Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
’Canes look for consistency
Team prepares for final stretch of regular season
CORAL GABLES — There are eight games left in the regular season. Three of the next four are at home.
And the Hurricanes men’s basketball team understands what every one of them — starting with their game tonight against Virginia Tech at the Watsco Center — could mean to its future.
As Miami prepares for the final stretch of ACC play, it does so as one of those teams firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Hurricanes have won some big games this year, namely their upset of then ninth-ranked North Carolina last month and last week’s road win at North Carolina State.
But there have been regrettable performances too, including that ugly game at Duke, when Miami dominated early, then fell apart in the second half. There was another secondhalf collapse against rival Florida State last week. And early in ACC play, Miami looked poise to upset a ranked Notre Dame team before the Hurricanes turned the ball over late and allowed the Irish to escape with a close 67-62 win.
Now, with little time remaining before the ACC Tournament and Selection Sunday, the Hurricanes are determined find the consistency that has eluded them in conference play.
“I’m really good today, but the next day, what happened to you? I think that’s youth,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larrañaga said of his team, which features nine scholarship players and has three freshmen logging significant minutes. “It’s about kids growing up and learning. That’s why veteran teams are so good.”
The Hurricanes (15-7, 5-5) hope they took a step toward finding some of that consistency on Saturday, when they rallied from a 9-point halftime deficit to notch an 84-79 win over N.C. State in Raleigh, a place where Miami had been 2-7 and hadn’t won since 2014. Against the Wolfpack, the Hurricanes had three players — Davon Reed, Ebuka Izundu and Anthony Lawrence Jr. — post career-high scoring totals.
They’d like to continue that trend against the Hokies (16-5, 5-5), who enter tonight’s matchup much like Miami, in need of quality wins to continue bolstering their tournament resume.
Virginia Tech comes in having lost two of its past three, including a 71-48 loss at No. 12 Virginia on Feb. 1.
The Hokies have had more than a week to prepare for Miami, and they’ve proven a thorn in the Hurricanes’ side before, including last season when they handed Miami a 77-62 loss in the regular-season finale. It was a game that cost the Hurricanes a share of the ACC regular-season title and knocked them down to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Though both teams look different today than they did last March, the current Hurricanes haven’t forgotten about that game or what kind of challenge a Buzz Williams-led team can pose, especially one that features five players averaging double figures. Among those players are Zach LeDay (15.2 ppg) and Seth Allen (12.5 ppg), both of whom played well in that regular-season finale last year.
“We need to come out and win this game, have a big game,” said Lawrence, a sophomore who has worked his way in and out of Miami’s multiple starting lineups this season and is averaging 7 points. “Last year, they messed us up from winning the ACC [regular-season title]. We’re going to come out and have a good game.”
If they can do that, and continue building on it in the home stretch that will include a game at No. 4 Louisville on Saturday, the Hurricanes know that tournament resume will only get better.