Buzz around UM football team energizes men’s, women’s basketball teams
Excitement on the University of Miami campus reached a fever pitch during the weekend with the football team’s ascent to No. 2 in the polls and the broadcast of ESPN’s College Game Day from the student union.
That energy spilled over to Monday morning, when the Hurricanes’ men’s and women’s basketball teams held their first full practices of the 2025-26 season. Both teams underwent complete overhauls during the offseason, and rallying around the football team has helped build camaraderie.
“With the football team being back in the national spotlight, and people seeing that there’s a lake in the middle of campus, and what everything looks like here, it helps everyone,” said new UM men’s coach Jai Lucas, 36, who replaced the retired Jim Larranaga. “I know football is the driving force, and whenever they’re good, we’re good.”
Women’s coach Tricia Cullop, entering her second season at Miami, agreed.
“Winning is contagious,” she said. “When one team lifts the bar, everybody else sees that and aspires to that.”
Sophomore guard Ahnay Adams added: “I want to be just like the football team; I want to be No. 1 in the country. If they could do it, we can do it. Anything’s possible if we put our mind to it.”
The men’s team does not have a single returning player from last season. Realizing that he would have to “manufacture” team chemistry, Lucas was intentional in recruiting as many players as he could who have Florida roots.
It began with Miami native Malik Reneau, who announced his move from Indiana University with a social media post that read: “I’m Coming Home! It’s All About the U”. Then came Michigan’s Tre Donaldson, a football and basketball star from Tallahassee, who posted “Florida Boy” with emojis of a palm tree, the U, and a hurricane.
Before long, TCU’s Ernest Udeh, Jr., an Orlando native, followed suit with the message: “Da Florida Boy is Bakk…305.” Dante Allen, a Miami Riviera Prep star and son of Miami Heat assistant Malik Allen, decommitted from Villanova to stay close to home.
Allen has been among the standouts so far.
“I’ve watched Dante play the last three years, saw the AAU teams he played on, and I always said if I was somewhere that he would be appreciated and valued, he’d be one of the first people I’d recruit,” Lucas said of Allen.
The team has weekly conditioning and Allen ran a 4:56 mile, “the fastest mile I’ve ever seen by anybody, and look at him, 220 pounds and running a 4:56. That shows you his mind-set.”
Jordyn Kee is a Broward County native. Treyvon Maddox is from Orlando.
Marcus Allen, a University of Missouri freshman who led Miami Norland High to the 2024 state championship, also came home and was reunited with former Missouri assistant Charlton “C.Y.” Young, a Carol City High legend, who decided to come home and work for Lucas, as did Georgia assistant Erik Pastrana, a Miami native.
Lucas’ staff also includes former Miami Columbus High coach Andrew Moran.
“The pride in putting on the colors, pride in knowing your family’s going to be there every night, people where you’re from watching you, it adds a different level of competitive spirit,” Lucas said.
Being from Texas and playing at the University of Texas, Lucas said he wanted to create some of that same home state pride at UM.
Reneau said the Florida ties have helped with team bonding.
“I know Ernest Uday, I knew Tre, we’ve got a couple of guys from out of state and overseas, but the majority of the guys are from in-state, so we knew each other from playing in high school, AAU trips. And that gives me more comfort to feel free on the court.”
Among the players with no South Florida ties are New Mexico transfer Tru Washington, who played for Lucas’ uncle at Kentucky, and five-star recruit Shelton Henderson of Houston, who has a long history with Lucas. They played for the same high school and Lucas, the former Duke associate head coach, was a big reason Henderson initially committed to the Blue Devils before flipping to follow Lucas to Coral Gables.
UM also has international flavor with Timotej Malovec (Slovakia), Noam Dovrat (Israel) and Salih Altunas (Turkey).
The women’s team has just two returning players, sophomore guard Ahnay Adams and redshirt freshman Simone Pelish. Ra Shaya “Shay” Kyle, a 6-6 center, transferred from University of Florida. Gal Raviv transferred from Quinnipiac, Vittoria Blasigh from University of South Florida, Amarachi Kimpson from UNLV, Jess Peterson from SMU, Mya Kone (a Pompano Beach native) from FIU, and Candace Kpetikou from Washington State.
Cullop also landed a Top 10 recruiting class.
She has built team chemistry by having players do community service, such as feeding the hungry, visiting hospitals, and doing basketball clinics for underprivileged children. She took them on a boat ride around Biscayne Bay.
She also had the team take cooking classes together with some campus chefs. At the end of the classes, there was a cooking contest. Kyle and Peterson won with a pasta dish.
“Most of the players have been here since June, so that has given us a leg up,” Cullop said. “We’ve got a long way to go. We’re still learning to read and react with each other on the court, but I think it’s going really well.”
The men’s team plays its first game Nov. 3 at home against Jacksonville. The women’s team plays an exhibition Oct. 18 against Lynn and opens the regular season Nov. 3 against Hofstra.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM.