The Riverside Press-Enterprise
What fans need to know about No. 10 Miami
As No. 7 seed USC prepares to open the NCAA Tournament on Friday, here’s a breakdown of No. 10 Miami, the Trojans’ first-round opponent at 12:10 p.m. at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.
1. HOW THE HURRICANES GOT HERE » Miami went 23-10 this season, finishing fourth in the ACC with a 14-6 mark. Its marquee wins were over Duke and North Carolina, and the Hurricanes nearly beat the Blue Devils a second time in the ACC semifinals.
2. VETERAN HAND » Miami is led by head coach Jim Larranaga, who has been with the program since 2011. In his 11 seasons, Larranaga has guided the Hurricanes to the NCAA Tournament four times (most recently in 2018) and the Sweet 16 twice (2013 and 2016). Prior to Miami, Larranaga was the head coach at George Mason, which he took to the Final Four in 2006.
“Coach L is a Hall of Famer. He’s been around the game a long time, won a lot of games, been very successful wherever he’s been,” USC head coach Andy Enfield said. “Their assistant coaches I know very well, so it will be a very friendly game before the game.”
3. FIRST TIME? » Miami had losing records the past three seasons and did not participate in any postseason tournament. So for many Hurricanes players, this will be their first taste of March Madness.
4. GUARDED » Miami’s four leading scorers are all guards of various heights and skill sets. Kameron Mcgusty is the do-everything guard, capable of scoring at the rim or behind the arc with 37.3% accuracy from 3-point range. Charlie Moore is a sharpshooter who also leads the Hurricanes with 4.5 assists per game. Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller are both scorers who thrive in the mid-range and at the rim.
5. STRETCH FIVE » Despite the multitude of guards who power the Miami offense, it’s big man Sam Waardenburg who leads Miami with a 42.9% mark from 3-point range. His ability to both stretch the floor and score efficiently in the post will put some stress on the USC defense.
“It does put pressure,” Enfield said. “You can either switch ball screens or you can rotate. ... They’re hard to guard because they spread you out and have so many guards who can put the ball on the floor and shoot the 3.”
6. LARCENY » Overall, Miami does not have a particularly intimidating defense. The Hurricanes rank 226th in scoring defense (71.0 points per game) and 327th in opponent field-goal percentage, allowing other teams to shoot 46.6% from the floor. But where Miami makes up for these shortcomings is its proclivity for stealing the ball. Miami averages 8.7 steals per game, good for 21st nationally. Its style of forcing deflections and turnovers is similar to that of Washington, a team that forced 23 turnovers against USC in the Pac-12 Tournament last week.
7. BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY » One area where USC could exploit Miami is in the rebounding department. While the Trojans have a plus-6.2 rebound margin this season, Miami sits at minus-4.1, which ranks 319th out of 350 Division I programs this season. The Hurricanes only grab 23.4% of potential offensive rebounds, while their opponents collect 30.3% of such rebounds. If the lengthy Trojans want to control the game, this is an area USC has to win.