Jim Larranaga breaks down Miami's offensive struggles in loss

Miami entered Wednesday’s bout with Georgia Tech with one of the best offenses in the country. One that’s ranked in the top-15 in offensive efficiency and is shooting at astounding 56% from inside the arc. The major flaw? Three-point shooting. The ‘Canes struggle with accuracy from deep even though they’re not afraid to take them, and both of those trends were on full display against the Jackets.

Miami mustered just 70 points against Georgia Tech, a bit below their season average, mainly due to abominable three-point shooting. The Hurricanes chucked up 32 of them and made just five. 15% shooting from beyond the arc, where Miami missed 27 shots. Hard to win any game where you miss 27 three-pointers and only make five.

This isn’t new for Miami, though. As mentioned, they’ve been poor behind the arc all year relative to most teams. But the last five games are even worse. Miami is shooting just 26.7% from three in their last five games, but, oddly, is shooting more now than they have been all season. So, the ‘Canes are shooting more threes and making less lately. Not a recipe for success.

Jim Larranaga won’t blame the poor shooting on a slump. He thinks the team needs to make better decisions to create better shots, and that was the reason why they lost to Georgia Tech.

“Sometimes, you just got to attack the defense with good decisions. And I think we could’ve made better decisions, you know. It wasn’t that we took terrible shots or anything. But not quite as good as we’ve been.”

There you have it. While Miami is still getting decent looks from beyond the arc, perhaps their Jim Larranaga would like to see more good shots created inside the arc, where you’re leaving the odds of a make or miss less up to luck.

All this said…Miami still put up 70 points. We’re talking about the No. 12 team in the country according to the AP Poll. A team that good should have no trouble holding the Georgia Tech offense to less than 70. Instead, Miami let up 76, allowing GT to snap their three-game ACC losing streak and earn a ranked home win. Had Miami played even mediocre defense against a bad offensive team, their poor shooting would be a footnote rather than the reason they lost.