Jim Larranaga tops John Wooden with 665 career wins as UM beats N.C. State 64-59 on road
Once again Saturday afternoon, for the fourth game in a row, a conference game came down to the final seconds for the University of Miami men’s basketball team.
After losing the previous three by a total of five points, the Hurricanes finally finished on the winning end — 64-59 on the road against North Carolina State.
The difference this time? “Details,” said coach Jim Larranaga.
On Friday night at the team meeting, in an effort to stress that details matter, Larranaga wrote the names of all his players on a white board, but misspelled each name by one letter. Instead of “Earl” Timberlake, it said “Ear.” Instead of “Kam” McGusty, it said “Pam.”
He asked his players if it made a difference that their names were misspelled, even though it was just by one letter. They all agreed it did.
Then, he had the players put their right shoe on their left foot, and vice versa, and had them walk around.
“I said, `Same shoe, same size, same color, but it probably doesn’t feel great being on the wrong foot, right?’ ’’ Larranaga explained of his lesson.
The team apparently got the message. They took care of details in the final minutes, made free throws when it counted most, grabbed rebounds in the closing minute, and that made the difference.
Guard Isaiah Wong led the Canes with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting and had a team-high nine rebounds. Freshman Earl Timberlake added 13 points, including six in the final minute of the game. Freshman Matt Cross had nine points and transfer guard Elijah Olaniyi added seven.
It was the first ACC win for the Hurricanes (5-5, 1-4 ACC) and career win No. 665 for Larranaga, pushing him ahead of legendary John Wooden to No. 36 on the career win list. The injury-plagued Hurricanes were off to their worst start in Larranaga’s 10 seasons at UM, so Saturday’s win was critical, and Larranaga says it should be a confidence booster.
Miami was playing without injured leading scorers Chris Lykes and Kam McGusty. Both may be ready to return next week.
“Winning’s a lot more enjoyable than losing,” Larranaga said. “We’ve been in some really tight games, our guys have fought valiantly and today we were able to finish. We made some key defensive stops, made some key free throws. Isaiah Wong was absolutely tremendous. Earl Timberlake got in early foul trouble, made some really key plays in the second half. And I’m sure our guys feel good going back to Miami.”
As for surpassing Wooden on the win list, Larranaga said: “I love John Wooden. He was a role model for me growing up and when I got my first coaching job. I ran the UCLA offense, and tried to develop a philosophy like his. I’m not in any way in the same category of John Wooden. The guy is a legend. He’s very, very special to all college coaches. He won 10 national championships. Guy was amazing and in a category all by himself.”
NC State dropped to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC. Miami’s next game is on the road Tuesday at Boston College.
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 2:49 PM.