Miami faces ‘road game’ against Missouri in NCAA opener
CORAL GABLES — Patience is part of the University of Miami basketball season considering its complete roster of first-year coaches and players. But the idea takes on a different meaning for the Hurricanes’ NCAA Tournament game Friday night against Missouri . Thirty-one other games will have played — 35 counting the play-in tournament games — before Miami takes the court in St.
Louis for a scheduled 10:10 p. m. tip-off in the final game of the first round.
“The hardest thing about coaching in the tournament is trying to keep everything the same,” Miami coach Jai Lucas said . “It’s almost impossible to do. It’s all you see on TV.
It’s all you’re hearing about. Everything is college basketball, 24/7. “And we have the last game of the first round so we have two full days of fit.
My job is to try to keep everything as normal as possible. ” Seventh-seed Miami is a 1 1/2-point favorite against 10th-seed Missouri. But Miami also is coming off what Lucas called its, “worst game of the year,” in an ACC Tournament loss to Virginia.