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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 7, 2013Jim LarranagaJIM LARRANAGA: Well, the first thing I'd like to say is I want to give a lot of credit to Eric Konkol, my assistant coach, who helped develop our non‑conference schedule, and what we've tried to do is put a non‑conference schedule together that is very challenging. I think from every computer ranking I've seen, our non‑conference schedule was in the top five. And so we challenged ourselves in the non‑conference, and Eric did a great job with that, and then we started conference play on the road, and I think our non‑conference schedule prepared us to play a very fine Georgia Tech team, and we were able to get our first road victory in ACC play to start the season. Q. You played several games now without Reggie. You've done it in the past and other years. How does that change what you want to try to do on the court, because it's hard to just keep playing the same way without his presence I would think. JIM LARRANAGA: Yeah. Well, first of all, Reggie was playing extremely well rebounding the ball very well and giving us a great inside presence at the offensive end. The great thing is he has continued to work very, very hard. He's got his left hand in a cast, but his attitude has been great, his work ethic has been great. So hopefully when we get him back, he'll be ready to really get back and contribute vitally. The other guys realize that the two things that Reggie did for us, the rebounding and the scoring inside, Julian Gamble, Kenny Kadji, Raphael Akpejiori and Tonye Jekiri, have all realized that that's a major part of their responsibility, and so far they've done a nice job. Q. Particularly offensively, I know Julian Gamble is a pretty big body, but can you still come down and have him post‑up the same way that Reggie was able to? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, we can. They're obviously not the same kind of player. But the whole key for us offensively is to just have good balance, to have different guys step up and make shots for us. The other day against Georgia Tech it was Rion Brown. Often is the case Shane Larkin and Durand Scott are our leading scorers. But Kenny Kadji can really shoot the ball well, and in Julian Gamble's first start against Hawai'i he scored 16 points and had 13 rebounds. So if we can get a contribution from five or six different guys‑‑ Trey McKinney Jones is shooting the ball very well. He's been in double figures most games. If we can get four or five guys in double figures, then I think we're in good shape offensively. Q. You're taking kind of an interesting path on the way to 500. You left a head coaching position for an assistant's job, and probably there were some times when you wondered whether you would get the kind of job that would take you to 500. Was there ever a time that you despaired whether you would have this kind of career? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, I don't look at it in the whole, I look at it in a day‑to‑day. I love doing what I am doing. Terry Holland hired me in 1971 as an assistant coach at Davidson College. I enjoyed the heck out of working at Davidson and working with those kids and giving whatever I could, contributing whatever I could to the program. I got a chance to be a head coach at a Division II level and enjoyed the heck out of that, and then Terry Holland hired me again at Virginia. We had great teams in the ACC. That was really just a tremendous experience coaching at the highest level against some of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball. And then given the opportunity to be a head coach again at Bowling Green and then at George Mason and now here at Miami, to me it's just the daily work that we do, working with young kids and helping them grow, teaching them the game but also teaching them about life, and I've had great assistant coaches and great players that‑‑ the players win the game. Those are the guys that do all the work on the court. Q. I believe you had family members, your son was at the game‑‑ JIM LARRANAGA: Well, my son Jay, who played for us at Bowling Green State University, is now the assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, and the Celtics were in Atlanta to play the Hawks while we were in Atlanta to play Georgia Tech. So after our game against Georgia Tech, Chris Caputo and I went over to our Celtics‑Hawks game and had a chance to go out to dinner with my son and some friends afterwards, and that was great fun watching him and the Celtics being able to come away with a win. The Larranagas had a great day that day. Q. Watching the team just kind of celebrate and cheer for each other, it seems like there's a certain chemistry and camaraderie that's a little bit unique compared to maybe some of the past Miami teams I've watched. Can you talk about how that translates on the court? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, I think what you see is a group of guys who are dedicated to one goal, and that's winning. You know, like Rion Brown on Saturday had a great game, and everybody was very excited for him. His dad was an all‑American at Georgia Tech, and Rion had not been shooting the ball particularly well, and then all of a sudden goes 9 for 11 from the field, scores 22 points, and even those some of our starters had kind of had sub‑par scoring games, they were far more concerned and happy that we won than any personal statistics. And I think this team is very unselfish. They play very hard, and they like sharing the ball with their friends, and they're doing a good job of it right now. Q. I wanted to ask two things, one about Rion Brown. Obviously that game that he had the other day, like you said, you've been kind of waiting for him to get his stroke back, and to get 9 of 11 where his dad was an all‑American, do you see that giving him confidence going into the next few games, and how much do you need him to contribute? And the other question is just in general if you could talk about the conference, the ACC, and what you've seen so far and what you expect, especially with not having Reggie to help you out. JIM LARRANAGA: Well, first of all, the