Jim Larranaga reacts to Wooga Poplar’s late heroics off the bench

Miami cut down the nets Saturday, defeating Pittsburgh at home 78-76 and winning a piece of the ACC Championship. The Hurricanes become ACC co-champions with Virginia, and they did so behind the heroics of unsung hero Wooga Poplar, who Miami head coach Jim Larranaga spoke about after their big win.

“Wooga didn’t start today, he’s been starting all season long, but he came in off the bench, he played with great intensity,” Larranaga said. “Late in the half I don’t think he had scored, maybe hadn’t even taken a shot, and he nailed two threes.”

Poplar entered the game without ever making more than two three-pointers in a game for Miami, but that changed on Saturday. Poplar became a marksman from downtown, scoring a team-high 18 points all exclusively from three-point range, nailing six of his eight three-point attempts. He hit his first three-pointer with 5:30 remaining in the first half and never turned back.

“And in the second half again he came out for a while and rested, when he came back in his teammates found him. And then we ran a play for him, then he didn’t shoot, so it’s funny to me,” Larranaga said.

It was Poplar’s first game of the season coming off of the bench, but also the first game of the season where he led the Hurricanes in scoring. His shooting stroke from deep was a major part of Miami’s offense on Saturday, but he also made an impact on the defensive end according to Larranaga.

“He’s a terrific young man, he’s getting better and better at both ends of the court,” Larranaga said. “And if you see, I don’t know how many rebounds he ended up, but the ones he gets, those five rebounds he got at the defensive end are spectacular. He’s like 40 inches off the ground in traffic and just showing an incredible amount of toughness.”

Poplar has been effective on the defensive side of the ball all season for the Hurricanes, but their fifth-leading scorer being a long-range threat could add a new element to their offense heading into postseason play. The Hurricanes may have to share the regular season title with the Cavaliers, but they did secure the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, the first time they’ve done so since 2013.

Miami earned themself byes in the first two rounds of the tournament, and will not touch the court at Greensboro until Thursday. And it will definitely be interesting to see if Popular can carry the momentum created in their regular season finale into postseason play.