Everything Miami Head Coach Jai Lucas said Ahead of Rivalry Matchup Against FSU

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes prepare to hit the road for the second-to-last time this season ahead of facing Florida State.

The Seminoles have won six of their last seven games, which gives some concerns for Miami head coach Jai Lucas.

Here is what he had to say ahead of the matchup during his Monday press conference:

On the FSU Rivarly...

I'm still learning, I guess, about this rivalry, but being a rivalries before. It kind of has the same feel. I'll be interested to see how it is up there.  I feel like there is a lot. I think just South Florida Miam me being a big city. There's a lot of FSU fans here and a lot of seminal graduates, so it adds to the fuel down here, but I'm sure it will be a great crowd up there, because of the rivalry and it's exciting.  

Whenever you have a game that's always important and always means something, it all kind of always brings a little bit more, you know, out of it into it. So hopefully we can start to shift the the record a little bit and get some wins.

I think they have done a really good job of adapting and adjusting how they're playing. You know, I think early on, you know, and they still shoot a lot of threes, but they were just kind of shooting them whenever, you know, they're very, now they're real calculated.  McCrae, Robert McCrae has played as good as any guard in the league. Since we've played him, and he's continued to down the stretch, and they have done a really good job of buying into their identity and by doing that, it's giving them great confidence and great belief in their playing that way right now.

On the Difference in the Team From A Month Ago...

You know, when I watch the game against them and watching the game back, now, I mean, I don't even know who we were in that game.  And that's the one thing for us that's, um. I guess pleasing is that we have gotten better, and we've grown since then. And that's always what you want to do, but with them, they're starting different.  They're starting extremely big. They're still playing the zone. I think they's size in their athleticism.  

When you see them in person, it'll shock you, and I think that's what they've gotten a lot of people with, and they' with as good as McCray has played, just his ability to get in the paint, draw files, but get other people involved is really what leads to a lot of their threes and how they've kind of grown. I think their size and their ability to switch one through five and some of the things they do is very impressive.

On Coach Luke Loucks...

No, he's a good coach. He's a really good coach. He's been around a lot of basketball.  You know, he's a former player as well. I think that's the one thing in the ACC this year that was kind of the new wave of coaches that have come in. They've all done a really good job of standing true to who they are, but also elevating the programs where they are.  You know, you look at where Wade, look at Ryan Odom, you look at lookouts. I think those are the other new coaches that are in the league. Yep..  Oh, well, thank you, I appreciate that, but you know, just thinking about it, they've done a really good job, and the same with him, you know, with it being his first time, I believe. I hope I'm not mistaken, but coaching in college. It is a different game.  And he's adjusted and adapted to it, so he's done a really good job with that

On How Miami Prepares for Late Game Situations...

You know, we've always practiceiced situations. We have something that we do, probably like, three times a week.  We call it a fire drill, and it goes through those situations where if we don't have a timeout, this is what we're running. If we got to get the ball, like we executed a play to get the ball to half court with three seconds to go instead of trying to chunk a full court play.

We wanted to get it to half court at least, and we end up not doing it anyway, but at least give you a chance a closer chance to get a shot off for a three point play.  And that's something that we did in Florida State. We tried to go to length. This game, we wouldn't have called the time out.  So we've gone through those situations of each time, where to get to it. I feel like the guys are comfortable, what we're gonna run and what we're gonna execute in those moments earlier in the year when we were practicing a little bit more, we would have what we call just kind of segments, like in the game segments, so up to minute 30 to go.

He played out up for, two minutes to go down four, two minutes to go, kind of going through those different things.  So it's prepared us for these moments.

On the Team's Mood after the Close Loss to Virginia...

