Miami goes into its final two regular-season games hoping to shake off the hangover from its loss to North Carolina and build up momentum heading into the postseason.
The Hurricanes also would like to erase memories of the past two Novembers that saw them stumble badly down the stretch. They have won only two of eight games played in the final month of the regular season under coach Randy Shannon.
But they may have to do so with one of their key performers limited.
Quarterback Jacory Harris was wearing a soft cast on his right hand as the Hurricanes began preparations for their home finale against Duke, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Harris said his fingers had been "messed up" a little bit during the loss to the Tar Heels.
Coach Randy Shannon was less than enlightening when asked about Harris' status, saying only his sophomore signal-caller would play against the Blue Devils. Frankly, with little-used true freshman A.J. Highsmith as the only other scholarship quarterback on Miami's roster, Shannon has little choice. Nothing short of a full arm cast and sling is likely to keep Harris out of the game.
"I will be playing Saturday," Harris said. "No problem."
He acknowledged, however, he will be wearing some sort of protection.
Harris is coming off a four-interception game in the loss to the Tar Heels, but he refused to pin any of the blame on his hand, which he had said after the game was hurt in the first quarter. He isn't going to change his aggressiveness in throwing deep now, and that is the approach his coach wants him to take.
"The one thing we can't do is we can't get back in a shell," Shannon said. "We can't say, 'OK, Jacory, you can't take these chances.' Because when he takes the chances, we have confidence in him making those chances and coming up with big plays."
In addition to closing out the home slate, the game against Duke also will finish up Miami's conference schedule. They end the regular season with a trip to Tampa to play USF on Nov. 28.
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Miami Hurricanes
