Woo, everyone doing okay? Miami escaped a game that looked scarier than it should’ve been. The Hurricanes should’ve been in control all night, but a few simple mistakes kept Stanford in it longer than necessary.
After the win, Jai Lucas met with the media for his postgame press conference. Here’s everything the Hurricanes’ head coach had to say following the victory:
Opening Statement...
I was worried about was the start, especially when they have such a dynamic player who can kind of change the game. So I wanted to make sure we got off to the start, and we kind of gave them some different looks early. We thought we did, and then we just we just got out. We just kind of gassed out halfway through, and they were able to make a run and kind of change it. But our guys and our team have showed just the grit and the resilience to be able to battle and just keep competing and to respond with whatever's going in the game and just finish the game and steal the win by nine , I was very, very impressed with just their fight and just their willing to get lost in the game I was very, very impressed with just their fight and just their willing to get lost in the game. I thought, True Washington, his defense in the second half, and some of his steals that he came up with were huge. I felt like Sheldon was always the best matchup for a Kuru, but I didn't want to put him on him early because I didn't want to wear him down, and then he still ended up cramping. in the second half, but he did a great job down the stretch and just face guarding him, taking him out, blown up all screens. So they really did. I thought everybody kind of contributed in their minutes. Dante had a great spark plug. Timo to hit two threes after missing 3 3 throws in a row was big for us. So I'm glad.
On how they guarded Stanford standout Ebuka Okorie...
I mean, we had like five contingency plants. You know what I mean? So we went through three of them. We didn't get to the last two. You know, the first one was one, and this is high praise because of how good I think he is. He is able to get through tight cracks and split a ball screen. The best I've seen in college since Kimba Walker, and there's the one thing that was really impressive, in person and watching them on film is just his burst and his speed, and to be able to get through cracks. So, the big part was just not letting them split. He got a few of them because he's good. So that was one. So we did a good job of catching them. Then the second part, we kind of tried to do what goes on when he pulled it out. So we couldn't give him any gaps, so that worked a few times. And then the last thing that we went through was we finally put Shelton in, just face-guarded them. And the last 10 minutes of the game, so we just eliminated his help and just tried to take him out of the game and make him play 4 and 4
On Trying Another Starting Lineup…
I'm just trying to find ways to give us some scoring off the bench and put guys in with different lineups, just within the flow of the game, like the way our team has built the way our roster is built, the guys are gonna play their minutes. Like, it doesn't matter, you know, Tru's still end up playing his 26 minutes. Dante, his 25 minutes. I'm just trying to find something that gives us some pop at that between the 12-minute and five-minute mark of the first half. Somebody who can come in with some energy and give us some kind of scoring punch with Malik is out, or when Trey's out, or Sheldon's out. She's trying to figure some things out, and we'll keep tweaking it and try to find out what works
On Timo Battling Through It…
His ability, his and Noam's ability to stretch the court force, so whenever they can get out there and, you know, I tell him to shoot the ball. You know, if you're open, shoot it, to miss three free throws and to come back and bang two threes, was huge, and then did not? And for the guys to find them in those two possessions. Tr with the good kind of pivot reverse pass at the top of the key, and I think the other one was a skip from Trey or something like that, but his response was great
On The Team's Rebounding Effort...
It's a big part of our formula, especially offensively. We got to get 15 offensive rebounds. We try to get 40% of our misses. You know, we would have been pretty, pretty good if Malik would rebound the ball offensive or rebound the ball period. So I got to get on him about that. But, you know, if we can get 40% of our misses, it's kind of our formula. I always say this. threes for us are kind of like bonus points. You know what I mean? So if we can get 40%, we can get 19 free throws like we did and we get 40 points in the paint, it gives us a chance to be in every game and beat anybody, even when they hit 11 threes. The number one team in the country just went on the road to beat BYU and made four threes.
On Lowering Turnovers...
We've been this high-assist team. We've got to get back to doing it. And I think the one thing that's changed is the way people guard us; they're really converging and really packing the paint. So we got to get off the ball earlier. I thought we did a better job of getting off the ball earlier. Now we're less aggressive than the ball screens. So we end up just going east and west wind, we could have gotten downhill because the zone was man, but we were treating it like it was a zone-man, and we practiced, we worked on it, and the guys showed them some film and stuff at halftime. And in the second half, it started to click for them, and they were able to get to where they wanted to.
On Miami’s Transition Game…
It's huge because it won against the out in transition, it against us easy points, and it leads to foules scores too and it kind of died on us because we stopped getting stops. And so that part of the first half, you know, they started scoring, and then we're playing against the zone, we' playing against the set defense, the whole time. So they eliminates a big part of what we do. And so being able to rebound and then being able to get stops, we got to get out of go, because we're dynamic, we got big bodies, we got great speed . If we can get out, get downhill, it's either going to be a foul or finish. And that's what we preach.
If the Free Throw Shooting is Concerning...
I mean, you always want to be greedy, you know, 19 for whatever as long as we get to 1, because, you know, it just wears on T. I mean, if you're shooting that many free throws, they got foul trouble, will have been able to kind of enforce our will, we probably got some second chance points, some offensive rebounds from that, free throw things like that. So we just kind of practice them. Some nights we're good at them, some nights we're bad at them, but we just keep chipping away.
On Tre Donaldson’s Development…
He's been here. And, people are putting a lot of emphasis on them, guarding them a bunch of different ways, you know, they were icing them tonight, so they were giving them different looks. But just his ability, like the second half, to be honest with you, we ran the same play the whole half, because we were able just to put him in the ball screen and it was working. And then they tried to deny him, so now we hit Malik, and then we were able to still get in the ball screen and stuff. So, just having those guys down the stretch is very important. You always need a good guard, and he's turning from a good guard to a great guard for us.