You know, we've always, at least from my perspective, our team has always had great confidence and great belief in how good we are, and it's no different. You know, we feel like we can compete and play with anybody on the court, and the same thing showed with Virginia. And so now, you know, it's the one possession game right there, you know, tip ball, loose ball, whatever, you know, and the game is completely different. You know, we got a cowow call it North Carolina State, made three free throws win the game.  We're on the other side of the coin this time. So that's just how the game works. But for me in February, you want to be in games that matter, you want to be in games that important, when you're fighting for something and we're still fighting for our season.  We're still fighting for seeding. We're still fighting for a lot of things. And so that's what's most exciting about this time.

On Where the Team has Grown Most So Far This Season...

Just our discipline and our attention to detail, and that comes with just time of getting to know me as a coach and what's important to me. I think that's the first thing. I think to buy into our identity, of who we have to be to win, and compete in games, and I think we've done a great job with that and kind of stuck to the formula, and then I felt like individually, as a team, but also individually played or player, people have gotten better throughout the season and developed.

 I think one thing you point out, like Ernest's free throw shooting from where he started, to where he is. Malik's rebounding, Shelton's consistency. Dante's growth, as a player, to bench Timo and Sali's their ability to come in and impact winning.  So we've developed throughout the year, which is what you always want to do. So I would say those three categories are the ones.

On the Team's Best Free Throw Shooting and Three Point Shooting Performace...

We finally have a great free throw shooting and a great three point shooting game, and then the other team also has the same. You know, but that's just, it's a testament to where we are in the development, and you never know when things will click and when things start to click, you just got to keep doing the work, and the guys have done that. And to me, you know, I told them this after the game, that's what a Sweet 16 game feels like.  

That's what Elite Eight game still like, you know, that's the type of emvironment and pressure situations, and how each possession matters, you know, and those are the games we want to be in, and that's where we want to be moving forward. And so that's what I just kind of want them to get out of that experience as well.

On Ernest Udeh Jr's Improved Free Throw Shooting...

What he's been able to do with Ernest, but he's done a great job, both him and Ernest of just working at it and continuing to work at it 'cause they have the whole season, and then just trust in the process and trusting the plan. So it's all of those things.'s mechanics, it's mental, it's emotional, of like, if you this one, it's okay, you know, it's the same thing, so they've done a good job.

On the Messaging of Saying Sweet 16 or Elite 8 Style of Games...

I'm just up for those situations, 'cause we're gonna be in those situations, and it may not be a. Hopefully, it is a Sweet 16 or Elite 8.  I'm not gonna say it may not be there, but, you know, we're gonna be in close games here coming down the stretch. We've been in close games and getting them comfortable for when we're in that type of situation again, you go back to art, we've been there before. We know what this feels like we executed some games, we were able to do it.  

Some games we didn't. So just putting them and getting them to learn from that experience and learn from that environment and that moment to help us down the road. And that's kind of what it is, 'cause, you know, once we, we have four more games.  Four more games, you know, once you get into conference tournament and NancyCA tournament, to win and go home. So those moments, even, I guess, come to the forefront even more. So just giving us confidence and giving us experience and data to pool from

On the Adjustment from Tru Washington on the Bench and Dante Allen Starting...

I mean, I think you out of the three games, Tru been back, he's played really well in that role. You know, I thought he played well against Virginia. I thought he was good at NC State.  Everybody struggled against Virginia Tech except Tre. So I won't hold that against him. And I felt like, you know, when Tru was away, we found something with Dante, and I want to continue to grow with Dante in that moment and in that role.  

And for me, the punch off the bench with True gives us something in those moments where we got to make some, Shelton comes out, and Malik comes out, and Tre has to come out true out there, being a scorn punch and having the ability to carry some of that load when those guys are out, I think it's a good rotation and good rhythm for us right now.

On Malik Reneau's Injury...

He's doing good, you know, it popped out, I got stepped on, so that kind of, I guess, yeah, just kind of dislocated.  I think Sheldon stepped on it, if something happened, and so they had to pop it back in. You know, there was no fracture, no break, which is always a thing you worry about.  But, you know, it's so, it's tender, popped out, so we'll see. I think he'll be ready to go, but take it day by day.