Everything Jai Lucas Said Ahead of Thanksgiving Matchup Against No. 9 BYU

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The feast of the week is Miami taking on No. 9 BYU in a neutral-site game. This is one of the most important games of the season for the Canes as they prepare for a "Sweet 16" level game.

Head coach Jai Lucas loves what his team has brought ahead of the game, but knows what lies ahead.

Lucas talked to media ahead of the game as he prepares to upset No. 9 BYU.

On Facing BYU on how They have responded After the Florida Game...

Oh, you know the difference between the Florida game and going into this week, we just had some injuries, some just minor nicks that we're still trying to get over. But we responded the right way. We got to continue to grow and develop, and it's always going to be a process, and this is our next step plan, BYU, who's.  I wouldn't say the opposite of Florida, but they're completely different in the sense of their strength at their perimeter, where Florida's strength was their interior. So it just adds a different aspect that we have to go over and cover. But it's still a high-level game, another top 10 team.

On What Makes AJ Dybantsa so Special...

he's a good player. You know, I think the one thing that makes him good is his size, and it's his athleticism or his skill set.  He's almost 6'9". And one thing that we're seeing with this freshman class is, you know, some of these guys have really good poise about them. And he plays with their poise also, when he's in those situations, so it's kind of what separation makes him special, along with his skill set and everything he does basketball-wise, but I think his mentality and his poise is good.

Injury Update on Tru Washington and Ernest Udeh Jr.

On the injury front, those guys are working their way back into practice. We'll have a better, I guess I'll have a better field after today's practice, just to see where they are and see who will be available and who can go from there

On BYU's Style of Offense...

It's a big test because BYU, you know, Coach Young with his NBA background, they exploit matchups.  So, you know, they're gonna try to find people that dep pick on, that find actions that they pick on, and they'll run them over and over until you adjust. And so it'll be a big thing for us to make sure that we're true to our principles and we'll have to give them different looks and have different coages for what they're trying to spoil against us and what they're trying to attack. But we have to be we have to be true to who we are in the way the team we're built to be physical.  

We're built to be big, and we just have to enforce our will of where we are. If I try to get into a competition with them,, going against who we are and trying to kind of be more suited. It's not our game.  It's not going to go good for it. So we have to be who we are, we got to be able to control the paint. We got to be able to rebound.  We got to take care of the ball. And then the big part of his part of taking care of the ball is what our shock quality is to. So the shots we get on offense are just as important as anything.

The Increased Level of Poise from These New Freshman...

These guys are coming in now, where they are planning on the ESBN.  They're playing on TV already. They've traveled around the world to play basketball. They are.  There's always the camera in their face. They either have a documentary or someone's always around them. So there's this junk is not as, I guess, daunting as it used to be with the attention put on it.  They already have this attention, especially when you're a top-rated recruit like AJ, and I dealt with this last year, where they already are a little bit more comfortable, and that light, now, the basketball is still in the adjustment because of the size of physicality, the older players that are really good. But I think from the external factors that became less of a factor than they used to be, maybe five or six years ago.

On the Others from BYU...

Miami HC Jai Lucas on #BYU: "AJ is their most talented player and will be a top three draft pick and all that stuff. And he's rightfully so, he's really good. But I feel their best player is Richie Saunders, and it's because his impact on the game is so loud." pic.twitter.com/YOJkuLvtBm
— Justice Sandle (@Justice_News5) November 26, 2025

"AJ is their most talented player and will be a top three draft pick and all that stuff. And he's rightfully so, he's really good. But I feel their best player is Richie Saunders, and it's because his impact on the game is so loud from offensive rebounds to making and win in plays, to making six threes, free throws, his numbers, just he is as good of a college basketball player in college right now as there is.  And I think it goes a little bit away because of everybody talks about AJ and Rob Won. Those guys are really good, but Richie Saunders and his impact on winning is a big part of the game and a big part of their team.

And then Rob Wright, just from a point guard aspect and playing the position, is really good.  So our ball screen coverage and making sure we give him different looks as well, and those three guards kind of make the team go in their ability to play and transition, but also, you know, they have different skills that are all good at. So, you know, A.J with his size, being able to shoot and postse over smaller guards,

Richie Saunders with his tenacity, I guess, is the best way to put it to get other places and then Rob Wright with his speed and his ability to play in the paint and finish and make passes. So they all give you different looks, but I think one thing that makes that team flow is that they all complement each other.  So we just got to find ways to disrupt them, and we will. This we're gonna use. Jay, in regards to Trey, I'm thinking about that Florida game in particular, he's a very vocal.. in between time, you can see it with the guys, just very talkative leadership, you know, things going well, things not going well.

On Tre Donaldson's Leadership Growing...

