Everything Miami's Jai Lucas said after the Victory over Southern Miss

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes down the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in an early Saturday afternoon matchup, but it wasn't the prettiest sight.

The Hurricanes struggled in the first half to the dismay of head coach Jai Lucas.

The Canes got the win, but Lucas was still disappointed with the effort in the first half. He spoke with the media after the game to get across his frustration as well as what the team could do.

Opening Statement...

Yeah, you know, it was gonna be a tricky one, regardless, you know, because he does a really good job of mixing things up and throwing different defenses, you know, his roster is built through his background. He's done a really good job of building his team to fit his personality, fit his identity.  I felt the start of the game; they just played a lot harder than we did. And this is all part of growing up, all part of the process, first noon game, first Saturday game, so you kind of know and expect what's coming.

I wanted to see where we would be, and we weren't there.  We weren't to the level. And I thought that was the biggest difference between the first half and the second half was that our intensity, our energy, our effort, was there in the second half, and it was not there at all in the first half. I didn't think it was anything schematic.  I didn't think it was anything they were doing, anything we weren't doing. The difference in the game they were playing harder than us. So I challenged the guys at halftime, and they responded. We always a good sign.  And so I was proud of that, we just got to try to get as healthy as we can these next couple of weeks. All right. And get ready for conference play.

On the disappointing start...

"You know's disappointing because it's never been the case for us, and it's kind of you can fall in a trap in an early Saturday game and then you can also fall in a trap guys know they have to play heavy minutes.  So they feel like they can pace themselves at the start and try to get through the game, which is never the right answer. You know what I mean?"

"And so I felt that it wasn't as disappointing as it was expected to be for me.  You know what I mean? I kind of could see it from shootaround and could see it, in the last couple of days in practice, and go this game, we barely can practice because we've got six guys. You got guys in and out of practice, different bumps, different bruises.  So all of it is connected. And so my job as the coach is to figure out what's the best way these next couple of weeks to stay sharp, to make sure that this doesn't happen again, and to make sure that we can practice and continue to get better, even though we might have seven guys."

The difference in the second half...

I think the difference was up. I mean, for lack of a better word, they got going.  They played to who we are they played the identity, played to our standard. And every the kids, let's we want to be robots and much as you want to be as consistent as possible, human nature always gets in. And that was the thing I was worried about in this early game was the human nature.  And so just challenging them and then responding to the challenge at halftime, it's the one thing I will take out of this game. It's difficult already with like a seven man rotation

On the Injured Canes...

You, Marcus, Dante and Noam, are getting us good minutes these last two games in Georgetown and Ole Miss. And it's putting everybody in different roles. It's kind of changing our team a little bit.  You know, big part of our team is playing big. We're playing Malik at the four. We're down because of these rotations and not really having to guard up, like Malik's got to play some more five.  Timo's out there. Shelton's playing some four. So it's just changed our team a lot. where before we kind of had great role definition, and there was a lot of clarity, but with the injuries, it's just not.  And those guys, you know, they're a big part of what we do. We've built this around having 10, 11 guys who know their roles and know what their expectation is every game. And that way, we can kind of attack it. You know, I think it's hard in this day and age for multiple reasons.  One is just money-wise, but also team chemistry-wise; it's hard to have 13 guys and think they're going to play. It's impossible.

On Tre Donaldson...

You know, he's just getting better and better at getting more comfortable in the role he's in here. He came in here and is completely different than the role he was at Michigan. You know, they kind of played Danny Wolf, and he was kind of a point guard, you know, so giving them the opportunity to kind of play and display his IQ and his ability to run the team, I think, is giving him a little bit more life and a little bit more confidence. And it's just a different role we need them in here.  There's nothing they didn't do with it, Michigan. They won the Big 10 and put in the Sweet 16, so they did it exactly right. We asked them to do something different here for him to have 11 and six a one time over at any level, any game, any team in the future.

More on Injuries...

Yeah, it's kind of day day, we kind of expect to be out for a little bit longer than everybody else, but everybody's kind of day to day. We were just working through it.  You know, knowing is something that just kind of happened in Ole Miss game and just kind of seeing, you know, we had everybody get something true, you got something. least got something or just got something. Everybody's got something. It's that part of the year where nobody's 100%.  And what I told the guys at halftime and after the game, nobody cares. It doesn't matter. Nobody cares that we are at seven guys; nobody cares that you don't feel great or feel 100%. I mean, it's our opportunity to go out and compete.  You've got to go out there and compete.

