University of Miami basketball is back after two-week layoff. Here’s what to expect
It has been two weeks since the University of Miami men’s and women’s basketball teams played a game, and both coaches used the layoff to urge their teams to step things up before the conference season heats up in January.
UM men’s coach Jim Larranaga gathered his players into a circle before Friday’s practice and shouted: “Finals are over! It’s time to concentrate on basketball!” He then reminded them of the message of the day: “Nobody gets into the paint!”
The Hurricanes (5-3) are on their home court for the first time in 27 days Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against Alabama A&M (2-5). Miami is coming off a big 81-79 road win Dec. 2 over Illinois in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Illinois went on to beat No. 5 Michigan and lost by just one to No. 4 Maryland. The Canes led by 27 in the first half of that game after going 18 of 21 during a 14-minute stretch. They hung on at the end thanks to Chris Lykes, who led the team with 28 points, and DJ Vasiljevic, who had 20.
UM’s three losses have come against tough teams — state rival Florida; Louisville, which reached No. 1; and Connecticut. Saturday, they will face an Alabama A&M team that starts four freshmen and likes to drive to the basket. Larranaga challenged his team to play suffocating defense.
They will get help from University of Florida grad transfer Keith Stone, who is 6-9, 250 pounds, and returned to the lineup at Illinois after recovering from knee surgery. “He’s another big guy in the front court, really experienced, comes from a good conference, really energetic, always talking,” Vasiljevic said of Stone. “He wants to defend and be out there. He doesn’t care if he scores, he sets screens to get guards open and defensively he rebounds.”
UM women’s coach Katie Meier, whose 25th-ranked Canes (5-3) play undefeated Binghamton (9-0) on Dec. 17, warned upperclassmen that their jobs are not safe if they don’t play with the energy she wants to see. “We have some new emergences who are really going to add to the team, need to find them minutes, so the ones who aren’t starting the game with that energy are not going to have that cushion anymore. There’s going to be big shift in our team next three games.”
One of the players who has emerged is sophomore forward Jamir Huston, who leads the team in plus-minus. When she’s in, the Canes are winning by 12.8 points. “I don’t think anyone could see that with a naked eye,” Meier said. “She doesn’t have starter stats, but her plus-minus jumps off the page. When she’s in, we’re winning.”
Miami’s three losses were to No. 4 Oregon State, No. 12 Indiana and No. 16 DePaul.
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 5:11 PM.