Yeah, you know, I think this is one of his first years where he's been able to really use his voice. You know, when he's young at all, but that wasn't his role, and then that Michigan, it really wasn't his role either. And so coming here, for me and for him was part of his development, and becoming a leader, and growing into that, and he has made tremendous steps since he got here in April in doing that.  And it's an ongoing process, just because you're old and just because you've done a lot doesn't mean you're a leader. You have to be able to get people to follow you. And you have to be able to connect with people.  You got to be able to have strong relationships. You have to be able to walk what you talk. And so doing that consistently on a daily basis, is something that he has started to do at a high level.

On How He is Enjoying Being a Head Coach...

I mean, one, I'm blessed to be here. So always keeping that in active, and respecting the opportunity that comes with it, but also just respecting everything about the job and the position and the title.  You know, the thing that has been, and it's always going to be this way with new programs, new coaches, and new staff is it's coaching everybody and getting everybody using the same terminology on the same page, because I've got stuff I've never worked with anybody on my staff, so we're all learning, and I'm teaching, and we're doing it together. And that's what I enjoy the most, is just building this foundation, and we have a great we got great kids. We got great people in the program, great kids.  It makes it easy as a first-time head coach going into games with people you love and people you trust, and then, for me, it's just taking the day by day.

You know, we can't same thing I say about four games, same thing I'm saying about the BYU game. Whatever happens tomorrow day, we are not winning the national championship or losing the national championship.  I want to see us compete to the level of the game. I didn't think we' competed, we competed, we didn't execute to the level of the game in Florida. So I wanted to compete and execute to the level of the game, but also to the level of our standard and what Miami basketball is about.  So that's what I go into every game focusing on, and just making sure the message is clear, and they understand it, and we can execute it, and then we just give them in the mind fr and just go attack.

How He Thinks MIami will matchup with BYU...

I think we'll be fine.  Um, I think like I talked about earlier, we have to really stay true to who we are and enforce the things we talked about enforcing. We got to be on the glass. We got to win the glass, allensively, our defense.  We have to get to the line, we have to get f We have to play downhill, we have to protect the paint, we have to cause some deflections. It's a game that, if we stick to our principles and what we talk about being and what we've built since June, we'll be fine. Because we're built for this type of game, you know what I mean?  We should be bigger in size. inside, and on the perimeter more, not height-wise, but without physicality. So we just have to be true to who we are. But I like the matchup.

On Caleb Gaskins Signing...

One, we recruit people, not play, and his family and him as a person are the people that fit our culture and what we want to be about.  And so that was the first step, if he didn't fit at them. We wouldn't recruit them. And then the second step, of course, he's a really good basketball player.  He has great versatility of where he can play on a perimeter, he can play inside. He can play him on the wing, you can play him at a four, which is one of the main parts of basketball right now in general, college basketball or any type of basketball, is having people that are versatile and doing that. You know, I recruited Caleb since I was at Duke.  

So I had to build in relationship. I've been to see him when he was at my bird plenty of times, and then his relationship with cousin Moran and Co Moran being able to coach him last year, I think was the year he coached him, but also him being in the same program as Coach Moran, and so there being some overlap, and he also had a relationship with CY. So it was NEP, so it was just a lot of overlapping relationships, and this was the reason I put the staff together.  

This way is when there is a kid in state, and there are people in state that we want to recruit. We should have those relationships in relation is the best place for them to come in the state, and he just happened to move from Melbourne to Miami, which is even more benefit. But, you know, it's it's why everything is built the way it's built for me, and this is just a testament it being that way.

One the Stretch of Games coming up for Miami...

Everything is to prepare us for the ACC. So this stretch of three games is preparation for what we're gonna see in the conference. I think we got a stretch where it's like, North Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina State, or something like that.  I can't remember exactly. I haven't looked that far ahead, but it's something like that. And so this week in this stretch of game against three high-level teams, qu one teams, three teams with great tradition in their program.  And it gives us the opportunity to get a real road game, even though Florida was a road game, but they won't say it was a road game. It's neutral, but it was a road game. But that old Miss would be a real road game. against tournament teams.  And so this is what we're gonna see in the ACC that's what stretch will prepare us for, and these games give us the opportunity one, to build our resumes, but also prepare us for the rest of the season.

On Thanksgiving plans for the Team...

Yep, so we'll do Thanksgiving tonight. We'll have practice here in a little bit. We leave it I take practice is at 2:30, then we'll have a Thanksgiving dinner, where families are invited, and we'll kind of spend some time to the tonight with the families that are here in town, with the staff family and everybody, and we'll do a Thanksgiving dinner tonight and we'll kind of go from there, but I did want to do something as a team and just continuing to build off of just building the camaraderie.  Like we did team dinner last night.

We take up phones, got to talk to each other. You know, this is part of the new college basketball era, is how quick can you draw a connection, and how quick can these relationships come together?  And it's a process. So just doing different things like that, Thanksgiving dinner with the families, also, just to get them a little bit more relaxed, you know, these are intense, high pressure moments, but they're still kids. You know, no matter they're making money or whatever, they're still kids, and there's still things of seeing your mom that just gets you at peace of being able to relax and then refocus on their just being basketball. as a big part of it as well

Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.