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No. 14 Hurricanes expect to take ‘next step’ in Jai Lucas’ second season
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- No. 14 Hurricanes expect to take ‘next step’ in Jai Lucas’ second season
The Hurricanes won't catch anyone by surprise this season.
In coach Jai Lucas' first year at the helm, Miami bounced back from a seven-win season in 2024-25 and won 26 games. The Hurricanes made it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2023 and finished in the AP Top 25.
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Now the expectations for UM are higher. Entering their season opener against No. 1 Florida on Monday (played in Tampa at 6 p.m.), the Hurricanes are ranked 14th in the nation and are projected to finish fourth in the ACC.
This is a situation we want to be in every year. This is why I took this job," Lucas said. "This is something I want to be where we have these expectations to be really good and have expectations to compete for championships. That's the whole point of why I do this as a coach and why we do this as a program. So moving forward, this is something we have to get accustomed to, and this is just our next step of this program."
Miami has reasons to be optimistic. The Hurricanes return three key players from last year's tournament team: sophomore guard Dante Allen, sophomore forward Shelton Henderson and senior forward Malik Reneau.
Allen and Henderson's returns were expected. They had strong seasons as freshmen and announced their plans to return to UM soon after the season ended.
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Reneau's return had a few more twists and turns. The All-ACC forward entered the NBA draft but was not selected. He signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Orlando Magic and played in the NBA Summer League. But after the NCAA announced its new "Five-for-Five" eligibility model (which gives student-athletes five years to play in up to five seasons in college), Reneau went to court to try to get another year of eligibility.
"I just was able to get with my agent and my group and get that situated, talk with Jai, … whoever I needed to talk to — the school — and go from there," Reneau said. "It wasn't really anything crazy once I put my name in that situation with the lawsuit and stuff. I just kept on steady grinding and staying in the weight room, training and doing all that stuff."
Reneau received another year of eligibility through the lawsuit, becoming a late addition to the Hurricanes' roster.
"It didn't really throw things out of whack for us because last year, the team was kind of built around and through Malik. This year, this team was built without him in mind. And so being able to add him and what he does is kind of a bonus. So the way the team is built, it wasn't built like, 'Oh, man, Malik, we need to do this, need to do that.' He just comes in and is able to enhance us, and he just plays into some of the stuff were already doing and already playing."
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Lucas, who reconstructed the team after taking over last year, had to scour the portal for more plays this offseason. He added eight transfers to the roster this year, including point guard Acaden Lewis (Villanova) and center Somto Cyril (Georgia).
"Good group of guys, a lot of good personalities, so it's been easy to connect with them," Henderson said. "We hang around off the court a lot, pretty much every single day, but it's been a lot of fun just playing with these guys."
Miami also added two freshmen: Christopher Birden Jr. and Caleb Gaskins. The latter, a five-star prospect from Miami Columbus High, could have an immediate impact. He started UM's preseason exhibition against No. 24 Vanderbilt and scored 20 points.
"I think he has a chance to be one of the best freshmen in the country," Henderson said. "He's really good. He's impressed me."
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Last year's UM team had a tight rotation. Seven players averaged 15 or more minutes per game. But Lucas said he thinks this year's team is deeper and could feature a larger rotation. Eight players played 15 or more minutes in the exhibition against Vanderbilt, and Reneau missed that game with an injury.
"I like where we're headed," Lucas said. "I do feel we're a lot deeper than we were last year. And so that was a big priority this offseason — to make sure we have just some more depth off the bench, and we can play a bunch of different ways. We can play small, we can play big. We can do a lot of different things with this roster. And that's the thing I'm most excited about."
