The campus is located in the Miami sun, but Jim Larranaga’s roster is full of Northeast grit. And The Bronx native and Archbishop Molloy graduate is fond of his team’s makeup.
There is senior guard Davon Reed from southern New Jersey, junior guard Ja’Quan Newton from Philadelphia, senior forward Kamari Murphy from Brooklyn, and freshman wing Bruce Brown from Boston. Seven-foot freshman center Rodney Miller hails from Queens, as does associate head coach Chris Caputo. It’s no surprise the Hurricanes’ identity is toughness — they allow just 63.4 points per game, 22nd fewest in the country.
“It leads to us being a hard-working team. A bunch of guys that look forward to grinding,” said Reed, an All-ACC third-team honoree. “Growing up in the Northeast, that’s what I’m accustomed to.
“It stems down from Coach L, and we just follow suit.”
After reaching the Sweet 16 last year, the Hurricanes (20-10) were supposed to take a step back, following the losses of leading scorers Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez. They started slowly in the conference, dropping four of their first six, losing big at Wake Forest and Syracuse. The season started to turn Jan. 28, with a 15-point win over ACC regular-season champion North Carolina.
“It just let you know we can compete with anybody,” Reed said.
Miami finished 10-8 in the powerhouse conference, going 6-3 over the final nine games, doing enough to lock up what should be a third NCAA Tournament bid in six years under Larranaga. The 67-year-old coach thinks it’s important for Miami to land in-state players, and it is making the effort to do so — forwards Dewan Huell and Anthony Lawrence Jr. hail from Florida — but they have lost on some of them, such as North Carolina’s Joel Berry II and Tony Bradley.
“We have to find a geographical location we feel very good about,” Larranaga said.
The current model is working well anyway.
“One of the things that happens when you grow up in a city environment, you play outdoors a lot, and outdoors basketball gets impacted by the elements. The sun, the wind, the court itself, the baskets,” Larranaga said. “So guys tend to drive more and play close to the basket, and as a youngster growing up, you have to learn how to play defense, because guys are going to attack you off the bounce.
“You have to have a certain amount of toughness.”