Larrañaga and UM taking lofty ranking in stride

CORAL GABLES The Hurricanes have opened the season with eight consecutive wins — including an 86-81 victory over previously unbeaten Minnesota on the road — and have jumped to their highest-ever December ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 at No 6.

But with conference play still looming and a sixgame road trip coming, Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larrañaga and his players acknowledge it’s too early in the season to determine the validity of that ranking. They all see the Hurricanes’ potential but know the biggest tests will come over the course of the next few weeks.

“We don’t come back to the Watsco Center until like Jan. 7. That’s a month away from home. You find out a lot more about yourself on the road, not just for one game like we played in Minnesota, but [now] we’ve got George Washington, then Hawaii on their home court, then two neutral-site games. Then [we’re] at Pittsburgh, at Georgia Tech. That’s a lot of games in a short period of time all away from home,” Larrañaga responded Tuesday when asked if he felt this was his most talented team at Miami, where he’s coached since the 2011-12 season. “We’re going to know a lot more about ourselves around the middle of January. … I think we play Clemson on [Jan.] 13 and Duke on the 15th. If that’s the case, ask me this question on Jan. 16.”

Added freshman Chris Lykes: “It’s going to be intense. Every play matters and we have to make sure we’re giving 100 percent. After that, whatever happens, we’ll be OK with the results as long as we’re giving 100 percent . ... We’re going to have to stay focused, [play with] poise down the stretch.”

Although the Hurricanes have posted some impressive numbers in those eight wins — Miami is ranked second in the nation in both scoring defense (57.1) and field-goal percentage defense (35.3) — Larrañaga says he wants to continue seeing improvement on the defensive end, particularly because some of the Hurricanes’ lapses through their first eight games have come in situations he believes he and his staff have prepared Miami to handle.

“I love the numbers, but I always study video. And if you do something correctly seven times and you do it poorly three times, you’re not so much focused on the seven times you did it correctly, you’re focused on the three things and asking yourself why didn’t we do it correctly every time,” he said. “We showed the players video [Monday] of defensive breakdowns when we did not do what we planned on doing, things that if they weren’t capable of doing it every time you’d say, ‘That’s just a tough play,’ but these are things we could do every single time down the floor if the guys are focused and playing correctly.”

ccabrera@sun-sentinel .com, Twitter @ChristyChirinos