Jim Larranaga credits pace of play to offensive success

On Wednesday, Miami got into a high-scoring thriller with Cornell, which ended in a 107-105 win for the Hurricanes. The offense was clearly clicking in this game. As head coach Jim Larranaga explained, this was largely due to the pace of play in the game.

“Well, it wasn’t so much about our offense,” Jim Larranaga explained. “It’s really about the style of play, because Cornell plays so fast and there’s a lot of open court situations, we got a chance to score before their defense got back.”

Jim Larranaga explained that this style played into Miami’s strengths, so they rolled with that pace of play. However, Cornell’s ability to consistently score made the game difficult to put away. This let Cornell keep the game close and nearly helped them pull off the upset.

“We didn’t want to slow down. We wanted to play at that tempo because we’re very comfortable because we can score the ball in the open court. However, we’re not used to defending a team that can score that well in the open court because they shoot so many threes and they’re relentless in driving, straight-line driving,” Jim Larranaga said.

“I thought [Chris] Manon was a huge difference in the game. We had no chance of stopping him. He came into the game early and he scored, he took the ball to the basket, and his defense was outstanding. In the latter stages of the game, we couldn’t score and they just kept scoring.”

With the win, Miami moved to 9-1 on the season. The Hurricanes’ only loss came against a ranked Maryland team. Cornell is no pushover, either. At 7-2, Cornell is expected to compete for the Ivy League’s bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Miami’s next game is on Saturday, December 10th. It will be against NC State.

Jim Larranaga compares Norchad Omier, Clifford Omoruyi matchup to Sumo wrestlers

Following the ACC/Big Ten Challenge where Miami played Rutgers, Jim Larranaga praised Miami’s Norchad Omier and Rutgers’ Clifford Omoruyi, comparing them to Sumo wrestlers.

“That’s like, I’ll use the expression, two Sumo wrestlers there down on the low block, in the paint, wrestling for every inch of the court,” Jim Larranaga said.

“And Omoruyi is a big time athlete, incredible length and jumping ability, and I think Norchad played him to a standstill. He’s not as tall, but he’s such a workhorse, he’s a relentless worker.”