What you need to know as Miami Hurricanes face Pittsburgh on the road Tuesday
Pittsburgh coach Jeff Capel spent the past few days scouting the Miami Hurricanes for their game Tuesday night, and among the many things he was impressed by was the team’s poise.
“When you watch them, they’re never really rattled,” Capel said Monday. “You look at them in huddles, how they interact with each other, they’re just incredibly confident and they have a belief in who they are individually and collectively. It also seems, watching them on tape, that they really enjoy playing with each other.”
Those attributes are why UM’s experienced, veteran squad believes it will bounce back from Saturday’s home loss to Virginia and earn its 20th win of the season on the road against the Panthers (8 p.m., ACC Network).
The Hurricanes are 19-8, tied for third place in the ACC with an 11-5 league record, and eager to pile up more wins to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“We can’t let one loss affect us, we love playing with each other and for each other and we can’t let anything break us,” said guard Kam McGusty, one of four sixth-year seniors on the team. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’re going to win some, lose some. We just have to stick together through it all.”
UM coach Jim Larranaga said his players did not dwell on the loss to the Cavaliers and are ready for their next challenge.
“This is a really great group to work with, and one of the things we talk about all the time is `Just don’t complain,’” Larranaga said. “There’s always going to be adversity. We’re going to face it, so is every other team.”
He said the Canes are laser-focused on Pitt (11-17, 6-11 ACC), which struggled early in the season but has won three of its past four games — over FSU, North Carolina State and North Carolina. The Panthers are led by sophomore forward John Hugley, who is 6-9 and 240 pounds and has a knack for getting to the free-throw line.
“Pittsburgh is a hugely physical team,” Larranaga said, no pun intended. “John Hugley, who we recruited, is a horse inside, shooting more free throws than any other college player in the country. Their guards are very physical. This is going to be a very physical game, and I want us to do a better job of getting to the foul line. Virginia shot 25 free throws and we only shot nine. That’s very uncharacteristic for us.”
Hugley will be a handful for UM’s undersized big men.
“We’ve got to put enough pressure on their guards and enough guys in the lane to limit the amount of space that he gets to work with. If he has a lot of room, he’s unguardable 1-on-1,” Larranaga explained. “We’ll try to front him. We’ll try to help from behind and maybe trap him at times and really pay him a lot of attention. But you can’t give so much attention to him that you let their guards go loose. Ithiel Horton made seven threes against Carolina.”
Capel said all five of UM’s starters can dribble, pass and shoot, which makes them tough to defend.
“It’s really five out, with [Sam] Waardenburg being the guy who initiates things with ball screens and dribble handoffs,” Capel said. “They have some really outstanding 1 on 1 players on the perimeter that can all dribble, pass and score. They have outstanding shot makers where even if you’re playing good defense guys like McGusty, [Isaiah] Wong, [Charlie] Moore have the strength and creativity to make tough shots. They’re good decision-makers, smart, and selfless, a tough team to prepare for.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2022 at 2:54 PM.