Jim Larranaga says Miami stubbed its toe in marathon of ACC schedule

With 20 games, the ACC schedule is a gauntlet. It’s also important to remember it’s not a sprint, as Miami coach Jim Larranaga said this week.

Larranaga’s Hurricanes were rolling entering this week’s game against Florida State, winning seven consecutive games after falling to league-leading Pitt. Then, Miami hit a bump in the road, falling to the Seminoles 85-84 in its penultimate regular-season game.

When they hit that bump, Larranaga said the Hurricanes stubbed their toe. Now, it’s time to recover and bounce back to gain momentum entering the conference tournament.

“I told everybody, the ACC regular season is a marathon,” Larranaga said. “And we were on a great roll, won seven straight games. Now, we stubbed our toe. When you run 26 miles — or, in our case, 20 games — and you’ve got a bad toe, you’ve got to heal. This game was a loss, but it’s one loss, aight? And it’s against a team that it’s our rivalry. So every time we play them, it’s a huge game. Our players knew that. They came ready to play. But as I said, they ran out of juice by halftime.”

Miami will close out the regular season Saturday night with a rematch against Pitt at the Watsco Center. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.

Jim Larranaga addresses how Nijel Pack’s absence impacted Miami against Florida State

The Hurricanes went through the game against Florida State without guard Nijel Pack, who was day-to-day with a lower body injury.

With the veteran guard out of the lineup, Miami had to turn to its bench and it was a little more than the backups were capable of handling. Florida State overcame a double-digit deficit to roar back and win 85-84.

“Nijel Pack’s a terrific player,” Larranaga explained after the game. “By not having him it shortens our rotation. So I don’t know how many minutes Bensley Joseph played, but it’s probably twice as much as normal, maybe three times as much as normal.”