Jim Larranaga says Drake game fueled Miami's start vs. Indiana

Miami was lucky to get to the second round after coming back from a late deficit to beat Drake in their opening game of the NCAA Tournament. Alas, the Hurricanes made the necessary plays to overcome the Bulldogs and move on, but not without quite a scare from the Missouri Valley champions. However, in round two, Miami didn’t mess around and were in control from tip to finish against Indiana to book their second straight trip to the second weekend.

After the win over the Hoosiers, Miami head coach Jim Larranaga said he loved the way his guards played on Sunday after a performance in the previous game that left a lot to be desired.

“I mentioned earlier they were not happy, the team was not happy with the way they played Friday,” said Larranaga. However, he was thrilled with star guard Isaiah Wong’s game against Indiana, and also pointed out Wooga Poplar and Nijel Pack for starting out hot.

“Now you see like Isaiah just exploded, 27 points, and was just terrific the whole game. But the two guys that got us going to start with was Nijel and Wooga. Those guys got us some key baskets early. And sometimes when you just get a couple of early buckets, it loosens up your team.”

In addition to a few made jumpers, Larranaga also thought the ‘Canes played strong defense in the early going to build up a bit of a lead.

“I thought tonight the way we defended and kept them from scoring early gave our guys a lot of confidence because we were up ten in the first five minutes or six minutes of the game. And when you do that as a player, you feel like, oh, we’re playing well. Then we just kept it going.”

Lastly, Jim Larranaga made it a point to note that he finished the Indiana game without calling a single timeout. Per the Miami head coach, that just demonstrates his level of trust in this veteran team. He didn’t need to interfere with their flow, even when a few possessions didn’t go there way.

“If you noticed, one thing — I don’t know if anybody picked up on it — I never called a timeout, not in the first half, not in the second half. Even when we fell behind, I felt like, no, our guys are playing hard and playing smart. They’ll figure it out.”

They sure did figure it out and Miami will now be playing potentially for a trip to the Final Four next weekend. First, they’ll have to go through Houston, the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.