Six Straight Losses for the Hurricanes and Jim Larranaga Struggles to Find Answers
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The Miami Hurricanes basketball team is 3-16 in its last 19 games. It could be 3-17 as they face off against a Tennessee team that will likely be ranked the No. 1 team in the country by the time Tuesday comes around for the Canes.
Opening Statement:
The idea of preparing for an opponent uh and then executing the gameplan is so vitally important and I thought we did that uh the only thing that surprised me is we went four for 25 from three and we started the game that way we missed a lot of what I would say quality shot we only had one point after six or seven minutes of the game but eventually we tied it up at 18 and we actually took a one one basket lead and then the second half at se sword back and forth for a while so they're a very good team they're very experienced they have a lot of confidence in each other and you can see it at down the stretch uh the big guy Locken made a huge three. Chase Hunter is an all-conference player probably an All-American probably an NBA guy he's uh you know extremely talented at both ends of the court um south oh again close but close doesn't count.
On Matthew Cleveland's limited second half minutes...
We wanted to go back to uh AJ Stanton-McCray. We thought he was playing well. he was guarding Chase Hunter we thought uh really well.
On Jalil Bethea...
in the first half, he struggled a little bit to do some of the little things so I took him out and he didn't play much but in the second when I put him in I thought he was a different player and I left him in because I thought he was helping us he's getting better defensively. I think he made a couple of key shots for us. I wish that shot clock violation had been a good one they said the ball was still in his hand.
On wanting his guards to grab more rebounds...
If you look at our team Brandon had eight rebounds Lynn had eight rebounds AJ Stanton-McCray had seven rebounds Austin Schwarz had none Nigel had two Matt Cleveland had three Jalil had one Jalen only had one Paul had four uh and Divine had none. We have to get our guards rebounding better because if you look at Clemson'spercentages they only shot 39% for the game and uh 9 for 27 from three even though that's uh not bad some of those came off of a missed shot they kicked it out for three so um we get those rebounds then get a chance to fast break.
On Nijel Pack's off night...
We tried to get him going just one of those nights. I can't explain it uh I'd say you have to give credit to Jaden um Zachary because he's a little taller than Nigel but he weighs 30 pounds or 40 pounds more and he's very very physical. I try to bring to the official's attention that he really uses his physicality to guard uh Nigel and it makes it very tough on him.
Comparing this losing streak to last year's stretch...
No one likes to lose. I mean last year it was different we had so many injuries that we had very very little chemistry despite the fact we had some very good players returning from the final four teams half the time our practices were without our best players now Nigel got hurt and then Wuga got hurt and then NORAD got hurt and then Matt got hurt and you know every time you lose a starter for a while and then he comes back you're you got to bring them back into the fold and get everybody coordinated and we just were not able to do that last year this year you know we're missing a key player in Kyrie U because we need another big guy to rebound and he's a good rebounder um but we have to rely very heavily on the three-point shot and then we shoot the ball well we're going to be in good shape offensively but we still have to defend and rebound at a high level.
I said I think we've gotten a little better defensively in rebounding that needs to be consistent you can't do it for two games and then the next game not do it you got to really defend and rebound because that requires effort I just I follow Instagram a lot and I was just listening to a bill self quote and he said if you're a coach and you have to coach effort and toughness you got no chance effort and toughness has to be a given every day in practice and in every game and then you coach the x's and the O's you know how to run your offense and how to strategize your defense.
On the bench production...
Our bench has been pretty consistent I think we're averaging 18 to 20 points a game off the bench in these games and I thought Matt played very well in the first half what guys look at is their playing time and you have to understand it's it's really my job is to try to figure out which guys are playing well and play them together and if I find a combination that's doing that I'm going to stick with them if I find a combination is not doing well like the way we started the game well I'm going to make changes why if those guys who started get us off to a bad start then there's something that says you know maybe someone else will help us recover from this bad start and those guys did um I think Matt and Jalild and Jalen those guys, in particular, went in play and Divine.
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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.