What Will It Take For Miami To Beat UCF Friday Night?
A surprise to nobody, the Miami Hurricanes took care of business in the season opener as they dominated NJIT en route to a 101-60 victory. Despite a few other games sprinkled before ACC play begins, Miami's level of competition will take a jump as they'll have a chance to prove themselves against some serious teams.
The first of those on their schedule comes Friday when UCF comes to town to ruin a night where the Hurricanes will raise their Final Four banner. While Miami enters the game as favorites, the Hurricanes won by just two points when they played last year.
Based of what we saw from Miami on Monday night, here are the keys to a Hurricanes victory against the Knights:
#1: Control The Turnover Battle
Miami's assist-to-turnover ratio was stellar, having 23 assists to just nine turnovers. with only six of them coming from the starters. However, it will be put to the test against UCF, as the Knights created 16 steals in their win over FIU.
From what was seen during Miami's exhibition and win Monday night, Nijel Pack has arrived as a primary playmaker for this offense. Especially in Jim Larrañaga's system where he emphasizes ball movement, it's important that the turnovers stay low. If Miami controls the turnover battle, it'll keep them from playing themselves into a close game.
#2: Exploit UCF's Presence In The Paint
While many criticize the lack of size for the Hurricanes, it's a bigger problem for the Knights. UCF's tallest starter, Omar Payne, had just six rebounds in their game against FIU which was tied for a game-high. On the other hand, Miami had two players with ten rebounds against NJIT.
Given how dominant Norchad Omier has looked early on, Miami needs to take advantage of his matchup. If he can control the game from a rebounding perspective and get Miami second-chance looks, it should make this game much easier for the Canes.
#3: Look To Get Nijel Pack More Involved As A Scorer
Nijel Pack ran the show from a playmaking perspective on Monday, finding his teammates in a variety of ways en route to nine assists and just one turnover. While this is good to see, a big reason Miami was able to make such a deep run last March was Pack's three-point shooting abilities.
Imagine adding more Pack's shooting abilities to Wooga Poplar and Omier scoring a combined 41 points, which they did versus NJIT. Pack can make this offense even scarier if he's taking more shots from behind the 3-point arc.
Pack's doesn't need to have a 20-plus point game per se, but if he's able to knock down some more threes it will force UCF to not zone in on one player defensively. Also, look for Bensley Joseph to take a bigger role in the playmaking department.
2023-24 Miami Hurricanes Basketball Schedule
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You can find Liam on Twitter @theleftyliam where he shares news on University of Miami basketball and football as well as opinions