BC bids to upend Miami, spoil Bill Courtney's coaching debut

New Year's Day will usher in a new era for Miami when it takes on Boston College on Wednesday afternoon in Chestnut Hill, Mass. It will be the first time in 14 seasons that the Hurricanes (4-8, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) will play a game without veteran Jim Larranaga as its head coach. Larranaga stepped down from that position last week amid the team's worst start in more than three decades. Longtime assistant coach Bill Courtney will be on the sideline and serve as the interim coach for the rest of the season. "Basically all the good things I know about basketball, I know from Coach L," Courtney told the Miami Herald earlier this week. "I can certainly say I worked for a lot of great coaches, but he was the guy that I was with the longest. He's the guy that taught me things on and off the floor -- how to treat the players and how to run a basketball program." Miami has lost eight of its past nine games. The Hurricanes have been without leading scorer Nijel Pack (13.9 points per game) for its past two contests, a 94-75 win over Presbyterian on Dec. 15 and a 78-74 overtime loss to Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 21. The Eagles (8-5, 0-2 ACC) also are looking to get back on track in conference play. Boston College has won two of its past three games but gave up 103 points in an ugly home loss to SMU in its most recent conference contest. The Eagles have one of the top scorers in the league in Donald Hand Jr. Hand, who is averaging 15.3 points per game, finished with a career-high 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over Fairleigh Dickinson and became part of the first father-son duo in ACC history to win player of the week honors. Hand's father, Donald Sr., won the accolade while playing for Virginia in 2000. "My dad will give me tips like following through and stepping into my shot," the younger Hand. "I'm just letting the game come to me and shout out to my teammates for putting me in comfortable spots." --Field Level Media