Jai Lucas would have gotten a mulligan after inheriting a Miami program that won just seven wins last season (just three in the ACC) and needed an entire roster overhaul. He hasn’t needed it, though.
Miami surpassed the seven-win mark on Dec. 6 with a win over Southern Miss, hit three conference wins on Jan. 13 and has a chance to hit the 20-win mark — which the program hasn’t hit since 2022-23 — as it heads to Raleigh to face NC State on Saturday. According to Hoops HQ’s Bracketologist Brad Wachtel, if the season were to end today, the Hurricanes would be on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The former Duke and Kentucky assistant had never been a head coach prior to this season. Lucas’ rotation is made up entirely of transfers and freshmen and appeared to be prone to a slow start. None of those realities have held this group back, though.
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Explosive outings from Bennett Stirtz and Malik Reneau propel them towards the top of the ranking. Keyshawn Hall and Yaxel Lendeborg remain elite performers.
The Hurricanes are No. 5 in the ACC, picked up a signature win against North Carolina on Tuesday, have three quad-one wins and are 8-3 in league play. This group also appears to have turned a corner after winning four of its last five.
“The guys have done a great job of just allowing me to coach them to believe in the vision and plan,” Lucas told Hoops HQ. “We have good people in the building and it always makes everything easier. It always makes it easy to win when you have people who care about winning, but who also believe in the plan and believe in the vision.”
Many of the transfers showed flashes of excellence at their previous stops. Lucas has helped them develop and find their consistency. Indiana transfer Malik Reneau has taken the step from a 13.3 points per game scorer in his final season to Indiana to a primary option who averages 19.8 points per game and is nationally ranked in 11 of KenPom’s 17 efficiency categories. Point guard Tre Donaldson was a consistent starter at Michigan a season ago, yet he has found another level this season as Miami’s primary ballhandler and a 15.8 point per game scorer. Even while moving up a level, New Mexico transfer Tru Washington has increased his scoring output. Senior Ernest Udeh Jr. is also averaging a career high in points and rebounds this season.
The result is a team that has the physical maturity to compete in a much-improved ACC. “I wanted to build it with size because especially in year one, I thought the thing that keeps you competitive is if you’re able to win in the trenches,” Lucas said. “If you’re able to rebound, get points in the paint, get fouled, things of that nature, that will always give you a chance in every game. It’s hard if you’re relying on ‘we have to make a certain number of threes,’ or ‘we have to do a certain amount of something.’ It’s hard when that’s the case. I wanted to make sure we had something and had the side and physicality in place to compete with anybody every night.”
That physicality propelled the Canes to a win over North Carolina 76-66 while outrebounding the Tar Heels 41-35, blocking five shots and outscoring UNC 46-28 in the paint. Reneau led Miami with 16 points on 5 for 11 shooting and 10 rebounds in the win. Udeh complemented him with 15 points and 10 rebounds on 7 for 8 shooting. North Carolina big man Henri Veessar was held to 11 points on 5 for 11 shooting.
The numbers indicated that Lucas was on to something as he established a vision for how his program would have to win right away. His group didn’t just win on Tuesday, it was more physically imposing than a blue blood and demonstrated that a result like it got isn’t all that unrepeatable. As a result, its fanbase was able to storm the floor.
“We didn’t do anything extra extraordinary,” Lucas said. “We stayed true to who we are and how we play and know if you look at the box or it’s not like we change things up a lot. You know we didn’t make 15 threes or do anything spectacular. We were Miami basketball. That’s what the feeling is, that we’re good enough. We just have to be us.
Miami shot just 3 for 13 from three-point range and 14 for 23 from the free throw line in the win. The difference in that result and Miami’s uncharacteristic losses to Florida State and Cal was its ability to avoid beating itself. The Hurricanes turned it over 14 times against Florida State — which gave the Seminoles 12 points in a 65-63 game — and missed 10 free throws in a one-point loss to Cal. Lucas also said that his team’s loss to BYU could be attributed to fatigue down the stretch of a game. The Canes led until the 15:55 mark of the second half.
Lucas would have every reason to be satisfied with where he has taken this program in such short fashion, but he knows there is much work to do. The standards are high again in Coral Gables, and Lucas has every intention of meeting them.
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