UM’s Larrañaga: ‘We’re in a very miserable situation’
Coach Jim Larrañaga is known for his enthusiasm and clever — sometimes corny — motivational tactics. But there might not be anything in his bag of tricks to salvage this season for the University of Miami men’s basketball team, which awaits another tall challenge in No. 11 Florida State Wednesday night.
Just about everything that could have gone wrong for the Hurricanes did.
The injury list began before the season even started, and by the second half of last Saturday’s 27point home loss to Georgia Tech, Miami was down to five healthy scholarship players.
The Hurricanes have lost seven of their past eight games, are in second-tolast place in the ACC with a 3-12 league record (7-13 overall) and have a brutal stretch coming up with three games in six days. Two of those games are against the top two ACC teams — FSU and Virginia.
“Our approach now is how can we find something positive to be keeping our mind on because we’re in, quite frankly, a very miserable situation,” Larrañaga said. “We can’t practice because of the injuries. It’s very hard to prepare for an opponent. We don’t have a point guard. It’s a matter of trying to stay positive and keep our head above water because every day is a new drama, a new challenge, a new situation.”
Meanwhile, the Seminoles sit atop the ACC with a 9-2 league record, 13-3 overall. They have won three games in a row, including a 21-point win over then-No. 7 Virginia that surely caught the attention of the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
FSU has the top-ranked offense in the ACC with 79.3 points per game, and Miami is 14th at 66.1 points per game. The Seminoles
also lead the league in average victory margin (10.2 points), shooting percent defense (40.6 percent), and blocked shots
(five per game). They rank No. 2 in the ACC in threepoint shooting (39.4 percent), while UM is in last place as 29.1 percent.
The last time the teams played, on Jan. 27 in Tallahassee, FSU won 81-59.
“Leonard [Hamilton] and his staff have done a miraculous job, they just keep getting better and better,” Larrañaga said. “Their performance against Virginia recently was incredible. Virginia is an excellent team, as well, and Florida State was just sensational. They’re going to be a handful for us.”
UM’s depleted roster suffered another blow when Larrañaga announced last week that Chris Lykes (who has not played since Dec. 4) will likely miss the rest of the season, and Harlond Beverly is also out for an indefinite amount of time with back pain.
Larrañaga said Beverly’s back started bothering him in December, he had an MRI and it was diagnosed as a herniated disc. He had an injection that helped in the short term, but recently it flared up again.
UM’s leading scorer
Isaiah Wong sprained his ankle on Saturday but should play Wednesday.
FSU coach Hamilton said moving up to No. 1 in the ACC “puts more of a bull’s-eye” on his team, but won’t effect how the Seminoles or Canes play.
“Miami has had some injuries, but in terms of their system, they’re going to be the same team they’ve been all year in terms of how they are playing and what we can expect from them,” Hamilton said. “We have to come as close as we can to be the best version of who we are. That’s our game plan.”
When a reporter asked Hamilton to look ahead to Saturday’s game at North Carolina, he replied: “I respect Miami too much to do that. Get back to me Thursday and we can talk about Carolina.”
The UM vs. FSU game is at 8:30 p.m. and on ACC Network.