Canes Begin ACC Tournament Preparation

By Carter Toole
HurricaneSports.com

NEW YORK – The Miami Hurricanes walked to practice Tuesday, just like most Tuesdays during the season. 
 

Although you might not recognize them under all that winter gear.
 

Yes, this trek was just a tad bit colder than a stroll from, say, the Shalala Student Center to Watsco Center. The Hurricanes are in the heart of Manhattan – the Financial District to be exact – where the temperatures are hovering closer to 30.5 than “305.”

Miami launched its preparations for the 2018 ACC Tournament with a spirited two-hour practice session at a local prep school, just a few blocks from the team hotel. The third-seeded Hurricanes don’t play until Thursday night – the last of the 15 ACC teams to tip off at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Miami’s quarterfinal matchup will be against either North Carolina, Syracuse or Wake Forest, depending on how the first and second rounds of the tournament shake out.

The Hurricanes head into the first stage of their postseason run on a four-game winning streak and head coach Jim Larrañaga likes what he’s seen from his team the past two weeks.

“It’s really fun for a coach to watch your team lift its spirits right at a crucial time of the year,” Larrañaga said.

Miami won its last four games of the regular season by a total of eight points, marking the first time in program history that the Hurricanes won four straight games by three points or fewer. That matches an ACC record as well – NC State accomplished the feat in 1957, and Duke did the same in both 1976 and 1984.

In Miami’s 18 conference games the average margin of victory was just 6.5 points. All but two of those games – UM’s two wins over Pittsburgh – were decided by 10 or fewer points.

The ACC Tournament figures to feature more of the same competitive matchups. For reference just look at Miami’s side of the bracket. Thursday night could bring a rematch with the Tar Heels, who the Hurricanes beat on a buzzer-beater by senior guard Ja’Quan Newton just last week. If not, it would be another bout with the Orange, which won at Watsco by seven – or the Demon Deacons, which lost in Coral Gables by just six points. 

And as the Hurricanes settle in to their home for the week they can also take comfort in the fact that they have been one of the more resolute road teams in the country this season — whether the games have been true road games or neutral sites like the Barclays Center.

Miami is 8-4 in true road games, and 11-5 overall away from Coral Gables this season. The Hurricanes are one of six Power 5 teams with at least eight road wins, along with Virginia, Purdue, Michigan State, Arizona and Tennessee. Miami’s 11 victories away from home are second only to Virginia’s 12, and rank the Hurricanes as one of just five Power 5 programs with at least 11 (Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State are the others).

But for now, the Hurricanes will continue to play the waiting game. Consider that as Miami returned from Tuesday’s practice – still more than 48 hours from its quarterfinal — Georgia Tech, staying at the same hotel, was preparing to depart after losing its first-round matchup to Boston College.

Then again, getting that extra rest isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“From the first of January until the end of February we were traveling every weekend,” Larrañaga said. “Every Friday or Saturday or Sunday – we didn’t have a single weekend at home. And now, we played on a Monday at Notre Dame and had four days to prepare (for Boston College). Two days we took off so we could rest and recover. Then we played Tuesday (at North Carolina) and we had a day off so we could prepare (for Virginia Tech). We’ve been very well rested these last four games and I think that has shown.

“I think they’re enjoying playing a lot.”