After two months out, Chris Lykes may play for UM Saturday vs. No. 16 Virginia Tech
February has been good to the University of Miami men’s basketball team. The Hurricanes upset Duke at home on Monday night, and on Thursday point guard Chris Lykes practiced at full strength for the first time since spraining his ankle Dec. 4.
Lykes, a preseason All-ACC guard, may play in Saturday’s noon home game against 16th-ranked Virginia Tech, according to coach Jim Larranaga.
“Whether Chris will play on Saturday will depend on how he recovered and how much he does (Friday),” Larranaga said. “At game time we’ll have to see if he’s ready to play. If he feels good and says, ‘Coach, I’m ready to go,’ he’ll be in uniform.”
Lykes would not start, Larranaga said, but he would play as much as he could.
“After two months of not playing and having two practices under his belt, I have no idea what to expect, and neither does he,” the coach said. “In practice [Thursday] he was coming off screens, was open and didn’t shoot. And I had to say, ‘Hey, you’ve gotta get back in rhythm, shoot the ball, don’t worry about your ankle, just play your game.’ ’’
Getting Lykes back would give the Canes another three-point shooter and allow other players to rest. UM’s roster has been decimated by injuries all season.
The win over Duke provided a boost of energy and confidence, said guard Harlond Beverly, and the return of Lykes to practice raised team spirit even more.
“We’re excited to have him back, that’s our leader, our point guard,” Beverly said.
Forward Anthony Walker added: “Chris looked good. Having him back would be a huge help. It was like he hadn’t missed a step in practice. Hopefully, he’ll feel good enough to play.”
One of the biggest challenges against the Hokies (13-4, 7-3 ACC) is containing 6-9 junior forward Keve Aluma, who scored 26 points and grabbed six rebounds in an 80-78 win over the Hurricanes (7-10, 3-9) in December.
“This guy is for real,” Larranaga said. “As far as I can evaluate, of all the players we’ve seen around the league and competed against, he’s having the best season. He impacts the game at both ends of the court. He can score his brains out. He can hit threes, drive, post up. He makes free throws. He can defend, block shots, rebounds. He’s a really complete player, an NBA guy, and I’m so impressed with his improvement.”
Aluma averaged three points a game as a freshman at Wofford, six points as a sophomore, redshirted one year at Virginia Tech and now is “like a monster,” Larranaga said.
Aluma is averaging 15.7 points on 50 percent shooting and 7.7 rebounds this season.
The UM women are also at home this weekend, Sunday at 1 p.m. against Florida State. The Canes are 7-7 and FSU is 6-4. UM is coming off a 10-day break due to a COVID-related postponement of a game against Boston College. Coach Katie Meier used the time to address team issues and held a three-day “Camp Miami” where she divided the players into three teams and challenged them to be more consistent.
“It’s been intense and old-school practices,” Meier said. “To be consistently good, in this year, you can say, ‘This isn’t fair, this is inconvenient,’ but those are escape clauses. We have to turn that into something positive.”