Larranaga on Hurricanes’ turnovers, lack of defense: It’s a little bit discouraging’
The Miami Hurricanes slipped from the top 10 to No. 24 in the AP rankings after losing by a combined 49 points to Kentucky and Colorado over the past few weeks, and coach Jim Larranaga expressed his dissatisfaction with his team heading into a noon home game Saturday against LaSalle.
The Hurricanes have a 7-2 record, but the two losses were lopsided, and the team’s most glaring deficiencies, turnovers and rebounding, were exposed in other games, as well.
“It’s a little bit discouraging not to see progress by this point in December,” Larranaga said. “We’re not taking even little steps forward. We’re kind of just stuck with our defense being very inconsistent. With all the preseason hype, the Top 25, Top 10…this is not the same team we had two years ago or last year. We have a lot of young guys who are learning and a lot of veterans who have a lot more responsibility.”
Two years ago, with Charlie Moore at point guard, the Hurricanes were ranked seventh in the nation in average turnovers per game, according to KenPom.com. Last year, with Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller in key roles, they were 47th. So far this season, UM ranks 225.
“That’s a part of our game that has dramatically changed that we’re trying to correct,” Larranaga said. “Our turnovers are way too high. Our starters really need to reduce their turnovers by not dribbling so much. We’ve emphasized that in practice.”
The coaching staff put in a drill to get players in the habit of not dribbling more than twice. It is called TOBE (Turnover Ball Elimination). If a player turns the ball over, that ball is eliminated from the drill. They start with 12 balls in the rack. “So, if we turn the ball over 12 times in practice, then we’re going to be running the rest of practice,” Larranaga said.
The drill worked well in practice the past few days. Players combined for just four turnovers. “I know we’re capable of reducing the turnovers. Will that convert to the games? That I don’t know. It hasn’t so far,” Larranaga said.
He met with starters Wooga Poplar, Norchad Omier and Bensley Joseph on Wednesday to discuss their turnover rate. Poplar had six turnovers against Colorado and five against FIU. Omier had five turnovers against Notre Dame and UCF.
“They understand, but players like to dribble,” Larranaga said. “They like to put the ball on the floor and go 1-on-1 and try to score, but I’ve told them the best scoring comes when we’re very efficient moving the ball and two dribbles or less.”
Guard Christian Watson agreed: “The easiest way to reduce turnovers is less dribbling. Guys tend to turn the ball over when they have their head down and are dribbling in and not playing as a team and sharing the ball.”
Larranaga is equally concerned about the lack of defense.
“Second half against Colorado, we did not guard them at all,” Larranaga said. “We have to show the ability to take away the paint, not give away so many layups and still put pressure on the ball and take away the three. LaSalle is a very, very good three-point shooting team.”
The coach pointed out that the most-used bench players, Michael Nwoko (6-10), Kyshawn George (6-8), A.J. Casey (6-8) and Christian Watson (6-7) are taller than the starters, so they need to use that height to their advantage.
Rebounding is a mindset, Larranaga said, and when the opponent misses a shot, some UM players are too quick to think about scoring on the other end rather than focusing on going after loose balls.
UM’s troubles so far this season are evidence of how much they miss Wong and Miller, both drafted by the NBA.
“Wooga and Norchad are replacing our two leading scorers, Isaiah and Jordan, and they have to learn what Isaiah and Jordan did to become very efficient,” Larranaga said. “Don’t try to do too much. Do very little but do it great. Be not a jack of all trades but a master of one.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 5:02 PM.