When Miami faced Clemson last season, Shane Larkin wasn't much of a factor in one of his final games coming off the bench for coach Jim Larranaga.

Larkin and the Hurricanes have come a long way since.
The standout guard looks to help No. 3 Miami remain unbeaten in ACC play as it visits the Tigers on Sunday night.
Larkin played only 12 minutes, missed his only field goal attempt and finished with two points as the Hurricanes defeated the Tigers 76-73 on Jan. 18, 2012, to end a five-game losing streak in the series.
The sophomore, who has started 38 of 40 games since, is contributing much more this season for surprising Miami (20-3, 11-0), averaging 13.4 points and 4.3 assists. He is also fourth in the conference shooting 43.7 percent from 3-point range in a team-high 36.0 minutes per game.
Larkin, shooting 61.1 percent (33 for 54) over his last five, hit 9 of 15 from the field and scored 22 points after an early benching to help the Hurricanes earn a 74-68 win at Florida State on Wednesday.
"I just believe that Coach L believes in me a lot and my team believes in me and that's pretty much what's propelled me to have a good year," Larkin told the team's official website. "When everybody believes in you, when you believe in yourself, it doesn't matter what anybody outside says about you.
"As a team, we've just become a lot better and it's made my individual performance that much better."
Larranaga knows Larkin is a major reason Miami has won 12 straight games and is the first ACC team to start 11-0 in conference play since North Carolina did so in 2000-01.
"Shane is just all about winning," said Larranaga, whose Hurricanes missed the NCAA tournament in his first season as coach in 2011-12. "He just wants to win. It doesn't matter if he scores five points or 20 points, he's going to do whatever the team needs him to do to win the game."
While the Hurricanes' success may be surprising to some, center Reggie Johnson said it's simply the product of the team's determination. Miami has a chance to move up another spot in the polls after No. 2 Duke fell at Maryland on Saturday.
"There's no magic. I think we're just hungry," said Johnson, who scored 14 points Wednesday.
The Hurricanes are averaging 78.0 points and shooting 51.4 percent during a seven-game stretch that began with a 90-63 rout of then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 23, but Clemson ranks second in the ACC holding teams to 58.6 points per contest.
The Tigers, though, rank last in the conference in scoring with an average of 62.8 points, and the Hurricanes are tied for third in defensive field goal percentage (38.2).
Clemson (13-11, 5-7) committed only seven turnovers after averaging 16.5 over their previous four games and ended a three-game losing streak with Thursday's 56-53 win at Georgia Tech.
The Tigers, who fell on a last-second 3-pointer in a 58-57 loss to North Carolina State last Sunday, got a late free throw and a block on the game's final shot from Milton Jennings to preserve the victory.
"We stuck together," said Devin Booker, who scored 13 points. "We kept telling each other in the huddles, 'We're not going to let this one slip; we've let too many slip already -- and we're just going to stick together and play it out till the end.' And that's what we did."
Miami has lost five of its six all-time trips to Littlejohn Coliseum.






[TABLE="class: mod-data mod-pbp"]
[TR="class: team-color-strip"]
[TH="align: right"]MIA

[/TH]
[TH="align: right"]CLEM

[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="align: left"]W-L
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20-3
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]13-11
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="align: left"]Avg Points
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]70.6
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]62.8
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="align: left"]Avg Points Allowed
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]59.4
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]58.6
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="align: left"]Home Record
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]11-0
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]8-4
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="align: left"]Road Record
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9-1
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3-6
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="align: left"]Current Streak
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]W12
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]W1
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

gotta keep it up!

 

WHY

 

This is not a meaningless game. We are playing lights out at home and have 4 games left in the Gables. That leaves three games on the road, which we have a 3 game lead over Duke. Winning the ACC is in our sights, lose this game and it give Duke new life.

Well, I hate to tell you, but you're wrong. It really is meaningless. There is no ACC regular season title; it was abolished a long time ago. Winning the ACC Tournament is the only sort of "champion" that the league recognizes, so we only need to lock up a 1 or 2 seed to get a day of rest, which is pretty much a lock at this point.

