Miami Hurricanes menÂ’s and womenÂ’s basketball teams share trip to Boston College - UM
The University of Miami men's and women's basketball teams are on a rare joint road trip at Boston College for a Sunday doubleheader at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
The 10th-ranked UM women's team (18-3, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is riding a seven-game win streak. It will be heavily favored over the Eagles (5-15, 0-7), who dropped their last game 77-46 to North Carolina.
Coach Katie Meier's high-energy team has beaten opponents by an average of 21.7 points, and the Hurricanes lead the ACC in steals with 14.3 per game and three-pointers with 6.3 per game.
Men's coach Jim Larranaga, who signed a three-year contract extension Friday, also heads in with the favored team. The Hurricanes are 11-7, 2-3 in the conference, including a road victory at Georgia Tech on Tuesday.
The Hurricanes start two seniors and two juniors, while the Eagles start four freshmen.
The one freshman expected to play a big role for the Hurricanes is point guard Shane Larkin, who will start for the second game in a row alongside guards Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott, center Reggie Johnson and forward Kenny Kadji, the ACC's fifth-leading scorer who is averaging 17.1 points per conference game.
Larranaga explained that he replaced Trey McKinney Jones with Larkin because the rookie is the team's truest point guard, and the move allows Grant to play more off the ball, where he is more effective.
"I'm very, very pleased with the results," Larranaga said. "We put Shane guarding the basketball because he's our quickest and best on-ball defender. Second, that moved Malcolm off the ball, and he got a chance to play the chase defense and not have to guard the dribbler quite as often. It helped both players."
He said Larkin is also the best ball distributor, and he had assists to five different teammates against Georgia Tech.
"We basically told Shane that his responsibility is get us in our offense and get the ball to other guys while still being aggressive, looking for his shots, because he's an excellent shooter himself.
"If he can keep that up, we'll become a more offensive team."
Despite the Eagles' youth, Larranaga has warned his team not to take them lightly.
"They're starting four freshmen, but they have played so many minutes so many games, they're like a veteran team," the UM coach said. "They know the system very well, won two conference games, and they're a team to reckon with for the future."
