Miami never trailed in the win over the Syracuse Orange, as the Hurricanes took care of business in an 85–76 victory.
After the game, Jai Lucas met with the media for his postgame press conference. Here’s everything the Hurricanes’ head coach had to say following the win:
Opening Statements...
Winning on the road is always hard, especially in this environment, which is one of the most historic in college basketball. The one thing going into the game really worried me, and it got us, we just got lucky towards the end, was just their size and their athleticism. We had been having trouble turning the ball over, and we ended up with 16 turnovers again. That led to 17 points for them. But we were able to battle and compete throughout the game as they connected. And this was a big win for us just because we're coming off, two losses, and we needed something to get back on the right side. And then also, just playing against them, you don't realize it until you're out there and you see them, just the size and athleticism that they do have. And a big part of the game was getting them out of transition as much as we can. And you could see in the moments when they got out in transition, just how electric they are. You end up with one missed tipped ball and Betsy hits a three, or one missed loose ball and you've got Anthony at the rim or somebody at the rim. So it was important for me, especially in this game, to keep it up-tempo, but also slow it down as much as I could with what we needed to do, I felt, to execute and win. But I'm just excited we ended up being able to pull away at the end.
On playing against Syracuse zone...
We have seen a lot of zone this whole year. So we're really familiar with playing against the zone. And so it's something we're comfortable in doing. We just had to make sure when we got the ball in the middle, we were making the right reads. And I thought in the first half, Malik wasn't. And that's how he ends up with seven turnovers. But once we figured it out, relaxed, took a deep breath, we were able to do it. And then also, you know, scouting. We struggled against the zone last game against Florida State. They played it a little bit different, but the same. So we kind of expected and anticipated every game.
On stopping Betsey and Kings from the three ball...
We thought that was the biggest part of their firepower, with Kings and Betsey. You ever you have a guy almost shooting 60% from three, he's gonna be at the top of the scouting report with Betsey. And the same thing with Kings, some of the stuff that they do and some of the actions they run open them up a lot. So, for me, what we kind of do to kind of negate it was we just start switching. We just start switching to kind of take it away and make sure you couldn't get any open looks. And a big part of it was just limiting their threes to try to knock down their firepower, to be honest with you.
On offensive rebounding...
We always want to get back 40% of our misses, and we want to almost get 15 offensive rebounds per game. And we want our second-chance points to match our offensive rebounds. And so Clemson and Florida State, we end up in the 20s in our percentages. And we're not this offensive juggernaut. You know, we are in the sense of we have a formula that we got to stick to. Offensive rebound is a big part of it, getting fouled, points in the paint. And then for me and for us, I got them understanding if we hit threes, we hit threes. But we have a formula that it sticks to it. And, I tell the guys the same thing. The number one team in the country, Arizona, makes six threes a game. And no one talks about them having bad offense. So if we stick to the formula and do what we're supposed to do, we'll be fine. And until the last two games, I think we're the number one scoring team in the ACC. And we get 85 today and we hit threes. That's why we get 85. But we're not banking on, like, making 10 threes a game for us to be really good. We're banking on offensive rebounding, getting fouled, points in the paint. And that takes physicality and grit, which is hard because you're almost playing offense like defense, but that's how we're built. If we were built something else, we'll play a different way, but that's what makes us good, so we have to buy into it.
On Ernest Udeh Jr. performance against Syracuse...
He's been big for us. The one thing he didn't do today that he had been doing was getting double-figure rebounds. But Malik made up for it and getting his rebounds. But our size with him and Malik in there at the same time is what kind of offers teams situations of what they want to do. And then against the press at the end, I thought he did a good job, but we did a good job of attacking it to score instead of letting it get us on our heels.
On how the energy change after JJ’s missed dunk, and how big it was for Miami to respond by coming down and hitting a three right after...
It's a game of runs. That moment is big. I think our missed dunk was the same thing, and Ernest missed his dunk and they come down and they score. So it's just the timing that happens. But the game is right there. These this small margins in this game. It was an 9-point win. You know, if we take care of the ball, it could be a 20-point win. If we turn it over a little bit more, it's a closer game. We might be in overtime or something. So it's right there. It's right there. And they're a really good team. You hit rough spots. We were in a rough spot. You hit rough spots in the season, and you just got to kind of battle and figure it out. But I like their team. I like how they're built. I think George does a really good job of just finding and picking open people and finding the right spots. They got shot blocking rim protection. I think Greg's done a really good job with his roster composition. Looks like a throwback Big East Syracuse team. They just don't play zone the whole game. But they're long. You got White. You got Kyle. You got all these guys out there, so they do a good job.
