Miami Basketball Continues to Work Around Zone and Turnover Struggles
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The Miami Hurricanes have a problem during the past three first halves in ACC play. They turn the ball over too much, and they struggle with zones that are thrown at them in different combinations.
Against No. 22 Clemson, they turned the ball over 12 times in the first half; against Florida State, nine, and at Syracuse, repeated the feat by turning it over nine times.
The only difference, the Hurricanes were able to pick up the road victory against the Orange for a quad-two win.
Head coach Jai Lucas knows that they have to clean it up, but was happy that they did in the second half to pull out the victory.
"We had seen a lot of zone the whole year," Lucas said after snapping the Canes' two-game losing streak. "So we're really familiar with playing against the zone. And so it's something we're comfortable in doing. We just had to make sure when we got the ball in the middle, we were making the right rings.
"And I thought in the first half, Malik wasn't, and that's how he ends up with seven turnovers. But once we figured it out, relaxed, took a deep breath, we were able to do it, and then also, you know, scouting. You know, we struggled against his own last game against Florida State. You know, they played it a little bit differently, but the same, so we kind of expected and anticipated every game."
Moreover, these turnovers and offensive struggles highlight how they don't have the best three-point shooting team in the country. They live and die on defense, transition points, and second-chance points.
"It's who we have to be." Lucas said. "We always want to get back 40 percent of our misses. And we want to get 15 offensive rebounds per game. And we want our second-chance points to match our offensive rebounds. And so, Clemson and Florida State, we end up in the '20s in our percentages. And we're not this offensive juggernaut. You know, we are, in the sense that we have a formula that we got to stick to, offensive rebound is a big part of it, getting foul points in the paint.
"And then for me, and for us, I got an understanding if we hit threes, we hit threes. But we have a formula that sticks to it, and, you know, I tell the guys the same thing. Number one team in the country. Arizona makes six threes a game, and no one talks about them having bad offense.
"So if we stick to the formula and do what we're supposed to do, we'll be fine. And until the last two games, I think we're a number one scoring team in the ACC, and we get 85 today, and we hit threes. That's why we get 85, but we're not banking on, like, making 10 threes a game for us to be really good.
"You know, we're banking on offensive rebounding, getting foul points in the paint, and that takes physicality and grit, which is hard because you're almost playing offense like defense, but that's how we're built. So we have to buy into it."
Miami returns to the Watsco Center on Wednesday as the Hurricanes host Stanford at 9 p.m. The game will air on the ACC Network.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.