UM men look to continue recent success vs. Tar Heels
February is upon us and the University of Miami, coming off a historic Final Four run last season, is not in the NCAA Tournament conversation heading into Saturday’s 4 p.m. home game against the thirdranked North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Hurricanes have been hobbling with a string of ankle injuries and are unranked with a 15-8 record, 6-6 in the ACC and coming off a 60-38 drubbing at Virginia, Miami’s lowest point-total since 1948. An upset of the conference-leading Tar Heels on ESPN on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd would certainly help their résumé and make national headlines.
The Hurricanes have a good record against UNC of late. Miami won the past two times they played, by eight last year in Chapel Hill and by 28 the previous year in Coral Gables, the largest UM margin of victory ever against the Tar Heels.
The last time they played, on Feb. 13, 2023, UM was 21-5 and ranked No. 15 while UNC was unranked. Jordan Miller led the Hurricanes with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Nijel Pack went 7 of 11 for 23 points.
This time, UM is running into a Tar Heels team that is ranked No. 3 with an
18-5 record and leading the conference with 82 points per game.
The Heels will be highly motivated because they are coming off a four-point loss to Clemson. At the center of it all for UNC is fifthyear senior Armando Bacot, the 6-11 and 240pound preseason All-American.
He had 24 points and 13 rebounds against Clemson. He had 25 points, 10 boards and five assists in the victory over then-No. 7 Duke last Saturday. Those were his 24th and 25th career games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Bacot was expected to enter the NBA Draft after last season but chose to return to college for his final year of eligibility. He will turn 24 on March 6.
Asked about the veteran leadership Bacot brings the Tar Heels, UM coach Jim Larrañaga smiled and said: “Yeah, I think he and I are the same age.”
He went on to call Bacot “a tremendous role model for other student athletes who decide that education is important” and praised his loyalty to his university and his team, even as the team had a down year last season.
“I think Bacot is on a mission and doing everything he can,” Larrañaga said. “He’s sacrificed in certain areas. His scoring numbers are not quite where they’ve been, but he still has a huge impact on the game, offensively, defensively and rebounding.”
UM guard Bensley Joseph said of Bacot: “He brings that leadership, a true veteran in the ACC. He’s been in that system for a while doing amazing things, putting up big time numbers. We just have to limit what he’s great at, beat him up the floor, be physical with him, keep him off the glass as much as we can.”
The other player the Canes will have to contain is point guard RJ Davis, who leads the ACC with 21.3 points per game.
“This year, he just took it upon himself to be that number one option guard for UNC,” said Joseph, who will likely be tasked with covering Davis. “The past few years they always had tremendous backcourt talent, like Caleb Love, but now he’s by himself so he’s made it a missing to put it on himself and be a dynamic player. He’s been doing that all season long.”
Miami may be without starting freshman guard Kyshawn George, who injured his ankle in the opening minutes of the Virginia Tech game.
He did not practice Wednesday or Thursday and was limited on Friday.
Wooga Poplar has been bothered by a sprained ankle since late-December. He had his foot in a boot around campus this week as a precaution, but practiced Thursday and Friday and is expected to play.
“One of the biggest challenges this season is when we have an injured player, we’re not as good,” Larrañaga said. “We’re not one of those teams that has eight McDonald’s AllAmericans and we can just rotate them. We will put out the best possible team we can Saturday and hopefully play well.”