What you need to know as No. 19 Miami Hurricanes face struggling Louisville Cardinals
Nobody would blame the University of Miami men’s basketball team for having an emotional letdown on Saturday night, as they are coming off a blowout home win over Duke and now face floundering Louisville, which arrives at the Watsco Center with a 3-21 record, worst in school history.
The 19th-ranked Hurricanes cruised past the Cardinals 80-53 on the road when they met in their conference opener two months ago, and Pitt beat Louisville by 34 points on Tuesday.
Over the past 35 ACC games, Miami has the best record in the league at 25-10. Virginia and Duke are next at 24-11 and North Carolina is 23-12.
But Miami coach Jim Larranaga and his players insist they are not taking the Cardinals lightly. They are determined to keep their unbeaten home streak alive. UM is 13-0 at home this season and sits in fourth place in the ACC standings with a 10-4 league record, 19-5 overall.
“We know how Louisville has been struggling this season, but they’re still hungry, so they’re going to come in here with a lot of energy trying to break our home streak and beat us,” said UM sophomore guard Bensley Joseph. “The Duke game is in the past. We learned from that and now we have to carry that energy to our next game.”
Larranaga gave players Tuesday and Wednesday off, and said they had a spirited practice Thursday.
“Monday’s game there was tremendous emotion, a lot of energy in the building,” Larranaga said. “We played Louisville earlier in the season, but I think they’re a much different team now. They’re playing with more confidence, and I expect a very tough ACC contest.”
When they played in December, the Hurricanes held the Cardinals to 29 percent shooting, 15 percent from three-point range (3-of-20) and forced 19 turnovers.
Jordan Miller led the Canes with 14 points that game and continues to be one of the team’s top players. Against Duke he had 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. Those numbers were especially impressive considering he was guarding 7-foot Duke forward Kyle Filipowski.
Larranaga believes Miller is perhaps the most underrated player in the ACC and the one of the most overlooked nationwide.
“Everybody knows Isaiah Wong, he’s been in the program four years, was preseason all-conference, and Jordan joined us last year and very few people realize the tremendous contribution he made helping us get to the Elite Eight,” the coach said. “This year, he fills up that stat sheet with points, rebounds, assists, steals, playing great defense. The young man guarded a 7-footer who’s probably going to be in the NBA next year and did a great job on him.”
Larranaga added that Miller’s greatest asset is “he’s so darn smart.” The coach often stops video during team meetings to point out that Miller’s head is up, his eyes are surveying the floor and he makes heady decisions.
“Wong is a tremendous player, Norchad Omier is exciting watch, and Jordan is like a quiet assassin, so you pay less attention to him; but I guarantee you the coaches in this league don’t,” Larranaga said.
Joseph agreed.
“Jordan’s a warrior,” Joseph said. “We ask him to do so much at his size that not a lot of people can do. He’s kind of like a point forward, making decisions, dribbling up and making the right reads. He’s an overall complete player. I agree with Coach L that he’s underrated.”
Louisville, once a national power, is 1-12 in ACC play. El Ellis is the top scorer at 16.8 points per game.