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Miami SF Matthew Cleveland announces return to Hurricanes basketball

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•04/27/24•

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Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

Miami Hurricanes small forward Matthew Cleveland announced his return to the program with a post on his Twitter page.

Cleveland started his college basketball career at Florida State and spent two seasons with the program. His third year was with Miami upon his transfer and now he’s back.

Last season, Cleveland played 29 games for the Hurricanes and finished the season with 13.7 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 1.7 assists per game, shot 48.9% from the floor and 35.7% from three-point range.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Cleveland was a four-star recruit out of Alpharetta (Ga.) Pace Academy, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 3 overall prospect in the state, the No. 7 small forward in the class and the No. 25 overall prospect in the class.

Matthew Cleveland returns to Miami

Cleveland’s return to Miami should be a big boost for head coach Jim Larranaga. Even amid frustrations Larranaga had with college athletics changes, he knows that he’s going to keep going in coaching because of his passion for it.

“If any of you have met my wife, you know,” Jim Larranaga said. “I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing and the players are going to keep doing what they’re doing. I don’t have control over that.”

To help explain his point, Larranaga compared it to calling a play in the middle of a game. He does it but once he does, things are out of his hands.

“It’s not like you call a play and the players just execute the play. No, you call the play and then it is up to the players to execute it. If they don’t execute, nothing I can do about that. Well, practice it and get them to do it right. Yeah, well, that’s what we’re doing but if they don’t do it correctly, that’s on them,” Larranaga said.

But if there’s one thing he’ll enjoy, it’s coaching Cleveland once again in 2024-25.