On the first half errors...

We's still, like, it's everything is kind of trialing error right now with us. There's a lot of it might we don't have enough to practice. We' going against, we're going against different people.  You know, I think it is a good cur ball force in terms of our sides and also it kind of helps on the air style of. kind of try to lead guys in a little bit longer with two or three fils when we have to. So that's a big part of it too. Ole Miss hadn't seen us play it, so they weren't kind of prepared for it.  Southern Missaws played a lot, so they came in with a good attack and a good plan. We just got to clean it up somewhere. But I do think it can be a good curveball for us, but it was bad today.

On having the freshmen step up...

You know, the biggest thing is getting and on the team. He's also a guy, and most of the guys are this way, but they shouldn't have to look over their shoulder. I'm not a big in and out sub suby for mistakes.  I grade them off of how hard and how much intensity are they playing with? I could care less if these 04, 03, but if I't feel like they're playing to the level of the game, that's when I get them out. So I want to give all the guys that confidence.  I think Sheldon just finally looked to attack. I thought all like guys that start the game with kind of stuck in mud. And then once we get out the second half, I just felt we just settled into the game better.  And Timo, just an opportunity, I think, is the biggest thing for him. Timo's a really good player. H a really good player, and you're a really good player for us.  You know, he is really talented and can do a lot of things. You know, right now, we're asking him to be a shooter and kind of space the floor, but he's also a guy that has great field, great IQ can play out in the ball screen. So we're able to kind of plug and play him in different spots.  And so him and Nan have kind of changed just a little bit and, you know, we were built when you built defensively, of course, you're going to get up some stuff offensively. It's hard to have great defensive players and offensive players. You know, they wouldn't be here.  They'd be an NBA or something. And so with Timo and N both, you may give up a little bit. Defensive, not a lot, because they can really guard, but it gives you something more offensively, you being able to stretch the court.  So just as to versatility

On Using Analytics on Offense and Defense...

So the things that make things really good offensively These are things you want to take away defensively, and that's what analytics are they off. Like, any time the ball gets into paint, it gives up, you give up so the quality of shots, and the points per chance. There's so much higher when the ball is in the paint, whether it's at the rim or going out for a three.  And the same thing with the shot clock. So we practice transition defense every day, which is you shock you, because it's not common. In college programs, it's not common basketball, and so much other stuff, but it's just because the highest percentage points are always in the first seven seconds of the shot.  We can score the first seven seconds. We call it the red zone. We can and we want to eliminate teams DA can score in the first seven seconds, defensively, because we know the longer you get the shot clock, the lower the quality of the shot.  So it's just kind of works hand in hand with what we teach and what we reach offensively, and then it also goes on what we're going to take a look

On what makes Timo so versitile...

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the difference right now with the way the team has built usually Timo plays a shooter position. Like, if we're completely healthy, he's kind of in his show and kind of plays that wing, and he's really good in pick-and-roll, really good on dribble handoffs.  Now his role has changed because of Andy's. So now we're using it more as a four-man, where he's out there slipping out of ball screens, which kind of creates confusion because people guard him differently than they do everybody else. And so we have to use all his traits, you know what I mean?  So right now, his trade that helps us the most is the shooting and creating confusion. But early in the year, when he would play and he didn't play much. And now he's earned and gathered some more minutes.  He would play in the perimeter. clipment balls screens. He' come off through a handoff, Zoom actions. So it's just what the team needs and what his role is right now in this moment of the season, why he's playing that work.

On his substitution philosophy with so many players limiting the team...

Yeah, you know, this's going to be a thing for us until we get healthy, is trying to find those guys and kind of get them in and out when we can offense defense around media timeouts, they kind of extend it. And he's our lead scorer is our best player.  It's going to be hard, really good without your lead scoreoring, best player out. So, you know, with us already getting long numbers, the game was tight in the first half and not wasn't it to feel like it was getting away from us or getting out of rhythm. So I had to throw them out there when we can't.  And I'm not afraid to play guys with 2000 in the first half. You just have to be smart when you do it. But anybody, especially at their big positions, especially at their four positions, just changes us.  If he gets in trouble and is not a part of the game, so I got to keep a part of the game as much as possible. It's just more good going off field and what the other team does, who are the people attacking? Like weeks for them one of their lead scores, he's also their fourth or a leak out there on him for the center trick situation.  There's just saying this week before the next game, I just want to game you guys healthy.

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.