Everything Miami Head Coach Jai Lucas Said Ahead of Stanford Matchup

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — As the Miami Hurricanes (16-4, 5-2 ACC) look ahead to the rest of the season, they face another superstar freshman that no one saw coming.

The Canes take on Stanford who has the best guard in the country that no one knows about.

Cardinal guard Ebuka Okorie has the full attention of Jai Lucas as he prepares for the next game, as well as the offensive consistencies he searches for with his team.

Here is what he had to say about Stanford, Okorie, and his team ahead of the 9:00 p.m. ET matchup between the two teams.

FIrst Impressions on Stanford...

All right, always good to come back off a win. especially another road win.  And we got a big week, big week ahead of us. The two California teams, you know, are both really good. And just playing, at least to me right now, is Stanford, one of the best back courts in the conference right now, with Okorie and Smith, who comes off the bench, who was in 20 in the last three games.  It's a great challenge and a great test force to see where we're going and see where we are. And you, a big part of it is being at home, and I thought the last four is stay down the last couple of things had good energy, a good environment, and it felt like a home court and a home court advantage, so I'm excited to see what these two games can be like and look like ch. And so all the students, fans, everybody, we need everybody.

On Star Freshman Ebuka Okorie...

You know at New Hampshire, he played at a big high school, played at Brewster's, who watched and knew him, he's a good player.  Now, did I expect this from him? Absolutely not. But sometimes it's just going to the right environment, going to the right place, at the right time, and being somewhere where you can grow and develop as a freshman, with ultra confidence from your staff and everything. And so you're just seeing the benefit of it. And just him being put in situations, if they put him in a fit. So I just think it's, I don't know if he would be who he is, is really good, if he didn't go to Stanford, and I think they did a good job ofaluating and finding them in the right situation.

He had great speed. He's I think he's the one thing that he's now getting fouls, which is everything, because it's just the ability to get and to create so much pressure on the rim with his size. After all, he's not 6-foot-4, he's not 6-foot-5, he's about 6-foot-1", maybe.  And so just his burst and the ability to creating foul and generate fouls and getting down yield and make plays for others and do everything, to be honest with you. It's very impressive.

On the 2026 Freshman Class...

I think this class was really good to start with. This class was always really good. Looks back, even like, you get a guy like Cooper Flagg, he's reclassified and is supposed to be in his class.  So this class is going to be phenomenal, because I had been watching them for a while, so you knew the guys, the [AJ] Dybansta, Koe Peat, The Boozers, Shelton, and all, you knew they could have an impact. And a big part of me is physically. Like you look at them physically and play the games right away and then that talent level as a freshman because they just are still pure in the sense of they haven't been jaded behind the game of the college and then and the coaching that goes into it that they just are still playing out their talent and you put the right pieces around them, it works out.  

So I'm not overly impressed because I knew it was coming because these guys are high-end, like Darryn Peterson, Caleb Wilson, and like, these are Pros. You know what I mean, then to spread out and go to different places. I think it's impressive.  So, you know, you have a kid at BYU, North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Stanford, Kansas, they're all over the country, UConn has great freshmen. So it just makes college basketball this season more exciting to watch.

On Dante Allen...

He's a connector. out and Dante's impact on his always because he cares about winning.  He always is looking to find and makes the right plays and when he's in the game and when he's out there, you know, he always gets the ball where, needs to get and then on the defensive and he just competes with everybody in. and you need some of those guys on the team who just are connecting players and can build the pieces together so that way, you know, Tre can be Tre and Shelton can be Shelton a Malik and Tru and all those guys can kind of be themselves and you add those connectors. Dante's one of our best ones that's doing it.

On Adjusting the Lineup...

Yeah, it is, and I'll try something different this game. You know, it's just I need to find a way to get our rotations right where I don't feel like we're taking a little bit of a hault or a dive in parts in the game. My substitution patterns are a little thrown off, and I think the way to do it right now is I have to take somebody on the starting lineup and bring them up.  Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? No. Usually everyone will play their minutes anyway in their own just getting over the fact that I'm not getting my name called, but it doesn't have an impact on the game on how you should perform on what should be done.

So, you know, I think I try something different in this game.  See how the lineup goes, but I thought the spark off the bench was a little bit over the boost and helped everyone get off to a good start, which helped as well. And then in the middle segment of the halves, we're able to get another jump and another boost, where we took a little bit of the lead. And so, just finding a way for us to sustain a 40-minute game is my goal.

On the offensive execution against Syracuse...

It was better. It was not up the standard that it needed to be but i say that scoring 86 points. I think we are missing the consistent flow and we are getting to stagnant at times and just trying to eliminate this stagnance, because I think the pace, the movement, and the precision will eliminate this, but it doesn't matter what people do, we moving at the right pace, and we know what we're looking for, and how we're trying to execute, we can get whatever we want. Now, to all moves, and this person holds it and dribbles and jabs, and now we're playing slow and now they can load the paint and growing and this all this stuff. Like, we got to understand who we are and how we are gonna win and how we're gonna be good.

On Timo Malovec...

Timo gave us big minutes. He gave us big minutes at Syracuse, and in that second half, we had a big stretch when he was in the game. May two threes, but also he just made some timely plays, getting the ball where he needed to be at the right time.  And those little things are huge. All our game in the margins. You know what I mean? All their games are one- two possession games.  And those margins are big.

On the 9 p.m. Start...

We'll stick to what we normally do. We normally come back around. It makes the game day longer. But we'll just kind of push and walk through it. And I'll stick to what we know. I know, we don't play good early, so hopefully we have some night owls on the team that are able to come out and compete. But my thing is when you play 9 o'clock, that you, you know, get the second game, that's the game you want to be.  You want to be at 9 o'clock. You don't want to be the 6 o'clock, central, you want to be eight or 9 o'clock, which means everybody's home, dinner is over, and they're watching you. So that's what you want to do.