Jim Larranaga: Miami Needs Veteran Guards To Step Up

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - On "Big Monday," Mike Krzyzewski's Duke Blue Devils fought back from a 13-point, second half deficit to beat Jim Larranaga's Miami Hurricanes 83-75 in Coral Gables.

With 7:59 left in the second half, the Hurricanes had a commanding 66-53 lead, but allowed Duke to end the contest on a brilliant 30 to 9 run.

Coach Larranaga joined 560 WQAM's The Joe Rose Show on Tuesday to recap the good, the bad, and the ugly from Monday's defeat.

"We were able to attack them and their defense gave us a chance," Larranaga said. "For the first 32 minutes, I thought we out-played them."

And then came the turning point.

"We were ahead 66 to 53 when Gary Trent made two 3's in a row to cut the lead to 7," Larranaga noted. "Then, they switched to the 2-3 zone and we struggled against the zone to manufacture points. Guys were very tentative, didn't move the ball very well, and I called two timeouts to run different zone attacks. Neither one of them worked."

Larranaga praised the production from freshman guards Lonnie Walker and Chris Lykes, but cautions that Miami needs more from their veteran guards if they expect to stay afloat in the deep waters of ACC basketball.

"I thought our two freshmen, Chris Lykes and Lonnie Walker, really stepped up last night," Coach L said. "My concern is, our three veteran guards: Bruce Brown, Jaquan Newton, and DJ Vasiljevic, have really not had great starts to the ACC Conference race. We need those guys desperately to step their game up and really help on the offensive end."

Vasiljevic was held scoreless against the Blue Devils, missing all three of his 3-point attempts, while Brown and Newton combined for just 10 points. Meanwhile, the freshmen both scored in double figures, with Walker going off for 19 points and Lykes scoring 13.

The game was a showcase for Duke and Miami's talent, with 37 NBA scouts reportedly in attendance at the Watsco Center. Joe Rose asked Coach L if his players are aware when scouts are in the building.

"Our players are semi-aware that there are NBA scouts at every one of our games. There isn't a game where there aren't 8 to 10 NBA scouts."

Asked he thought his team should have gotten more calls from officials, Larranaga gave an honest, yet diplomatic answer.

"I'd like to get a couple more calls every game," he said, but added: "That was a great officiating crew last night. I'd like to have those guys every night."

You can listen to the full interview with Jim Larranaga on The Joe Rose Show above.