great thing about Rion Brown is he's got a tremendous attitude and a great work ethic, and he's been working very, very hard, and that's why he's earned so many of the minutes despite the fact that he hasn't been shooting the ball the way he's capable of, and I certainly think that him making 9 of 11 will help him relax a little bit and give him a lot of confidence going forward. But every game is different, every opponent is different, the kind of shots you get are different, the opportunities, the size of your match‑up and what have you. One game may not represent what you're going to see in the next game. But I know one thing: He's still going to have a great attitude and a great work ethic and prepare himself to help us in whatever way he can. I think the ACC has had a great non‑conference, one of the top two or three conferences in the country, and I think the league is very deep and talented, maybe more depth than last year because last year I thought we were very young as a league, and those young kids have gained valuable experience and are improving. You see a team like Maryland who's gotten off to a fantastic start, I think they're 13‑1 right now, and their only loss is to Kentucky, like way back early in November. So there's a lot of talent in the league, and I think the league is going to enjoy great success. Q. Going into the North Carolina game, what are you expecting from the Tar Heels and how do you think you guys match up? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, one of the key, I think, statistics with Carolina is they're 7‑0 at home, and they have some young players. They also have some veterans, and they've got a great support system in that home court crowd. So the nice thing for our players is we've been on the road. We've played at UMass and we've played at Central Florida, we've played at Georgia Tech, also very good teams in hostile environments. Hopefully we'll be ready. Carolina is a tremendous running team, No.1 in the country in scoring, and it's going to be a real challenge for us to defend that kind of versatile team. Q. Durand Scott right now is in his fourth year at Miami, a four‑year starter. Among active players in the league, he's first in points scored, first in field goals, second in free throws, second in assists, third in steals and fifth in rebounds. Talk a little bit about what he brings to the table game in and game out for you. He seems to do just about everything for you. JIM LARRANAGA: Well, I love Durand Scott. He is such a great competitor, and he involves himself in every aspect of the game and every aspect of our team. He's been a great leader for us. He just plays as hard as he can as long as he can. He only cares about winning. He's from New York and so am I, so we have somewhat of a kinship, having played in the same Catholic high school basketball league, and when we didn't have him, we didn't have our emotional leader. When he came back and we went full strength, he was terrific, and we were much improved. He's going to go down as one of the best players in Miami basketball history, and I think he's on his way to a great senior year. Q. When we talked to you preseason, you were talking about the defensive potential of this team, especially with Scott and Larkin in the backcourt together. When I look at the numbers right now, I don't see it, although obviously numbers can be skewed by the schedule you play, but can you talk about the development of your defense? Is it where you thought it would be and where you hoped it would be at this point? JIM LARRANAGA: Tell me what stats you were looking at that have disappointed you so I can respond to that. Q. Well, it's just field goal percentage defense, assist turnover ratio, you guys are maybe at the lower upper‑middle of the pack. It's nothing outstanding; it's okay. Maybe I am reading it wrong, that's why I'm asking, is the defense playing better or as well as you hoped it would be? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, there's a lot of categories in defense, and here's what I would say: I thought we started the season poorly defensively and have improved a good bit. And we started the defense primarily not as good because we had made some changes, and that was my fault. I thought we were going to have a little more depth and a little more speed and quickness, but with Durand Scott out and Fisher Daniels hurt and what have you, we were not playing the kind of defense that we needed to play to start the season. We've made some adjustments. We've lost Fisher Daniels, he's gone back home, so the guys who are available and playing and playing hard are getting better and better at what we want done. Q. Is there something you still need to do, or are you pretty happy where you are right now? JIM LARRANAGA: Oh, no, I don't think any coach is ever satisfied with where you are. But if you look statistically, we follow Ken Pomeroy, Kenpom.com, and we've moved into, I think, the top 50 or top 40 defensively in field goal defense efficiency. And basically if we can continue in that direction, we could be a very, very good defensive team before the season is over. Q. You mentioned Carolina's scoring offense. How do you slow them down? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, North Carolina traditionally is in the top two or three fast break basketball teams in the country. It's their style, it's what they do best, and they've always had plenty of offensive talent to get that done. You have to be very, very good defensively, but you also have to be very efficient offensively so that you've got to be scoring enough that they have to take the ball out of bounds, which would give you one more split second to get your defense back in set. But even when you score, they've been terrific at inbounding the ball and scoring in the first five seconds of the possession. So getting your players to understand the importance of getting back, setting your defense and making them play five on five rather than five on four or four or three or two or one, that that's a major key in the basketball game and major key in any basketball game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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