The Miami Hurricanes have had one of their best seasons in the history of their basketball program and head coach Jim Larrananga would love to cap that off with a conference championship for the first time.
Miami is appearing its first title game against a team that has been there the most times in conference history, as the Hurricanes match up against the Tar Heels on Sunday at Greensboro Coliseum. The appearance in the final and the regular-season title was a surprise for a team that went to the NIT Tournament last season after going 20-13 and are greatly improved behind Shane Larkin.
The Hurricanes are 26-6 and set a team record for wins and enter the game after a close win over Boston College and an 81-71 victory over North Carolina State on Saturday to make it to the title game. With a win over North Carolina, Miami could secure itself a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
"We're a very hungry team, and we want more and more," said sophomore point guard Shane Larkin. "We're not satisfied with winning the regular season. We want the ACC championship, and then eventually we want to make the national championship game. We're hungry, and we're not going to settle for anything less."
Larkin has been a star for the Hurricanes all season and has been essential to their tournament run, scoring 43 points, eight assists and 10 rebounds so far. The Tar Heels will zero in on Larkin, but he will have help with Durand Scott, who has been hot for the team scoring 32 points in Saturday's win. Miami has been winning big games all season, including snapping a 10-game losing streak against the Tar Heels in January with a 68-59 win on the road.
The Hurricanes also embarrassed the Tar Heels at home, defeating them 87-61 to give them their worst defeat in a year while hitting a record amount of 3-point shots. North Carolina went 24-9 this season and went 12-6 in the ACC. The team ranked 14th in scoring with 77 points per game and were 14th in rebounding. The Tar Heels ranked third in assists and 111th in field goal percentage with 44 percent from the field.
The Hurricanes were one of the most impressive teams in the nation, going 15-3 in the ACC with an overall 26-6 record despite ranking 118th in scoring. The team was ranked 119th in rebounding and 287th in assists, but the team hit over 45 percent of their shots and ranked 55th.
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