Jim Larranaga shares key to Miami's offensive success vs. Indiana

Jim Larranaga’s Miami team put in arguably its best offensive performance in an NCAA Tournament game ever Sunday against fourth-seeded Indiana. The No. 5 seed Hurricanes scored 85 points in its 85-69 victory, which is the most they have ever scored in a tournament contest.

The keys to such a performance, Larranaga said, are simple.

“We shot the ball really well,” Larranaga said after the game. “I tell the players all the time, the game is pretty simple. We’ve got to put the ball in the basket, and we’ve got to keep the other team from putting the ball in the basket.”

First-team All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis got his with 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting while also drawing seven fouls. But outside of him, the Hoosiers struggled to score the basketball.

In particular, Jalen Hood-Schifino had a poor shooting day with an 8-for-22 performance from the field. While he did score 19 points, it was an inefficient 19 points.

Indiana finished the game shooting 41.3% from the field.

“The way you do that is you play great defense,” Larranaga said. “You run back and don’t give them any fast breaks because when you don’t get back, they get a layup or an open three. So we got to get back and set the defense, and tonight we needed to pack the lane. Against Drake, we had to come out and guard the three. At the other end we want to use our speed. Get a stop and try to beat them down the court before they set their defense. If we don’t, we’ve got to share the ball and get everybody involved.”

Jim Larranaga highlights Jordan Miller’s offensive performance

Isaiah Wong was the headline grabber of Miami’s victory over Indiana with 27 points on 9-for-17 shooting with eight rebounds.

But Larranaga wanted to give credit to Jordan Miller for his performance in the game. Miller was second on the team with 19 points on a 9-of-16 performance from the field.

“The job that Jordan Miller did — how many points did he end up with? 19?” Larranaga said. “Did you see him go to the basket and just take two guys right to the rim and score right on them? Guys who are phenomenal athletes, 6’10”, jump out of the gym, and he’s fearless. I love coaching him. I call him the most underrated player in the country, but he should not be underrated anymore. The guy is like an All-American.”