I mean, sure, for momentum and national polls and such, it matters. But in the grand scheme? It's about as irrelevant of a game as you can possibly have in mid-February.

I'm sorry, but that is lunacy. We have a chance to have a choke hold on the ACC and be number 2 in the polls. Being number 1 in the regular season means you are seeded higher in the tourney, making other teams do the heavy lifting. I'm quite positive Larranaga would like to have the number 2 team in the country and remain unbeaten in the ACC. But you are entitled to your opinion

 

keep hitting those short jumpers

 

just get a win

 

We're playing basketballlllllllllllll

We love that ba sket balllllllll!

 

It's not a question of talking about how bad we are playing, because are clearly playing like ****, its the fact that even if we lose this game it in the larger picture it doesnt mean ANYTHING

And nobody is saying we want to lose. It's just that IF we lose.... it really doesn't mean ****. It's different than losing a game in the football season, where one bad loss can cost you the national title or conference title. One regular season loss in the ACC means NADA. Can't stress this enough.

 

It's not a question of talking about how bad we are playing, because are clearly playing like ****, its the fact that even if we lose this game it in the larger picture it doesnt mean ANYTHING

And nobody is saying we want to lose. It's just that IF we lose.... it really doesn't mean ****. It's different than losing a game in the football season, where one bad loss can cost you the national title or conference title. One regular season loss in the ACC means NADA. Can't stress this enough.

LOSING COULD PLANT THE SEED OF DOUBT

 

This is not a meaningless game. We are playing lights out at home and have 4 games left in the Gables. That leaves three games on the road, which we have a 3 game lead over Duke. Winning the ACC is in our sights, lose this game and it give Duke new life.

Well, I hate to tell you, but you're wrong. It really is meaningless. There is no ACC regular season title; it was abolished a long time ago. Winning the ACC Tournament is the only sort of "champion" that the league recognizes, so we only need to lock up a 1 or 2 seed to get a day of rest, which is pretty much a lock at this point.

I mean, sure, for momentum and national polls and such, it matters. But in the grand scheme? It's about as irrelevant of a game as you can possibly have in mid-February.

People don't realize how hard it is to go undefeated in the ACC, it rarely happens and if we lose a game the "fans" may not be able to handle it.

 

For the record, I'll take a one point win and walk around like we just beat the '91 Runnin Rebels.

 

This is not a meaningless game. We are playing lights out at home and have 4 games left in the Gables. That leaves three games on the road, which we have a 3 game lead over Duke. Winning the ACC is in our sights, lose this game and it give Duke new life.

Well, I hate to tell you, but you're wrong. It really is meaningless. There is no ACC regular season title; it was abolished a long time ago. Winning the ACC Tournament is the only sort of "champion" that the league recognizes, so we only need to lock up a 1 or 2 seed to get a day of rest, which is pretty much a lock at this point.

I mean, sure, for momentum and national polls and such, it matters. But in the grand scheme? It's about as irrelevant of a game as you can possibly have in mid-February.

I'm sorry, but that is lunacy. We have a chance to have a choke hold on the ACC and be number 2 in the polls. Being number 1 in the regular season means you are seeded higher in the tourney, making other teams do the heavy lifting. I'm quite positive Larranaga would like to have the number 2 team in the country and remain unbeaten in the ACC. But you are entitled to your opinion

LULZ if you think a loss tonight would significantly affect our NCAA seeding. We would have to lose several times to fall below a 2 seed at this point, that's how far ahead of the pack we are right now. Take a longer view.

 

And 1

 

Hey, Kadji finally got a call! Miracles do happen.

 

For the record, I'll take a one point win and walk around like we just beat the '91 Runnin Rebels.

That's your problem though, you have no middle ground. It's a regular season conference game. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

THAT WAS AND1

 

Kadji needs to stay down low.

 

BS call

 

Big Reg finally gets one.

 

the stand around offense continues...

 

come on reggie!! whats his deal