Miami Basketball Faces Crossroads Tonight Vs Providence in Brooklyn

When the schedule came out this summer coaches, fans, and players alike pointed to tonight's game Vs the Friars at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, as an opportunity.

Providence would be very good out of conference foe, and a chance to boost the RPI perhaps.

A measuring stick if you will.

And a chance for Coach L to face his alma mater in a unique venue.

Suddenly this game is a whole lot more than that.

Miami is coming off a loss of epic proportions.

How bad was it?

How bad was Miami's loss to Eastern Kentucky tonight? I counted a few of the ways: pic.twitter.com/LkzFVHFL37

— Matt Porter (@mattyports) December 20, 2014

And the numbers don't even paint a picture for how bad UM actually looked.

So tonight Vs Providence, for one night,  the resume building and all of that good stuff will be put on hold.

Miami needs to decide tonight, simply put, if they still want to be a good team.

"Our lack of focus was very clear,"  Hurricanes Head Coach Jim Larranaga observed post game Vs EKU.

"Whatever the reason there is no good reason to not play hard all of the time. We didn't share the ball well, we didn't shoot the ball well.  We didn't defend at all. We started out with a clear focus of working hard.  Over the last 3,4 games it really hasn't been what we hoped for, planned for."

And those may be understatements.

So that is the upside to all of this?

This may have been a wake up call.

And Miami still has very talented players, especially in the back court.

Can they get back to what made them so good earlier this season?

If there is any group that can get the best out of a team, it is Coach L and his staff.

It starts with Angel Rodriguez returning to form and being one of the better two way PGs in the country.  That and the team sharing the ball the way they are capable would probably up the overall energy of the team, which in turn usually leads to better defensive effort.

They will need to re-establish themselves quickly tonight.  If not, LeDontae Henton (19.6 ppg) and Kris Dunn (13.1 ppg and 61. apg) will run them out of the building.

NYC can be a magical place around the holidays.

For the 2014-15 University of Miami Men's Basketball Team Brooklyn, NY needs to be the turning point where they reclaimed their season.

Game Info (9PM EST):