Tad Boyle once had a front row seat to watch Jim Larranaga lead a team to the Final Four. Now, Colorado’s head coach will get a look at Larranaga’s latest Final Four club.
Boyle was an assistant at Wichita State when the Shockers twice played Larranaga’s George Mason club during the 2005-06 season, including an NCAA Tournament date as Larranaga led George Mason to the program’s first Final Four appearance. Larranaga did the same with Miami last season, and on Sunday Boyle’s Buffaloes collide with the 15th-ranked Hurricanes for the first time in nearly 67 years as part of the NABC Brooklyn Showcase at the Barclays Center.
Larranaga’s George Mason club defeated Wichita State during the 2005-06 regular season as part of the defunct ESPN Bracket Buster series, then did so again in a Sweet 16 matchup.
“We played them twice. They beat us in the old bracket busters, and then they beat us in the Sweet 16 to go to the Elite Eight,” Boyle said. “So I’ve coached against him, even though I was an assistant and he was the head coach at George Mason. He’s been around a long time. He’s a basketball lifer. He was a good player back in the day and he’s a good coach. He’s done a great job at Miami, obviously.”
The Buffs, of course, are less concerned about the Larranaga history lesson than taking advantage of one final opportunity to pick up a signature win during nonconference play. CU lost its only true road game of the nonconference schedule last week at Colorado State and split its previous two neutral-floor games more than two weeks ago at the Sunshine Slam, defeating Richmond before losing in overtime against Florida State.
It’s not a must-win situation for the Buffs and their NCAA Tournament expectations. Yet a victory nonetheless would give CU’s credentials a huge boost when Pac-12 Conference play begins at the end of the month.
“It’s a big opportunity. Especially knowing that we haven’t been playing up to our potential,” CU forward J’Vonne Hadley said. “I say we’re 70%, maybe 75, of where we can be. So just knowing that, there’s been that extra edge this week. Just getting after it, knowing that we can always get better. Hopefully it translates to the game.”
Miami still boasts several key figures from last spring’s Final Four run, most notably forward Norchad Omier and point guard Nijel Pack. Like CU’s Tristan da Silva, Omier landed on the preseason watch list for the Karl Malone Award as the nation’s top power forward after posting 16 double-doubles last season. Pack was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Midwest Regional, but those two Final Four holdovers aren’t the Hurricanes’ only weapons.
Four of Miami’s starters average at least 13 points, with junior guard Wooga Poplar making a dramatic step forward in the season’s early stages. Poplar averaged 8.4 points for Miami last year but takes a team-best 16.5 points-per-game scoring average and a .537 3-point mark into the matchup with CU.
As a team, Miami is shooting .425 from 3-point range with a .513 overall field goal percentage.
“They don’t have a lot of weak links,” Boyle said. “The thing about Miami is they’ve got guys that can shoot the ball extremely well from the perimeter, so we’ve got to guard the 3-point line. But they also have guys that can really put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. They play a very small lineup to start in terms of height, but man, they’re all good players.
“A lot of times you say if you take away the threes, we can beat this team. We guard the paint, we can beat this team. Well, with Miami you’ve got to do both.”
CU Buffs men’s basketball vs. No. 15 Miami Hurricanes
TIPOFF: Sunday, noon MT, Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
TV/RADIO: ESPN2/KHOW 630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 6-2; Miami 7-1.
COACHES: Colorado — Tad Boyle, 14th season (278-174, 334-240 overall). Miami — Jim Larranaga, 13th season (262-150, 732-484 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — G KJ Simpson, 6-2, Jr. (19.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.4 apg, .549 FG%, .452 3%); F Tristan da Silva, 6-9, Sr. (15.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, .562 FG%); F Cody Williams, 6-8, Fr. (14.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, .623 FG%); G Julian Hammond III, 6-2, Jr. (9.9 ppg, 2.5 apg, .481 3%); F J’Vonne Hadley, 6-6, Sr. (9.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, .553 FG%); C Eddie Lampkin Jr., 6-11, Sr. (7.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg); G/F Luke O’Brien, 6-8, Sr. (4.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg). Miami — G Wooga Poplar, 6-5, Jr. (16.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, .537 3%); F Norchad Omier, 6-7, Jr. (16.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg, .577 FG%); G Matthew Cleveland, 6-7, Jr. (14.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .648 FG%); G Nijel Pack, 6-0, Jr. (13.5 ppg, 4.1 apg, .405 3%); G Bensley Joseph, 6-2, Jr. (9.1 ppg, 3.3 apg, .481 3%).
NOTES: This is the first matchup between the programs since a CU win at Miami on Jan. 3, 1957. … Miami suffered its first loss of the season last week at Kentucky in a top-20 battle as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Hurricanes go into Sunday’s game off consecutive home wins against Notre Dame in the ACC opener and Long Island. … CU played at the Barclays Center early in the 2016-17 season at the Legends Classic, losing against Notre Dame before defeating Texas. … Miami has held its opponents to a .257 mark on 3-pointers. … The Buffs have outrebounded their opponent in all eight games. … This is CU’s first game on a full-time NBA floor since a win against nationally-ranked Dayton at the United Center in Chicago on Dec. 21, 2019. … The Buffs return home to face Northern Colorado on Friday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
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