Miami Versus Tulsa Basketball Preview
March 21, 2000
GAME: No. 7 Tulsa (31-4) vs. No. 6 Miami (23-10), NCAA South Regional,Semifinal Round.
TIME: Friday, 7:55 p.m. EST.
SITE: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas.
Miami has already advanced deeper into the NCAA tournament than any otherteam in school history. On Friday, Tulsa will be looking to do the same.
Having moved into the round of 16 for the first time, the Hurricanes look tostop the Golden Hurricane from reaching their first regional final.
Both teams pulled off second-round upsets to reach this point.
Miami advanced to the regional semifinals with a 75-62 victory overthird-seeded Ohio State on Sunday.
“Once again, we are swimming in unchartered waters,” said coach LeonardHamilton, who is in his 10th year as Hurricanes coach. “Each time we win agame, each time we take another step forward, we’re making history for ourbasketball program.”
Tulsa knocked off second-seeded Cincinnati 69-61 on Sunday to move within avictory of reaching the round of eight for the first time.
“These guys are self-motivated, but we do operate best when we feel ourbacks are against the wall, no question about that,” Tulsa coach Bill Selfsaid.
While the sixth-seeded Hurricanes are led by Johnny Hemsley, theseventh-seeded Golden Hurricane are a team with no true stars that relies ondefense as their best weapon.
Tulsa has held the opposition to 33.8 percent shooting from the field andforced 32 turnovers through its first two games. During the regular season, theGolden Hurricane led the Western Athletic Conference with 12.0 steals per gameand have collected 22 in the first two rounds of the tournament.
Tulsa’s tenacious defense will have to be at its best to slow down Hemsley,who has hit nine 3-pointers while averaging 22.0 points per game in the firsttwo games.
Sixth man David Shelton and forward Eric Coley are Tulsa’s best threats onoffense.
Coley was the difference for Tulsa on Sunday, taking advantage of Cincinnaticenter Kenyon Martin’s absence to collect 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Shelton scored 21 points in Tulsa’s opening-round win over UNLV andcontributed 14 in the victory over Cincinnati.
Coley is joined on the starting front line by 6-foot-11 center BrandonKurtz, who could have a big impact for Tulsa considering Miami does not have aplayer on its roster taller than 6-9.
Mario Bland, Elton Tyler and John Salmons give the Hurricanes a stronginside game. The trio has combined to average 39.5 points and 22.0 rebounds pergame in the tournament.
The winner of Friday’s matchup will take on Tennessee or North Carolina inthe regional final.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Miami – F Salmons (9.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg), F Tyler (10.4 ppg,5.6 rpg), C Bland (12.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg), G Vernon Jennings (7.8 ppg, 6.8 apg), GHemsley (18.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg). Tulsa – F Coley (11.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg), C Kurtz (11.0ppg, 6.8 rpg), G Marcus Hill (11.1 ppg, 2.7 apg), G Greg Harrington (10.9 ppg,3.0 apg), G Heard (9.7 ppg, 3.4 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Tulsa – At-large bid, Western Athletic Conference, beatUNLV 89-62, first round, beat Cincinnati 69-61, second round. Miami – At-largebid, Big East Conference, beat Arkansas 75-71, first round, beat Ohio State75-62, second round.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Tulsa: 9-11, 12 years. Miami – 3-3, 4 years.
