Miami fighting through difficult season as it faces Florida State

Florida State made the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 as recently as 2021. Miami reached the Final Four in 2023.

Yet when the Seminoles visit the Hurricanes in an ACC game on Wednesday night in Coral Gables, Fla., both programs are in a bit of a mess.

Miami (4-10, 0-3 ACC) hasn't beaten a major-conference team this season. They also lost -- perhaps most embarrassingly -- at home to a Charleston Southern team that entered that game 1-7 overall.

Soon after, Miami coach Jim Larranaga resigned on Dec. 26. Larranaga has had a Hall of Fame-type career, but he is 75, and it was evident that this program needs a rebuilding effort that likely will require a younger coach.

Bill Courtney, 54, is serving as the interim coach until Miami finds a replacement for Larranaga.

Meanwhile, Florida State (10-4, 1-2) has a much better record, but the Seminoles have dropped most of their higher-profile games, including losses to Florida, LSU, North Carolina State and Louisville.

Off the court, things seem to be far worse for the Seminoles as coach Leonard Hamilton has been sued by six of his former players. Those players allege that Hamilton failed to deliver on promises to deliver $250,000 in NIL money to each of them.

Jamir Watkins leads the Seminoles in scoring (19.3 ppg). Malique Ewin tops FSU in rebounds (7.3 per game) and field-goal percentage (57.6) while ranking second in scoring (13.3).

FSU is coming off a 90-74 win over Syracuse on Saturday. Four Seminoles players scored in double figures, and all four were starters.

"(Our depth) is not quite there yet," Hamilton said.

As for Miami, point guard Nijel Pack is expected to miss his fifth straight game due to a foot injury and an illness. Pack, an elite long-rang shooter, leads Miami in scoring (13.9 ppg).

Without Pack, Miami has been relying on scorers such as Matthew Cleveland (12.7) and Lynn Kidd (11.3). Kidd also leads Miami in rebounds (7.4).

Miami also has a pair of impressive freshmen guards in Divine Ugochukwu and Jalil Bethea. Bethea, a five-star recruit, is coming off the bench to average 7.0 points. Ugochukwu is shoot 75.7 percent on 2-pointers while averaging 5.5 points.

Courtney, who said Larranaga was his mentor for 28 years, now has control of Miami's program -- at least for the duration of this season.

"We still have a whole slate of ACC games," Courtney said, "and we have to get ready.

"But I hated that (Larranaga) felt he had to step down and that we as assistant coaches couldn't do anything to fix it."

--Field Level Media