The Miami Hurricanes went on the road and lost to the Louisville Cardinals, 88-78, on Saturday afternoon. The ‘Canes have now lost 11 of their last 12 games, and sit at 5-18 overall and 1-11 in ACC play. A midseason retirement by longtime head coach Jim Larranaga is contributing to this team’s recent struggles, but the ‘Canes were having issues before that, with only one win over a team that is higher than No. 267 at KenPom – which came at home against Notre Dame on Saturday, Feb. 1.
While there are plenty of reasons for Miami’s struggles, including one of the worst defenses in the country and poor outside shooting, the development of five-star freshman Jalil Bethea has been a big issue as well.
Bethea played 13 minutes against Louisville on Saturday, scoring zero points on 0-3 shooting while grabbing three rebounds and turning the ball over twice.
It is the second straight game Bethea has failed to score a field goal, although he managed to go 4-4 from the free throw line in the win over Notre Dame. Bethea, who was described as “one of the best scoring guards and shot-makers in the country” by 247Sports coming out of high school, is averaging 6.7 points per game. He is shooting 38.5% from the field and 32.1% from the three point line, and has really struggled against top tier competition. Once considered a likely one-and-done candidate, Bethea is now almost certainly going to return to school to boost his draft stock and look to enter the league in 2026.
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