What you should know as No. 22 Miami Hurricanes play No. 6 Virginia at home Tuesday
University of Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga, whose 22nd ranked Hurricanes play No. 6 Virginia at home Tuesday night, was asked what makes the Cavaliers such a tough opponent.
He had a simple answer: Tony Bennett.
“Tony Bennett is an incredibly skillful coach,” Larranaga said, and went on to say that Bennett had the best teacher, his father Dick Bennett, who built Wisconsin-Green Bay into a mid-major power and revitalized the Wisconsin program.
“I always thought his Dad was the best coach I coached against when I was the head coach at Bowling Green,” Larranaga said.
In fact, Larranaga had such respect for the elder Bennett that he contacted him and asked if he could go visit him and “pick his brain and find out all the things he was doing” that made him so successful. Bennett happily obliged.
“We (Larranaga and then-Butler coach Barry Collier) went to Green Bay and absorbed as much basketball knowledge as we could from a guy I thought was a basketball genius,” Larranaga said.
“I think Tony not only learned so much about coaching from his Dad, but he was a terrific player himself, in college and the NBA. He’s been able to combine his experience as a player and what he learned from his Dad and Virginia has been, in my mind, the most consistent ACC team since I arrived in the league 12 years ago.”
One of the strategies Bennett picked up from his father is the pack line defense, which emphasizes taking away dribble drives and interior scoring options and forces teams to settle for outside shots.
Virginia’s defense ranks second in the ACC in points allowed at 59.1. Miami’s offense averages 79 points per game.
Teams that share the ball well typically do better against Virginia. The Cavs (8-1) lost their first game of the season Sunday against No. 3 Houston, which had 17 assists on 25 baskets.
Miami had 19 assists in a 91-72 win against St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday and had 22 assists in an 80-73 win over North Carolina State last week. The Canes rank second in the ACC in assists per game with 15.9 and Virginia is third with 15.2.
Guard Isaiah Wong had eight assists against NC State and 10 against St. Francis. Wong has also been the team’s leading scorer with 22 against St. Francis and NC State and a career-high 36 in a win over Cornell.
“Our goal is to average 16 or more assists in every game and it’s a real challenge,” Larranaga said. “When you play the pack line defense, the whole idea of getting assists is penetrating assists and kick it out for other guys to get catch and shoot shots. With pack line, it’s hard to penetrate, so you have to do a good job of moving it.”
Among the players to watch for Virginia is forward Jayden Gardner. Larranaga said UM recruited him when he transferred from East Carolina.
“He has three areas that he is absolutely outstanding,” the coach said. “First, he’s got a beautiful touch, great shot from the elbow. Second is in the low post, outstanding right hand jump hook. Third is along the baseline about 15 feet, nice touch. He’s very, very hard to guard.
UM guard Nijel Pack, who was ill and missed Saturday’s game against St. Francis returned to practice Sunday and will likely play on Tuesday.
The Tuesday game (8:30 p.m., ACC Network) is the first game between two ranked ACC teams in 22 months.
Miami guard Jordan Miller was surprised by that news. “That’s exciting,” he said. “I think with this game coming up and both being ranked it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a war. It’s going to come down to every single possession, turnovers, all the little stuff. Both teams are going to have to be sharp and whoever is sharpest will come out victorious.”
