Miami's Star Freshman has Become the 'Connector' For the Hurricanes
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes' defense has played at an elite level this season, but at times, the offense has taken a step back.
The Hurricanes also saw injuries ahead of conference play that most had to recover from. The Canes are already dealing with Marcus Allen being out for the season, but they also lost their four-star combo guard Dante Allen. He returned at the start of conference play, and while his stats may not pop out, he has been the glue that has kept the team together.
Head coach Jai Lucas knows highlights this ahead of the Canes hoops matchup against Stanford in Coral Gables.
"He's a connector," Lucas said about the star guard. " Dante's impact on his always because he cares about winning. He always is looking to find and make the right plays, and when he's in the game and when he's out there, you know, he always gets the ball where he needs to get and then on the defensive side, he just competes with everybody in.
"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, 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."
That point was proven when Lucas started the freshman guard against Syracuse when the team instantly jumped to a 9-0 lead and never let it up on the road.
Tre Donaldson was on the bench to watch it all, but to Lucas, it does not matter if you don't start, because at the end of the day, you are still getting your minutes. "You are just not getting your name called."
"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 halt or a dive in parts of the game," Lucas said. "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."
Allen finished the game against the Orange with three assists, two rebounds, and zero points. Box score-wise, in his 18 minutes, he didn't produce, but his impact on the floor was clear as day.
This lineup change might be one of many to try and see what works best for Lucas's team. While Donaldson's play is outstanding as the starting point guard, Allen is playing his way into the starting lineup.
"I think I'll try something different in this game," Lucas said. "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."
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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.