After losing four of the last five games, Jim Larranaga shuffled his lineup in the Miami Hurricanes win over Boston College. Anthony Lawrence took Dewan Huell’s place in the starting lineup.
Larranaga leaned heavily on his starters in the Hurricanes 78-77 victory over the Eagles. The starters played 167 of the 200 minutes possible minutes against BC. The only true post player in the starting lineup was Kamari Murphy. The Senior finished with eight points and seven rebounds in 33 minutes.
The Hurricanes are going to need performance from their bench if they are going to make a run at a second consecutive NCAA Tournament trip. The only time(s) they have made back to back appearances in the NCAA Tournament in school history is when they went to three in a row under Leonard Hamilton from 1998-2000.
In the last two games, the Hurricanes have allowed 100 points and been outscored by 30 points in the second half. The Hurricanes are going to need a good rotation and solid play off the bench to earn a bid.
DJ Vasiljevic has seen his playing time diminish lately. He provided Jim Larranaga with a great shooter off the bench during non-conference play. Vasiljevic has mostly been one a tool player though. He is Miami’s best three-point shooter. If his shot isn’t falling, he hasn’t provided much else. Ninety-one of the freshman’s 107 field goal attempts have come from beyond the arc.
All of Vasijevic’s points have come from the three-point stripe since Miami’s victory over George Washington on December 22. He has scored just 15 points on 5-26 shooting over the last five games.
Lawrence is playing out of position at power forward in the starting lineup. At 6’7 185 pounds he has to be one of the slightest fours in the country. Murphy is not much bigger playing center at 6’8 215. Miami is going to need positive contributions from Dewan Huell and Ebuka Izundu going forward.
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Lawrence is averaging 6.8 points per game and 4.0 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game. That comes out to 11.6 and 6.8 per 40 minutes played. Huell is posting about the same overall numbers as Lawrence in four less minutes per game. He is averaging 6.8 PPG and 4.1 rpg. Over 40 minutes he’s posting 13.8 and 8.3.
Izundu isn’t nearly as polished offensively as either Lawrence or Huell. He was starting with Lawrence over freshmen Huell and Bruce Brown at the beginning of the season. That gave the Hurricanes a more traditional frontline.
Izundu has been more productive per 40 than both Lawrence and Huell. He is averaging 15.0 points and 11.6 rebounds per 40 minutes played. Izundu’s numbers per 40 have gone down significantly in conference play.
Izundu is 6’10 and the ‘Canes had the 6’8 Murphy at the four and 6’7 Lawrence at the three at the beginning of the season. Miami is going to need their bench in upcoming games against top tens North Carolina and Florida State. The Tar Heels boast the nation’s fourth best scoring offense and rank first in rebounding margin by nearly 2.5 per game.
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If Larranaga doesn’t use Huell and Izundu against UNC and get good performances out of them, it will be the same result that the ‘Canes have had against good teams this season. Miami is 1-5 against teams in the top 50 in the RPI this season including 0-3 against the top 25.