Matthew Cleveland's Advice is to 'Just Smile'
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes (4-11, 0-4 ACC) don't have a lot to smile about right now as they have lost four consecutive games with the most recent one coming against Florida State.
That is where Matthew Cleveland and his growing role as team leader comes into effect.
Ever since star guard Nigel Pack went down with a right foot injury, Cleveland has taken on more responsibility as the vocal leader of the Miami Hurricanes. He was already a leader but now, it is on his back to carry this program through this rough patch.
This rough patch is something that the younger players like Jalil Bethea, Divine Ugochukwu, and Austin Swartz likely never dealt with. They have dealt with losing but to this extent has to be weighting on their minds.
Cleveland has some simple advice for the Hurricanes and their younger players.
"My biggest thing is just smiling. You can see when they miss a shot or something's not going perfectly, just to smile. Just to let them know everything going to be okay everything going to be fine and just to keep giving them encouragement words of wisdom and just smile," Cleveland said. "Smiling is contagious so if you smile they'll smile and we'll get back on track they won't worry about the last play we'll worry about the next play one more."
The Hurricanes will now look to pick up the pieces and get their first win of the year against Wake Forest (11-4, 3-1 ACC) on Saturday in another home game.
