Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack has been battling injuries all season, and as Miami’s postseason hopes are dwindling in the wake of a four-game losing streak, UM coach Jim Larrañaga said there was discussion about what would be best for Pack’s future.

The fourth-year junior missed Miami’s loss to Boston College on Saturday with a “lower extremity” injury, and Larrañaga said during Monday’s ACC coaches Zoom call that Miami’s team doctors, Pack and the player’s family were discussing the guard’s future.

“While I’m on this conference call, our doctors are going to be on a conference call with Nijel and his parents to really look into the future and see what’s best for the young man,” Larrañaga said. “He’s dealt with these injuries all season long. This is not something that just happened in the last week. He was dealing with this back in December. He missed a couple of games, then he came back and played and now he’s missing a couple more games.

“Last week in our home game against Carolina and then our road game against Clemson, Nijel was just not himself. He tried his best, he gave a great effort, but he was in pain. He’s such a great competitor. He wanted to try to help the team as much as he could, but injuries are injuries. You have to deal with them. We’ll find out either today or tomorrow what his status is for the remainder of the season.”

Pack has played in 23 of Miami’s 26 games this year, averaging 13.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Against North Carolina, Pack started strongly and scored 18 first-half points but notched only two in the second half. He played 25 minutes against Clemson and did not score, missing all seven of his shots.

Pack, in his second season with the Hurricanes, considered turning pro after the 2022-23 season but opted to return to Miami.

Hurricanes stay upbeat despite losing streak

Miami (15-11, 6-9 ACC) has dropped four straight games, putting its NCAA Tournament hopes further from its reach.

Despite the recent struggles, Larrañaga said the team is not panicking entering Wednesday night’s home game against Duke (20-5, 11-3 ACC).

“The team’s spirit is good,” Larrañaga said. “The guys are working hard. The problem is it’s very hard to practice and play well when you’re so shorthanded. So I would say this: The guys will be excited about playing on Wednesday, and whoever we have who’s healthy is going to play.”

The Hurricanes have five games left in the regular season: home games against Duke and Georgia Tech this week, a road game at North Carolina on Feb. 26 and a final home game against Boston College on March 6 before closing out the regular season against Florida State in Tallahassee on March 9.

Larrañaga remembers long-time ACC coach Lefty Driesell

Former Maryland basketball coach Lefty Driesell died on Saturday. Driesell spent 41 years as a college coach and won 786 career games, and Larrañaga had fond memories of the former Maryland and Davidson coach.

“Lefty’s one of my favorite people of all time,” Larrañaga said. We had a great relationship. Not close, not like Terry Holland and Lefty had. One time Lefty called me. … I can’t remember where he was coaching at the time, but he said, ‘Jim, it’s Lefty. I’ve got a question for you.’ I said, ‘What is it?’

“’What do you do when someone cuts class? Do you have any penalties or anything you might do? I said, ‘Well, if they cut a class, we don’t let them practice or play.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I ain’t doing that.’”