Jai Lucas after No. 17 Miami’s victory over North Florida and Depth Growth

Questions for Coach? Coach, maybe it's a difference between a 9 PM tip off and a 7 PM tip off. But the energy was there tonight, defensively, offensively. What's the message you're going into this game? We just gotta keep taking steps. Like I keep telling them, we're a younger team, and we're still learning to play with each other, and you can just watch us at times. I feel like we're just not clicking. I thought we took a step in the right direction today. And this next two, three weeks are huge for us to continue to do that. So I just think a little bit of the stuff we're kind of working through, just the game, getting everyone playing the game. You know, practice is different than the game, so getting used to playing with each other in the game environment is good. You saw yourself with a tighter rotation, too. Benefited, doubled in rebounds, over 60 rebounds. Yeah. Over 30 points on coming off the bench. Just, what have you seen from that aspect of it from game to game? You know, I felt just from the last game, I felt we were just, it felt like the subs were coming in and out too much and nobody could get a rhythm. And so I tried to see if we could have guys out there for longer to see if that changed the feel of the game a little bit. And it felt a little bit better, a little bit smoother. So that'll be something we continue to work through these next couple of games. One thing for me is I'm just trying to get us as close to a rhythm as possible. What would be the top unit, three games in now, just how they look offensively to you, big wins and stuff? You know, we've got to do a better job of re-spacing. You know, we're getting stuck a lot, and we're having multiple people in the paint where we're just kind of stopping. And that hasn't been the case, but in the game it's been the case. And so, you know, I like where we are with our pace and our speed, and our poise and our patience has to get better. When we get in the paint, when we need to relocate and kind of space, we need to re-space better. Our spacing is bad right now. That's something we've got to really ensure. Coach Allen is going on offense, so what are you seeing in the timing and the situation? Yeah, you know, we're all still getting to know each other. You know, I thought that Caden did a great job of finding the right people tonight and making a bunch of the right plays. I thought Malik finally looked like himself a little bit tonight, as well as Shelton. And I think everybody's trying to, you know, you tell people their roles and explain it, everybody's trying to find their role in the game. And that this... 12 new players, it takes time, it takes time, and so that's something I have to remember and something I have to remind them of, too, is that it takes time. I wish we would come out the gate and be clicking and be where we want to be, but for me that means our ceiling is so high. So hopefully we can continue to grow throughout the season and start to play our best basketball when it matters the most. Are there any improvements you've seen from the first right years to today as far as that, the timing and the... You know, just some of the things, we're starting to make the extra pass, which is huge. We made a few of those. I thought Nick had a bunch of them that he missed that he usually makes. And if he makes two more threes, it's a big difference in the game. If Dante makes one and Brent makes one, but I thought they were great looks. And so I saw where we talked about and what we talked about we needed to do them trying to execute. And so now we're trying to get everybody comfortable in their new skin. Cuz everybody was something somewhere else where they were. Santo was something at Georgia, they're taking something at Villanova. All these guys, now we need them to be their version of what they're gonna be here. And so that's one of the hardest things when you're trying to win and win big. is get people to know that you have to change to be able to do it. UNF's coach mentioned that when you guys were out there, sort of like a kid for two different teams. Your starters, it's... It's physical, when you first start bringing the bench in, it's more paced and whatnot. Just that versatility that you have to work with, just how beneficial can that be for your team when teams sort of have to scout multiple different looks when they're going up against you? Yeah, it's really beneficial. You know, we kind of start to mesh and mend it together. You know, one of the things I think is great about us is we're so versatile, and we can do that. You know, part of the reason Dante, like Dante could easily be a starter for us. Well, part of the reason we're bringing Dante in, you can bring him in for anybody. You know, the night we brought him in for Malik and we were able to play fast and do that, or you could bring him in for Cade, and he impacts the game as soon as he checks in. And so that versatility is huge because you're playing two different ways, and so that's part of the reason, like he was just explaining, why it takes a little bit more time, too, because you have this versatility and have this ability to do so many different things. I have a question about Robin Suntok. Yeah, I had to pack up and just start working. As they were talking, they explained the same thing you did about Dante and about Caden. But how beneficial do you think it is to have those two high-level people at the center going at each other every day? It's huge. We also have Yegor, and Yegor is still adjusting and adapting, and that takes time. He's playing a whole completely different brand of basketball. He's a high-level player as well. Same thing with Deshaun. Deshaun's been hurt since the summer. He's never been able to get his rhythm, so hopefully he can get his rhythm. But it's huge because that's what we want this program to be. That's what we want to be about. We want to be a championship-level team every year, so you have to have multiple people that can compete and do that. And we had eight block shots. That's part of the thing why we, or maybe not, part of the reason why we bring in Tomko and Rob is the rim protection. That's something we didn't have last year to this extent. So that's huge for us. So also with that, Caden might not have scored that much, but eight assists, throwing lobs from half court, just doing whatever. You called him a basketball savant. Just how did you see that progress in this game? Yeah, you know... When we watch him, you can forget he's a sophomore because of how talented he is, and he's still learning to play the position, and now we're asking him to take a position a little bit differently than he did last year. Last year, it was really, they needed him to score a lot. We don't need him to score as much. We need him to score, but not as much, but we really need him to get the ball in places when it needs to get there. So he's going through it just right here. I thought he didn't score well, but I thought he played his best floor game of the year, including Vanderbilt. I know he had 10 assists, but his reads, his ability to get the ball out of his hand quick, getting it to multiple people, taking care of everybody, kind of setting the table, I thought was useful. I know you also mentioned you might not have knocked as many threes down, but they were all very good looks. Yes. Just knowing that... It's coming, it's going to fall down eventually. Just how excited are you about that offensive play? I'm excited. I'm excited because we're not even scratching the surface of what we can be as a team. You know, even in the first game, I thought we were right there. And for us, it probably was like a C- game. You know, and so where we can get to, hopefully, where, you know, those guys are knocking down And if you end up with just, say, nine threes, You know, you're almost 100 points, and it feels completely different, looks completely different. But for me, it's about the process. So we played the right way in the process, and the shots we got were clean, and we keep doing that. Like you said, eventually they will come. Coach, when you speak about player roles, and earlier you spoke about what they were at the other school, how much communication do you and the staff get to your guys about that? You have to try to give as much clarity and have as much communication as possible because from year to year, you don't know what your team is going to look like, and so this is our team for this year, for this nine months, and so we have to bring them together and get the best out of them for this nine months, and I think part of doing that is giving as much clarity as possible, and so that's what we've been trying to do. Yeah, you start to get a feel for who can be out there together at the same time, who plays well together, who can play certain positions, like when the KD comes out, is it Sheldon or is it Dante at the point guard? You know, Rob at the five is different, but also you play Rob at the four, it gives you versatility. So just all those different things we're trying to get. And then one thing for me, you know, Just going through it and looking at the last couple of championship teams, we usually have nine guys who play 15-plus minutes. So that's eventually what I think it will work out to be. And those nine guys, I can't tell you who will be today. It's whoever earns it, and it may change. It may be nine right now, but when we get to December, it may be a different nine. So having everybody stay engaged and do that is huge. And I think for us, Just these games are so important. So did we execute things we think are important and the standard we set as a program from Wagner to North Florida? We'll see now from North Florida to North Alabama, we'll see. So it's really game by game, but it's all based off our standards. Thank you, Coach. Thank you.