After the win, Jai Lucas met with the media for his postgame press conference. Here’s everything the Hurricanes’ head coach had to say following the victory:
Opening Statement...
I was worried about was the start, especially when they have such a dynamic player who can kind of change the game. So I wanted to make sure we got off to the start, and we kind of gave them some different looks early. We thought we did, and then we just we just got out. We just kind of gassed out halfway through, and they were able to make a run and kind of change it. But our guys and our team have showed just the grit and the resilience to be able to battle and just keep competing and to respond with whatever's going in the game and just finish the game and steal the win by nine , I was very, very impressed with just their fight and just their willing to get lost in the game I was very, very impressed with just their fight and just their willing to get lost in the game. I thought, True Washington, his defense in the second half, and some of his steals that he came up with were huge. I felt like Sheldon was always the best matchup for a Kuru, but I didn't want to put him on him early because I didn't want to wear him down, and then he still ended up cramping. in the second half, but he did a great job down the stretch and just face guarding him, taking him out, blown up all screens. So they really did. I thought everybody kind of contributed in their minutes. Dante had a great spark plug. Timo to hit two threes after missing 3 3 throws in a row was big for us. So I'm glad.
On how they guarded Stanford standout Ebuka Okorie...
I mean, we had like five contingency plants. You know what I mean? So we went through three of them. We didn't get to the last two. You know, the first one was one, and this is high praise because of how good I think he is. He is able to get through tight cracks and split a ball screen. The best I've seen in college since Kimba Walker, and there's the one thing that was really impressive, in person and watching them on film is just his burst and his speed, and to be able to get through cracks. So, the big part was just not letting them split. He got a few of them because he's good. So that was one. So we did a good job of catching them. Then the second part, we kind of tried to do what goes on when he pulled it out. So we couldn't give him any gaps, so that worked a few times. And then the last thing that we went through was we finally put Shelton in, just face-guarded them. And the last 10 minutes of the game, so we just eliminated his help and just tried to take him out of the game and make him play 4 and 4
On Trying Another Starting Lineup…
I'm just trying to find ways to give us some scoring off the bench and put guys in with different lineups, just within the flow of the game, like the way our team has built the way our roster is built, the guys are gonna play their minutes. Like, it doesn't matter, you know, Tru's still end up playing his 26 minutes. Dante, his 25 minutes. I'm just trying to find something that gives us some pop at that between the 12-minute and five-minute mark of the first half. Somebody who can come in with some energy and give us some kind of scoring punch with Malik is out, or when Trey's out, or Sheldon's out. She's trying to figure some things out, and we'll keep tweaking it and try to find out what works
On Timo Battling Through It…
His ability, his and Noam's ability to stretch the court force, so whenever they can get out there and, you know, I tell him to shoot the ball. You know, if you're open, shoot it, to miss three free throws and to come back and bang two threes, was huge, and then did not? And for the guys to find them in those two possessions. Tr with the good kind of pivot reverse pass at the top of the key, and I think the other one was a skip from Trey or something like that, but his response was great
On The Team's Rebounding Effort...
It's a big part of our formula, especially offensively. We got to get 15 offensive rebounds. We try to get 40% of our misses. You know, we would have been pretty, pretty good if Malik would rebound the ball offensive or rebound the ball period. So I got to get on him about that. But, you know, if we can get 40% of our misses, it's kind of our formula. I always say this. threes for us are kind of like bonus points. You know what I mean? So if we can get 40%, we can get 19 free throws like we did and we get 40 points in the paint, it gives us a chance to be in every game and beat anybody, even when they hit 11 threes. The number one team in the country just went on the road to beat BYU and made four threes.
On Lowering Turnovers...
We've been this high-assist team. We've got to get back to doing it. And I think the one thing that's changed is the way people guard us; they're really converging and really packing the paint. So we got to get off the ball earlier. I thought we did a better job of getting off the ball earlier. Now we're less aggressive than the ball screens. So we end up just going east and west wind, we could have gotten downhill because the zone was man, but we were treating it like it was a zone-man, and we practiced, we worked on it, and the guys showed them some film and stuff at halftime. And in the second half, it started to click for them, and they were able to get to where they wanted to.
On Miami’s Transition Game…
It's huge because it won against the out in transition, it against us easy points, and it leads to foules scores too and it kind of died on us because we stopped getting stops. And so that part of the first half, you know, they started scoring, and then we're playing against the zone, we' playing against the set defense, the whole time. So they eliminates a big part of what we do. And so being able to rebound and then being able to get stops, we got to get out of go, because we're dynamic, we got big bodies, we got great speed . If we can get out, get downhill, it's either going to be a foul or finish. And that's what we preach.
If the Free Throw Shooting is Concerning...
I mean, you always want to be greedy, you know, 19 for whatever as long as we get to 1, because, you know, it just wears on T. I mean, if you're shooting that many free throws, they got foul trouble, will have been able to kind of enforce our will, we probably got some second chance points, some offensive rebounds from that, free throw things like that. So we just kind of practice them. Some nights we're good at them, some nights we're bad at them, but we just keep chipping away.
On Tre Donaldson’s Development…
He's been here. And, people are putting a lot of emphasis on them, guarding them a bunch of different ways, you know, they were icing them tonight, so they were giving them different looks. But just his ability, like the second half, to be honest with you, we ran the same play the whole half, because we were able just to put him in the ball screen and it was working. And then they tried to deny him, so now we hit Malik, and then we were able to still get in the ball screen and stuff. So, just having those guys down the stretch is very important. You always need a good guard, and he's turning from a good guard to a great guard for us.
