Nijel Pack ruled out vs. Florida State due to injury

Nijel Pack has been ruled out for Miami ahead of Saturday’s game against Florida State, according to Miami radio announcer Joseph Zagacki. It will be his fifth absence in the last six games as he battles a lower body injury.

Pack played 14 minutes in Miami’s last game against Boston College, which was his first appearance since Feb. 14. He went 0-for-5 from the field and dished out three assists in the Hurricanes’ 67-57 loss that day. He left with a knee injury prior to halftime and didn’t return.

Pack ranks fourth on the Miami roster with 13.1 points per game this season to go with a team-high 3.6 assists on average. It’s been a rough go for the Hurricanes of late, bringing an eight-game losing streak into Saturday’s regular season finale against Florida State. That dropped their record to 15-15 overall and 6-13 in ACC play.

Miami briefly took a lead in the first half against Boston College, but saw it evaporate after Pack left with his injury. Coach Jim Larranaga said it’s been a year-long issue, but made sure to give credit to the Eagles for their performance.

“I was very happy when we got a head with about 10 minutes left in the half,” Larranaga said, via CaneSport’s Matt Shodell. “Then Nijel Pack went down and then nothing went right. That’s kind of been the story all season long…[Boston College] played terrific. You have to give them a lot of credit.”

Down the stretch, Miami struggled to keep up with the Boston College, and Larranaga said the program has struggled to replace the late heroics of some key departures.

“Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller graduated,” Larranaga said. “We haven’t had that all season long where we need a bucket down the stretch – who do we go to? This year it’s guys wanting to take on that role of Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller, but you really have to have the skills to put the ball in the basket time after time after time. We haven’t had that this year.”

Miami enters Saturday 14th out of 15 teams in the ACC with the conference tournament quickly approaching. The Hurricanes will look to right the ship against a Florida State team to which they lost earlier this season. In that game, the Seminoles came away with the 84-75 victory in Coral Gables.

Saturday’s game tipped off at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2.