit and in the summer and stuff.  But his ability to give everybody else confidence on the court as a freshman is the most impressive thing. Like, they have a guy they feel that they can go to, and he usually delivers, and you can just see the life it gives everybody else.

On Shelton Henderson...

He's gotten better throughout the year. And you know, the one thing about him is the year didn't startgreat.  You know, he's in foul trouble. He looked like a freshman, and for him, to just keep playing. And now that we've gotten into ACC play, his consistency, night in, night out, you know, he's almost 16, 18 points. Every time we go out there.  You know, he did have a streak where he was shooting from the line better. We've got to get him back to shooting from the free-throw line a little bit better. He started out the game shooting out of his conference, shooting better.  We've got to get him back there. But it's just his ability to compete, to get better, and not be afraid of the moments than you.

On Ernest Udeh Jr as a defensive anchor...

The thing Ernest does doesn't necessarily show up in a stat sheet every night, you know, when he's rebounding, he is on all fans, he gives us, like I always say, he's like a great wide receiver. You know, he gives us this lob threat where people have to guard us differently in the ball screens, and they have. That's what we have got to look at as many lobs, but it's opened up so much of this stuff for.  

And then, his ability to grab a rebound, he came up with a huge offensive rebound in Boston College, which won us the game. And then on the other end, defensively, we're able to switch with them, where he can guard guards, we're able to leave him on islands against bigs, where we don't have to double all the time because of his presence and his ability. And what he's done, and I really, it's the one thing I felt was missing from the team and missing from him to take his next step, is that he started to block more shots. Giving him to understand where his blocks were coming from is what he started to do more.  And he's such a big factor in defensive rebounding.

On the Team's Rebounding...

It's what we talk about. It's the fabric of our team. It's what we base the game off of.  I know how hard you play by, how many times we measure it, how many times you crash, how many times you blocked out, with our rebounding numbers at the end of the game, we want to be somewhere around, you know, 40% of our misses back, somewhere that should put you around somewhere around 15 offensive rebounds. You know, we want to be about 40 plus on the glass. So that's what our judgeges some basis softball, not if we made 10 threes or, you know, that matrix for us, it's you because it's how we built, you know we need to be at all time.

On Making a Statement...

I think we just grown, and we've gained confidence throughout, you know, to start this season a little, we have a lot of people who played in a lot of games.  We're a new team. And so these moments that we've been in are a little bit different. So now we've been in tight games.  We've won tight games. We know what it means to execute down the stretch. We've playing top 10 teams.  You know, we played Florida. We played BYU. We played Clemson on the road.  So we have all this data and all these experiences that should help you in February when you're closing down the stretch, going into March. So this is our next test to be able to show it and see where we are. And like I told them, it's time for us to put our stamp on the season, and this is our first opportunity to do so.

On Both Teams' Lack of Depth...

We have to [play more guys]. And we'll do a bunch of different stuff, you know, a big part because of the numbers. You know, it' got to be more, more just do a better job of subbing around the media timeouts to get these guys quicker hits to extend it, you know, we'll play a bunch of different defenses.  We'll do a bunch of different stuff, just to kind of, you know, really for our guys, with foul trouble and trying to find some rest and stuff like that.

It's kind of what basketball is, to be honest with you, when you get in February or March, your rotation has shrunk. You know, the guys who have established themselves and separated themselves play the most minutes, and that's everywhere.

On His X-Factors against the Tar Heels...

You know, those guys, as they go as we go. You know, and these are those moments where you rely on them, and you need them to be who they are at all times in this show, and their capabilities. We just got to show it on Tuesday.  You know, for me, this game isn't any bigger than any other game we play. We just got to stick to who we are at all times. And if we do that, we'll be fine.  You know, the one thing I told them that I'm most excited about going in in February is that everything that we struggle with, we can control. It hasn't been one team that has taken us out of anything or done anything to us, where I'm like, man, we wish sure had this, I wish we had that note.

We turned them all over.  We're dribbling off our feet. We're throwing it out of bounds. Or we're not, you know, finishing and making our free throws and doing things of that nature. Like, it hasn't been a team where I felt we're outm overwhelmed, and I don't feel that way about North Carolina. That we can control, we can control, and focus on that and respond because they're going to make a good team.  They're not going to come in here and be bad. North Carolina. You know what I mean?  So we just got to make sure we do our job, and if we do that, we'll be fine.

On Miami's Resume...

It's quality wins, you know what I'm saying? I know exactly what you're saying, but it's big because it's the next game.  You know, we have eight games left in the league. You know, I think six of them are quality ones. So we got to just continue to do what we do.  You know what I mean? That's the benefit of being to me in the second-best league in the country this year.

You know, I think we're right there.  I would put the Big 10 ahead of us. I think we're better than anybody else in the country. So close down the stretch.  We just got to do our jobs. and it's game by game. You know, no matter what happens on Tuesday, we still have to go to Raleigh on Saturday and play North Carolina State, and you get another opportunity. So everything is right in front of us.