Jim Larranaga reveals his message to Miami before Final Four

Miami coach Jim Larranaga just wants his team to have fun at the Final Four this weekend. It’s the same message he gave the Hurricanes when they entered the NCAA Tournament, and he believes it is even more important as the stage gets bigger.

Of course Larranaga wants to win, but he also realizes that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his players. That’s why he is urging them to soak in the moment and remember what got them here.

“Have more fun,” he said. “Basketball is a game. You want to enjoy it. You don’t want to put a lot of pressure on yourself and be all stressed out. It’s very hard to play when you’re uptight and you’re worried about the score or maybe the opponent. You really have to execute the game plan. That means every player doing their job executing their role. We’ve been able to do that so far and hopefully we’ll do it on Saturday.”

It is the first Final Four appearance in program history for Miami, but Larranaga has been here before. He famously led 11th seeded George Mason to the national semifinal in 2006 in what was one of the greatest Cinderella runs in March Madness history. The Patriots lost to eventual champion Florida, but Larranaga will hope to use his experience to lead the Hurricanes to a different outcome.

Miami reached this year’s Final Four after coming back from a 13-point deficit in the second half against Texas to win 88-81 in the Elite Eight. Hurricanes guard Jordan Miller was the star of that game, finishing with 27 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting and 13-of-13 from the free throw line.

But Miami has many more offensive weapons aside from Miller. Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong have also led the Hurricanes in scoring in at least one game this tournament in what has been an incredibly balanced attack. Four of the five Miami starters are averaging at least 13 points per game for a team that ranks 21st in the nation in scoring.

The Hurricanes draw a matchup against four-seeded UConn. The Huskies are the highest-seeded team to reach the Final Four, having won each of their tournament games by 15 points or more. They enter as 5.5-point favorites behind the dynamic duo of Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins.

But as Laranaga said, Miami can’t worry too much about UConn has done to this point. If the Hurricanes are to advance to the title game, they’ll have continue to stick to what got them here.