Men's Hoops at Pittsburgh Tonight
(To order tickets to the Hurricane’s final home game at Miami Arena at noon on Sunday, March 5, against St. John’s, call 1-800-Go-CANES or stop by the Hurricane Ticket Office, Monday-Friday, 9-5 on the Coral Gables Campus).
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI (18-9, 11-3)atUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH (12-13, 4-10)Tuesday, February 29, 2000 — 7:30 p.m. (EST)Fitzgerald Field House (6,789)SportsChannel Florida, WAXY, www.hurricanesports.com (790 AM)
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: Pittsburgh enters tonight’s game with a record of 12-13, 4-10 in the BIGEAST, following a 67-62 win over Rutgers on Saturday. The win was the secondstraight for the Panthers. Sophomore forward Jarrett Lockhart led the waywith 30 points. Lockhart connected on 11-of-16 from the field including5-of-7 from three-point range. The Panthers have been led this season by the frontcourt of juniorforward Ricardo Greer, Lockhart and sophomore center Chris Seabrooks. Allthree are averaging in double figures led by Greer at 18.1 points per game.Greer also leads the squad in rebounding (9.8 rpg).
ON THE COACHES: Leonard Hamilton, in his 10th season at Miami and 14th as a collegiatehead coach, has brought the University of Miami men’s basketball program into the national spotlight. The 1998-99 BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year,Hamilton has guided the Hurricanes to four postseason appearances in the lastfive seasons including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998 and1999. Last season Hamilton led Miami to a 23-7 record and a No. 10 nationalranking by the Associated Press. The 20-win season marked the first for Miamisince the 1964-65 season while the AP ranking was the first since the 1959-60season. Prior to his arrival at UM, Hamilton spent four seasons at OklahomaState where he led the Cowboys to their first back-to-back postseason berthsin 36 years. Hamilton’s record at UM is 139-145 (.489) while his career markstands at 195-208 (.484). Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland is in his first season with thePanthers and sixth season overall. Howland’s record at Pittsburgh is 12-13(.480) while his overall record stands at 92-71 (.564).
A WIN TONIGHT WOULD:
***Improve Miami’s record to 19-9, 12-3 in the BIG EAST.
***Be Miami’s 10th win in its last 11 conference games.
***Be Miami’s sixth straight BIG EAST road win.
***Mark Miami’s 16th win in its last 18 conference road games.
***Give Miami a 7-1 road record this season in BIG EAST play.
***Be Miami’s third straight win over Pittsburgh.
***Mark Miami’s first season sweep over the Panthers.
THE SERIES: Miami and Pittsburgh meet for the 28th time with the Hurricanes leadingthe all-time series 14-13. The two have met 15 times in BIG EASTregular-season play with Pittsburgh holding a 9-6 advantage. Miami andPittsburgh also met during the 1992 BIG EAST Tournament with Hurricanescoming away with an 83-71 win. The Hurricanes have won six of the last eightmeetings. Miami is 4-8 all-time on the road at Pittsburgh including a 1-6mark in BIG EAST play.
Date Result Location1-29-92 PITT 82, UM 52 PITT2-4-92 PITT 77, UM 55 UM3-12-92 UM 83, PITT 71 MSG1-6-93 PITT 85, UM 78 PITT1-23-93 PITT 86, UM 84 UM1-12-94 PITT 83, UM 55 PITT2-1-94 PITT 80, UM 71 UM2-18-95 PITT 67, UM 61 PITT2-25-95 UM 76, PITT 68 (OT) UM1-20-96 UM 66, PITT 57 UM1-8-97 PITT 76, UM 72 PITT2-5-97 UM 78, PITT 63 UM1-3-98 UM 73, PITT 65 PITT1-30-99 PITT 60, UM 54 PITT2-23-99 UM 85, PITT 52 UM2-1-00 UM 64, PITT 60 UM
TV/RADIO COVERAGE: Tonight’s game is being produced by ESPN Regional Television and is beingtelevised locally on SportsChannel Florida. John Sanders is providingplay-by-play with Bob Wenzel adding analysis. The game can also be heard onthe Hurricane Radio Network (WAXY-790 AM). Marc Vandermeer (play-by-play) andJoe Zagacki (analysis) will call the action.
