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Opposing View: What Miami is saying about Indiana

Published

1 year ago

March 19, 2023

Indiana is set to face off against Miami (Fla.) in the Round of 32 on Sunday night, with a chance to get back to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2016.

Miami won the ACC and are 26-7 overall on the season. Jim Larrañaga is in his 12th season for Miami and is looking to get to his fourth Sweet Sixteen in his Miami career. The Hurricanes have won 10 of their last 12 games.

Here are some of the key quotes from Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga and players Norchad Omier, Bensley Joseph and Harlond Beverly ahead of Sunday night’s matchup.

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Q. If all three of you could talk about the specific challenges that IU pose. You’ve had a chance now a little bit to switch over to your new opponent. What is it? And specifically also for Norchad, having to cover a guy like Trayce Jackson-Davis, what do you think that’s going to be like?

NORCHAD OMIER: Indiana is a really good team. We know they’ve got Trayce Jackson-Davis. We know they come to him most every possession, and he’s going to be a big challenge for me.

I’m excited for it, if I’m being honest. I’m waiting for it. He’s a great player. That’s all I can say about it.

BENSLEY JOSEPH: I see a lot of their play style is unique. They like to give it to Trayce a lot, and they have perimeter shooters as well. So I feel like the challenge is taking away that paint and forcing them to do a lot of their weaknesses. I’m excited for this game tomorrow.

HARLOND BEVERLY: Like they said, they’re a really good team, great all around, good guards, great big man. So we have to be ready for tomorrow.

Q. Norchad, I was just curious how you got through last night’s game health-wise. I know you had some question marks coming into it. Secondly, what you’ve seen so far on film with Trayce Jackson-Davis and the biggest challenges he presents for you.

NORCHAD OMIER: How I mentioned before, he’s a great player. I think, not just me, but my teammates know that Indiana runs offense through him, and we’ve got to pack the paint. They have great shooters also. It’s not just Trayce Jackson-Davis. They have a lot of good players.

So we’ve just got to play our defense, play our identity, pack the paint, and do what we do.

Q. This could be for any of you guys. I’m just curious, of what you’ve seen of Indiana so far, is there any team you’ve played along the way this season that they kind of remind you of?

BENSLEY JOSEPH: I’ve seen a lot, but really the focus is Trayce Jackson-Davis and not letting him be so comfortable at what he does so great. Then looking out and closing out on their shooters from the perimeter and their freshman point guard, Jalen Hood, he’s really good. So applying pressure and making forced mistakes.

We’ve been here before. We’ve battled teams like this. So I feel like it’s just another day, another game to battle as hard as we can and try to advance.

Q. I wanted to ask a followup about Jalen. What about him and what about Indiana’s guards really stand out to you?

BENSLEY JOSEPH: Jalen’s really good. He likes to get to his spots. He’s crafty. He’s a big guard. He’s about 6’6″. And he’s strong.

So just applying a lot of pressure and making him feel uncomfortable, making him do his weaknesses, like I said, and hopefully we can shut him down the whole 40 game minutes to get a victory.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, guys. Good luck tomorrow.

Q. Just your thoughts on Trayce Jackson-Davis, your first looks at him after last night’s game.

JIM LARRANAGA: He’s great. He’s a first-team All-American. Obviously he’s earned that by averaging a double-double, scoring in an assortment of ways, helping his teammates play well. He’s just a great player.

Q. Jim, what do you think your team learned from the game last night that they would carry over to the game against Indiana?

JIM LARRANAGA: Well, the first thing I would say is they learned how good every team in this tournament is, even if you don’t know them, don’t know their personnel, you don’t know their style of play until you get selected for the tournament.

We were very impressed with Drake, very impressed with their defense, and I thought our guys’ defense stepped up. That’s what we’ve kind of shared with them all season long. The offense will take care of itself, but we have to defend, we have to rebound. If we do those two things at the defensive end of the floor, we should be competitive. But if we don’t defend, if we don’t rebound, we’re in trouble.

Q. In addition to scoring and rebounding, Jackson-Davis is very good at passing and blocks. Do you debate in your mind the positives and negatives of double-teaming him as you get ready to face Indiana tomorrow?

JIM LARRANAGA: Yeah, you have to debate that. I’ve watched tape on what other teams have tried to do. He’s an outstanding passer. I think he’s averaging like six assists a game. He’s a great rebounder. He’s averaging double-figure rebounds. He’s averaging 20 or more points in the Tournament. I think in his last few games he’s averaging 25. So he’s a great player.

As a coach who has to defend him, we’ve got to have plan A, plan B, and plan C. So we’re going to be doing that. We did a little bit this morning with the team. We’ll do it again tonight and then tomorrow at our shootaround.

Q. What stands out to you about Jalen Hood-Schifino and the rest of Indiana’s guards?

JIM LARRANAGA: Jalen, I tried to recruit him. I loved his game. He’s 6’6″. He plays the point. He can score off the bounce. He can shoot the three. He uses ball screens very effectively. He’s just a very good big guard, Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten, and he’s just much bigger than our guards. So he’ll be a handful for us tomorrow.

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