The Only Positive From This Season of Miami Hurricanes Men's Basketball
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — This was the season the Hurricanes would have like to gotten back on track but the cards where not in their favor. It started with a rough beginning stretch of the season, followed by head coach Jim Larranaga retiring after Christmas, and now the Hurricanes losing 14 of of their last 15 games.
There haven't been a lot of positives coming from the team but the single one that has been standing out is senior guard Matthew Cleveland.
Cleveland has had to step into a role he was not expected to take to start the season as the team's beacon of life and hope. Going through a season like this is not easy for a senior with high expectations for this team and himself.
Coming off of a concussion to start the season, it took some time for the senior to get his foot back under him and despite the loss to SMU, he went for a career-high in scoring finishing with 31 points. Most players would quit but Cleveland is still playing for pride.
"I was just trying to set an example just by my play," Cleveland said. "that was the main thing. just play hard. Embarrassing at halftime so the only thing you could do was go out and have some type of pride."
On the season he is averaging 13.8 points a game, shooting over 50 percent from the field and the highest three-point percentage of his career nearing 40 percent. If there were a few other pieces around him, he would be a top contributor to a contending team.
This team, however, is nowhere close to contention status. They are a centimeter away from bringing in an entirely new staff and burning this season from the history books. Cleveland will continue to play away as he will start to get scouted for the NBA draft where he is looked at as a second-round pick or an undrafted free agent once the season ends as of now.
READ MORE FROM MIAMI HURRICANES ON SI:
Can the Men's Basketball Season be Redeemed?: Just a Minute
Matthew Cleveland's Advice is to 'Just Smile'
REPORT: No Time Table for the Return of Nijel Pack
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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.