UP NEXT: Following tonight’s game the Hurricanes return home for their regularseason finale on March 5 vs. St. John’s at the Miami Arena. The game, whichwill tip-off at noon, will be the final home game for seniors Mario Bland,Johnny Hemsley and Vernon Jennings.
SALMONS STEPS UP: Sophomore John Salmons has stepped up his production over the last fivegames. The 6-7 sophomore has scored in double-figures in each of the lastfive and is averaging 10.8 points per game while shooting 19-41 (.463) fromthe field, including 6-15 (.400) from three-point range, and 10-12 (.833)from the line. Salmons has also been a workhorse on the glass averaging 8.0rebounds per game.
THE BUILDING BLOCKS: Seniors Mario Bland, Johnny Hemsley and Vernon Jennings have been anintegral part of the Hurricanes’ accent into the national spotlight. Now intheir fourth season at Miami the three have led the Hurricanes to a 75-39(.658) record, four consecutive winning season, and three straightpostseason appearances including NCAA Tournament bids in 1998 and 1999.Miami’s NCAA Tournament bid in 1998 marked the school’s first since 1960. Additionally, Miami’s 75 wins are the most in a four year period since UMwon 80 games from 1962-66 while its .658 winning percentage is the highestsince Miami posted a 72-33 (.686) record from 1963-67. With a post season bid in 1999-2000, the trio would become the firstHurricanes to reach the post season in four consecutive seasons.
ROAD WARRIORS: Over the last two seasons Miami is 14-2 in BIG EAST road games. The 14-2mark is the best among BIG EAST schools over the last two seasons. Miami,which was 8-1 in BIG EAST road games last season, is 6-1 in conference roadgames this season. Additionally, Miami has won 15 of its last 17 BIG EASTroad games dating back to the 1997-98 season.
Top BIG EAST Road Records Over Last Two Seasons:(games through 2/27/00)
1. MIAMI 14-2 (.875)2. Connectictut 13-3 (.813)3. Syracuse 12-3 (.800)4. St. John's 11-5 (.688)
MAKING ROAD HISTORY: With its 73-71 win over Connecticut last season at Gampel Pavilion, Miamibecame the first school in BIG EAST history to defeat Connecticut, Syracuse,St. John’s and Georgetown on the road in the same season.
MAKING ROAD HISTORY – PART II: With its 63-57 win over Connecticut on February 19, 2000, the Universityof Miami became the first school to win consecutive games against the Huskiesat Gampel Pavilion. Miami defeated Connecticut 73-71 in its previous trip toStorrs on February 20, 1999.
JENNINGS SETS ASSIST RECORD: Vernon Jennings recorded a team-high eight assists against St. John’s(3-5-99) last season and in doing so set a Miami single season assist record.Jennings ended the season with 167 assists surpassing the old mark of 154 setby Michael Gardner in 1992-93. Jennings has handed out 160 assists (6.4 apg) this season and is on trackto break his own single season assist record. Jennings, who needs just eightmore assists this season to surpass last season’s total, is on pace to record186 assists this season.
DEFENDING THE BIG EAST: Through 14 conference games this season the Hurricanes rank No. 1 inscoring defense (56.9 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.377) andthree-point field goal percentage defense (.270).
MIAMI CLINCHES FIRST ROUND BYE: Miami’s 55-52 win over Notre Dame combined with Seton Hall’s 87-74 lossto Villanova on Saturday clinched a first round bye for the Hurricanes at the2000 AT&T BIG EAST Championship at Madison Square Garden (March 8-11). TheHurricanes (11-3) are two games ahead of the Pirates (10-5) with two games toplay and defeated Seton Hall in their only meeting this season.
SELECT COMPANY: Entering the 1999-2000 season the Hurricanes are one of just three BIGEAST schools to post a winning overall record each of the past five seasons.Joining the Hurricanes are Syracuse and Connecticut.
DID YOU KNOW?: The University of Miami has registered a league best 26-6 (.813)conference mark over the last two seasons. Miami, which was 15-3 in leagueplay last season, is 11-3 this year with two games remaining.
