Seth Greenberg on Jim Larrañaga sitting away from team during timeout: 'That's not the way to reach em'

The Miami Hurricanes head basketball coach, Jim Larrañaga, seems like he’s been frustrated as of late with his team. But things might have finally hit a tipping point for the Hurricanes veteran head coach in their blowout loss on Monday night to the Virginia Cavaliers.

After Miami lost star freshman forward Kyshawn George early in the first half, Virginia took over the game, winning in convincing fashion 60-38. Things got so bad that at one point in the second-half following a Hurricanes timeout, Larrañaga appeared so frustrated and distraught at his team effort that he could be seen sitting himself dejected on the bench during two timeouts while the rest of the team huddled on the court.

It should be noted, as of now, no one knows exactly what prompted the coach to stay out of the huddle.

Following the game, former 2x ACC Coach of the Year Award recipient-turned-ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, challenged his former colleague while allowing for the idea some unknown piece of the puzzle may be revealed.

“I mean, look, he’s embarrassed by the way they played and he’s disappointed in the way they played,” said Greenberg. “Right now, maybe he doesn’t feel like he’s reaching them, but that’s not the way to reach them.

“Now, I don’t know. Maybe Jim was under the weather; we don’t know that.”

With the loss to Virginia, Miami falls to 15-8 on the season and is 6-6 in conference play.

Greenberg challenges the Miami players, too

While Greenberg was a bit critical of Larrañaga’s timeout actions, he did highlight how this was something out of the ordinary for him to do. He didn’t stop there; he also challenged the Miami players to step up and buy into the message their head coach has been attempting to deliver to them this season.

“Jim Larranaga is a great leader; he’s a terrific coach. He’s a guy that has a great relationship with his players. Seeing him taking himself out of the situation is not who he is. Having said that, the players have to take some responsibility, also. Like playing hard, playing together, being unselfish, making simple plays, [and] being connected; you can talk til your blue in the face, until you, as a player, buy into being a teammate and playing for the good of the group. It’s a player-led team.”

Larrañaga’s possible frustrations stem from their excessive turnovers this season and a tendency to over-dribble the basketball at times. In games that the Hurricanes have turned the ball over 11 times or fewer, they are 11-0 this season until tonight. Miami had just 10 turnovers but that was matched to only nine assists in the game.

The rash of injuries mixed in with sloppy and non-cohesive play on the court might spell doom for Miami this season after making a run to the Final Four last year.