Everything Jim Larranaga said after win over Pittsburgh

Head coach Jim Larranaga in his postgame press conference after a 72-68 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Head coach Jim Larranaga in his postgame press conference after a 72-68 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Miami improved to 14-6 on the season, 5-4 in the ACC.

OPENING STATEMENT…
“I thought that was a very exciting basketball game. The last three times we played them it’s come down to the last shot and we’re fortunate we’ve won two out of those three. I thought. our lineup today was a little bit different. We did not have Matt Cleveland, who’s obviously a key contributor for us. Hopefully we’ll have him back soon. But the starters did a great job and then Michael Nwoko came in off the bench, did a terrific job in his minutes and then one of the key performance was Paul Djobet. You’ve never seen him play because he’s not even been in the games, but he’s been practicing all season long. He’s got a great attitude, a great work ethic. As coaches, you kind of look for guys who can bring energy and the season is very long and we tried Paul and he did a great job. If you look at statistics, he was a plus-13 while he was out there, that was the highest on our team. I’m sure his teammates are very happy for him. The coaches are very happy for him and he’s probably a very happy camper tonight. So terrific college basketball game.”

ON THE END OF THE GAME…
“Here’s what I remember, we were ahead by 19 with about 10 to go, 16 and then eight, and they kept plugging away. We had a couple of ill-advised shots that led to some opportunities for them. And then we ran a play that it worked successfully a couple of times, but we ended up taking a tough shot, and they had a chance with 10 seconds to go to win the game. At the time out I discussed with the coaches, should we switch the ball screens and we all agreed probably should, so we don’t give them a 3. If they make a 2 while it goes overtime, they make a 3, they win. So we switched Norchad, who switched on to their freshman point guard, low and deflected the shot on the way up. And Kyshawn was able to secure the ball and he made his two free throws.”

ON KYSHAWN GEORGE’S FUTURE…
“He’s gotten a lot of attention from the NBA almost since the start of the season because we’ve had so many NBA scouts come to practices. And the NBA is often times about the eye test. He passes the eye test. He’s 6-8, can shoot the 3, can handle the ball, he’s getting better defensively and he’s becoming a better rebounder. There’s a good buzz about him, but he’s a young man that’s going to have opportunities. Whether it’s this year or next year or after he graduates, just like a lot of other guys that we’ve had, the Lonnie Walker’s, the Bruce Brown’s, Isaiah Wong who stayed all four years and was ACC Player of the Year. I’ll be talking to Kyshawn’s mom and dad and to Kyshawn after the season, but right now he’s focused on enjoying the University of Miami because he loves it here. He’s getting a good education and enjoying his teammates. He’s a young man that if he does turn pro, he’s going to be hanging out with guys who are 30 years old with children. If I were him, I’d kind of hang in college for a couple more yeras.”

ON KYSHAWN GEORGE’S DEFENSE…
“He was not a good defensive player in September when we went to Europe and played in August, I thought, ‘woo, you guys got a lot of work to do.’ But since we turned the corner and came into 2024 since January he’s been terrific. We’ve had him guard point guards. We’ve had him guard bigger guys. He really is a smart basketball player. His help defense is excellent. I’m really proud of it. But once you get to know him as a person you understand he’s very even keeled, that steady Eddie. He’s not emotional. way up, way down, or anything like that. He just studies the game and tries to get better and he knew defense and rebounding were going to be a big part of his development and he’s only scratching the surface. Because once he gets a little stronger and a little faster, which will come with his physical maturity, he’s going to be terrific.”

ON HOW THE TEAM PLAYED…
“I’m very, very happy with the performance. We only had eight turnovers, that’s really a key for us. We defended well. They shot 37 percent overall. and 30 percent from 3. And we out rebounded them 41-37, those numbers indicate winning. When you defend, when you rebound, when you don’t turn the ball over you’re going to have a good chance for success.”

ON NCAA TOURNAMENT RESUME…
“I’ve said this over and over again, the regular season is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And there are times when runners in a marathon struggle trying to get their second wind or trying to just keep up with the competition. In our case one of the best things our players have done over the years is prepare one game at a time. And in this particular month of January, we haven’t had a whole team to prepare. Yesterday we didn’t have Matt Cleveland and didn’t have him today. Against Syracuse we didn’t have Norchad. We didn’t have Wooga for a couple games, we didn’t have Nijel for a couple of games. When that happens, it’s hard to prepare the way you want to prepare. You don’t even have enough guys to do. We only have 11 scholarship players, so if one or two scholarship players are out like has been the case. We only got nine guys we have to use walkons. In this particular situation, I’m very happy that our guys continue to plug away and they haven’t gotten discouraged today. It would have been very easy without Matt Cleveland for guys to focus on him or look at Paul Djobet and say, ‘Why are we using a guy that hasn’t even played in 20 games.’ But they didn’t, they practiced well, We only had one day to practice and we did that.

“We got back from Notre Dame at 4:00 in the morning. The game ended at 9, we got out of there at 10 and then the pilot said no, we can’t take off. The weather is not good. We didn’t get out of there until after midnight. We got back into Miami airport about 3:30. I got home at 4 and I’m thinking about my these kids are young and got plenty of energy, but 4:00 in the morning after playing a long game, and then trying to prepare for the next opponent. So we just did a walk through and that went well. And then yesterday we practiced, but without Matt. Now leading into North Carolina State, tomorrow is going to be the same, even though we’re not getting back at 4:00 in the morning, we’ve got to do a walk through, get ready for them and then have a good practice on Monday morning because we’re traveling again and hopefully we can have good preparation on that day. Hopefully we get Matt back, and hopefully we play well in Raleigh.”

ON PULLING IT OUT DOWN THE STRETCH…
” Our game plans sometimes vary quite a bit, but a lot of times they’re very similar. From an offensive standpoint the last message to our players for the last 40 years has been the same sentence and it’s poised down the stretch. Stay calm, stay together, play hard, play smart and play together. If you do that, things can work out. If you start arguing, if you get frustrated with the refs or with yourself or a teammate or maybe even me. Shouldn’t be me, but it can be. They get mad. And what I tell them is when you watch me on the sideline, I’m not. screaming and yelling and cursing you guys out because I think it’s very important that I set the example of stay calm. So that last time out, I met with my staff. It’s 10 seconds to go. and I told the guys, ‘look it, we need one stop that’s all. We’re going to switch the ball screen, execute the plan. Things will work out.’ And they did.”

‌ON OFFENSIVE PLAN WITH NORCHAD OMIER AND MICHAEL NWOKO…
“Norshed is a senior, he’s very experienced. He’s our leading scorer, our leading rebounder, and we need Michael Nwoko kind of like to hold the fort now. Not expecting him to dominate the game like Norchad does, so we try to keep it. Very simple. And five out is the offense we put in first, and it’s the one we run most often, so Michael is most familiar with it, and so are the guys who’s out on the court with.”