After the game, Jai Lucas met with the media for his postgame press conference. Here’s everything the Hurricanes’ head coach had to say following the win:
Opening Statements...
Winning on the road is always hard, especially in this environment, which is one of the most historic in college basketball. The one thing going into the game really worried me, and it got us, we just got lucky towards the end, was just their size and their athleticism. We had been having trouble turning the ball over, and we ended up with 16 turnovers again. That led to 17 points for them. But we were able to battle and compete throughout the game as they connected. And this was a big win for us just because we're coming off, two losses, and we needed something to get back on the right side. And then also, just playing against them, you don't realize it until you're out there and you see them, just the size and athleticism that they do have. And a big part of the game was getting them out of transition as much as we can. And you could see in the moments when they got out in transition, just how electric they are. You end up with one missed tipped ball and Betsy hits a three, or one missed loose ball and you've got Anthony at the rim or somebody at the rim. So it was important for me, especially in this game, to keep it up-tempo, but also slow it down as much as I could with what we needed to do, I felt, to execute and win. But I'm just excited we ended up being able to pull away at the end.
On playing against Syracuse zone...
We have seen a lot of zone this whole year. So we're really familiar with playing against the zone. And so it's something we're comfortable in doing. We just had to make sure when we got the ball in the middle, we were making the right reads. And I thought in the first half, Malik wasn't. And that's how he ends up with seven turnovers. But once we figured it out, relaxed, took a deep breath, we were able to do it. And then also, you know, scouting. We struggled against the zone last game against Florida State. They played it a little bit different, but the same. So we kind of expected and anticipated every game.
On stopping Betsey and Kings from the three ball...
We thought that was the biggest part of their firepower, with Kings and Betsey. You ever you have a guy almost shooting 60% from three, he's gonna be at the top of the scouting report with Betsey. And the same thing with Kings, some of the stuff that they do and some of the actions they run open them up a lot. So, for me, what we kind of do to kind of negate it was we just start switching. We just start switching to kind of take it away and make sure you couldn't get any open looks. And a big part of it was just limiting their threes to try to knock down their firepower, to be honest with you.
On offensive rebounding...
We always want to get back 40% of our misses, and we want to almost get 15 offensive rebounds per game. And we want our second-chance points to match our offensive rebounds. And so Clemson and Florida State, we end up in the 20s in our percentages. And we're not this offensive juggernaut. You know, we are in the sense of we have a formula that we got to stick to. Offensive rebound is a big part of it, getting fouled, points in the paint. And then for me and for us, I got them understanding if we hit threes, we hit threes. But we have a formula that it sticks to it. And, I tell the guys the same thing. The number one team in the country, Arizona, makes six threes a game. And no one talks about them having bad offense. So if we stick to the formula and do what we're supposed to do, we'll be fine. And until the last two games, I think we're the number one scoring team in the ACC. And we get 85 today and we hit threes. That's why we get 85. But we're not banking on, like, making 10 threes a game for us to be really good. We're banking on offensive rebounding, getting fouled, points in the paint. And that takes physicality and grit, which is hard because you're almost playing offense like defense, but that's how we're built. If we were built something else, we'll play a different way, but that's what makes us good, so we have to buy into it.
On Ernest Udeh Jr. performance against Syracuse...
He's been big for us. The one thing he didn't do today that he had been doing was getting double-figure rebounds. But Malik made up for it and getting his rebounds. But our size with him and Malik in there at the same time is what kind of offers teams situations of what they want to do. And then against the press at the end, I thought he did a good job, but we did a good job of attacking it to score instead of letting it get us on our heels.
On how the energy change after JJ’s missed dunk, and how big it was for Miami to respond by coming down and hitting a three right after...
It's a game of runs. That moment is big. I think our missed dunk was the same thing, and Ernest missed his dunk and they come down and they score. So it's just the timing that happens. But the game is right there. These this small margins in this game. It was an 9-point win. You know, if we take care of the ball, it could be a 20-point win. If we turn it over a little bit more, it's a closer game. We might be in overtime or something. So it's right there. It's right there. And they're a really good team. You hit rough spots. We were in a rough spot. You hit rough spots in the season, and you just got to kind of battle and figure it out. But I like their team. I like how they're built. I think George does a really good job of just finding and picking open people and finding the right spots. They got shot blocking rim protection. I think Greg's done a really good job with his roster composition. Looks like a throwback Big East Syracuse team. They just don't play zone the whole game. But they're long. You got White. You got Kyle. You got all these guys out there, so they do a good job.
