CORAL GABLES — Miami Hurricanes coach Jim Larrañaga walked into the postgame press conference Wednesday night following his team’s fifth straight loss, an 84-55 blowout loss to No. 8 Duke.
“It seems like we’re climbing a mountain uphill and keep slipping back,” Larrañaga said.
With two starters, Nijel Pack and Matthew Cleveland, out due to injury and illness, respectively, the Hurricanes were uncompetitive for most of the game. They fell behind early and never had a lead. The closest Miami came to getting ahead was when it cut the deficit to two points with 10:31 left in the first half.
Duke then went on a 13-0 run, and the Hurricanes (15-12, 6-10 ACC) never cut the deficit back down to single digits, losing their 10th conference game.
“Credit to Duke,” Miami guard Bensley Joseph said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth from start to finish. . . . They just kept getting everything so easily. It’s like our competitive nature just went away.”
Larrañaga had pointed criticisms of his team, saying they needed to work on being more competitive and making sure they outwork their opponents.
“I use this expression all the time to the players, that basketball is actually a race,” Larrañaga said. “The court is 94 feet by 50, so 94 feet long. It’s a sprint, a sprint, from one end of the court to the other. And the team that runs faster longer is normally the team that wins the race. If you don’t sprint, if you jog, if you’re conserving energy, whatever your reasons for not getting back defensively or not trying to outrun your man on offense, there’s a very good chance the other team is outworking you. And normally, the team that outworks the other is going to win, and Duke certainly outworked us.”
Larrañaga said he has felt that way about the team in their losses this season.
“You go back to Colorado, you go back to Kentucky, when I looked at the tape afterwards and saw how many times someone outran us, maybe got a tip-in or maybe got a lay-up or a dunk or maybe got an open three, it’s been consistent,” Larrañaga said. “If you look at our KenPom numbers, we’re able, in most games, to score pretty well. We’re averaging, I don’t know, 75 points or more per game. Our problem is defensively, of getting back and setting our defense. We just don’t do it very well.”
At this point in the season, Larrañaga said, he may have to switch up how he tries to coach the team.
“My words have not produced the correct results, so maybe I’ve got to choose less words and more actions,” Larrañaga said. “Meaning (Thursday), we’ll probably run a lot.”
Miami does not have much time to right the ship. There are just four games left in the regular season, and even if the Hurricanes win them all, they will likely be on the outside looking in when it comes to a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. UM’s best bet for its postseason hopes is likely a title-winning run in the ACC Tournament, which would clinch an automatic bid to March Madness.
“Just have to keep getting better every single day,” Joseph said. “Just try to listen to Coach L’s message even more and buy into what he’s trying to say. It’s tough. Obviously, last year, having great runs and stuff, but now we’re on the other side of that. Losing sucks, but we just have to keep improving, keep fighting. Hopefully, these next four games, we’re going to turn it around heading into the ACC (tournament).”
