Hurricanes Prepare To Play St. Francis In The Miami Arena Sunday

Dec. 29, 2001

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ON THE RED FLASH:
The St. Francis Red Flash enter its game against Miami with a record of 2-6, 1-1 in the Northeast Conference, following an 89-60 loss at No. 20 Wake Forest on December 19. St. Francis (PA) has dropped three straight, all on the road, and travels to Wagner and Sacred Heart following the UM game. Overall the Red Flash are in the middle of a six game road trip.

St. Francis has been led this season by 6-7 senior forward Reiner Mougnol who is averaging a team-high 12.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

The Red Flash backcourt of 5-11 freshman Rahsaan Benton and 5-11 junior Dan Swoger have also played well. Both average in double-figures in scoring with Swoger averaging 11.0 points per game and Benton scoring at a 10.3 points per game clip.

Swoger is the team’s top assist man handing out 5.1 assists per game, and has 41 assists to just 19 turnovers this season for a 2.2 assist to turnover ratio.

The St. Francis game also marks the return of Jacob Morton to Miami. Morton, an assistant coach for the Red Flash, played guard for the University of Miami from 1988-93. He finished his career at Miami with 909 points, 245 rebounds and 194 assists.

THE SERIES:
Miami and St. Francis (PA) meet for the second time with the Hurricanes winning the only previous meeting, 85-82, on January 5, 1987.

Date Result Location
1-5-87 MIAMI 85, St. Francis (PA) 82 UM

UP NEXT:
Following the St. Francis game the Hurricanes open their conference schedule with four straight road games versus Georgetown (Jan. 2, 6:00 p.m.), Connecticut (Jan. 5, 7:00 p.m.), St. John’s (Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m.) and Virginia Tech (Jan. 12, 4:00 p.m.).

The Georgetown, Connecticut and Virginia Tech games will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net while the St. John’s game will be carried live on ESPN2.

A WIN AGAINST ST. FRANCIS WOULD:
***Improve Miami’s record to 13-0.
***Mark the second longest win streak in school-history
***Mark the Hurricanes’ longest win streak since the 1946-47 season (14).
***Give Miami a perfect non-conference record for the first time in school-history.

LAST THURSDAY AGAINST LSU:
Marcus Barnes’ 3-point basket from the left corner broke a61-61 tie and propelled the University of Miami Hurricanes to a68-61 win over LSU at the Sugar Bowl Basketball Classic at NewOrleans Arena.

With the win the Hurricanes improve to 12-0 on the season.The winning streak is Miami’s longest since the 1964-65 season and leaves the Hurricanes one win away from completing an undefeated nonconference schedule for the first time in school history.

John Salmons had 19 points and five assists for Miami,while James Jones had 14 points and seven rebounds. Barnes finished with 13 points.

Ronald Dupree led LSU (9-3) with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Jermaine Williams had 13 points and Torris Bright added 11.

Collis Temple III, LSU’s leading scorer at 17.8 points per game was held scoreless in the first half and finished with five points on 2-for-13.

TICKET INFORMATION:
For UM Ticket information contact the Hurricane Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-CANES.

ONLINE ALL THE TIME:
Check out the official University of Miami Athletic Depart-ment website for up to the minute information on Hurricane Athletics at www.hurricanesports.com.

TV/RADIO COVERAGE:
The St. Francis game is not being televised. The game willbe broadcast on the Hurricane Radio Network (WAXY-790AM). Marc Vandermeer, entering his third season as the “Voiceof the Hurricanes,” will handle the play-by-play duties while JoeZagacki will provide in-depth analysis.

ON THE COACHES:
University of Miami head coach Perry Clark is in his secondseason with the Hurricanes and 13th season overall as a collegiatehead coach. Clark is 28-13 (.683) at Miami, including an 12-0 startthis season, while his career record in 13 seasons stands at 213-158 (.574). Last season Clark led the Hurricanes to a berth in theNational Invitation Tournament marking the eighth time in 12seasons he has guided his team to post season play.

St. Francis head coach Bobby Jones is in his third seasonwith the Red Flash and has a career record of 21-42 (.333). Priorto taking over at St. Francis, Jones served as Associate HEadCoach at the University of Minnesota from 1997-99 helping leadthe Golden Gophers to the NIT title in 1998 and an NCAATournament berth in 1999.

TWELVE AND COUNTING:
Miami’s 12-0 start marks the best in school-history. TheHurricanes’ 12 straight wins ranks as the second longest winstreak in school-history.

STREAKING:
The University of M
iami has an unusual winning streakgoing. Including baseball, football and basketball the Hurricaneshave recorded 40 consecutive victories.The UM baseball team won its final 17 games in winningthe 2001 NCAA National Championship. The UM footballteam followed with a perfect 11-0 record this season and willcompete in the Rose Bowl for the national title. The UMbasketball team is 12-0 this season marking the best start inschool history.

The last time UM lost a game was on May 4, 2001 when theUM baseball team dropped a 3-2 decision to Jacksonville.The UM radio announcing team of Marc Vandermeer andJoe Zagacki have broadcast 38 straight UM wins dating back tolast baseball season.

SALMONS THE ONE AND ONLY:
With his 15 points and 10 assists against Charlotte onDecember 22, John Salmons became the first Hurricane torecord 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 150 stealsduring his career. Salmons currenlty has 1020 points, 572rebounds, 306 assists and 165 steals.

UNDEFEATED CANES:
Miami is one of just five undefeated Division I teamsremaining including Duke (10-0), Virginia (8-0), OklahomaState (12-0), and Butler (12-0). Miami is the only undefeatedteam remaining in the BIG EAST.

TALKING RPI:
As of December 29 the Hurricanes were No. 16 in the RPIrankings according to CollegeRPI.com. Miami’s ranking is thesecond highest among BIG EAST schools.

ROAD WARRIORS:
Since the 1998-99 season, Miami is 18-7 in BIG EAST roadgames. The 18-7 mark is the best record among BIG EASTschools over that period. The Hurricanes have won 19 of theirlast 26 BIG EAST road games dating back to the 1997-98season.

MIAMI vs. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS:
Since becoming the 10th member of The BIG EASTConference beginning with the 1991-92 season, the Hurricaneshave compiled a 73-35 (.676) record against non-conferenceopponents, including a 49-13 mark (.790) at the Miami Arena.

VS THE STATE OF FLORIDA:
With its win over Florida A&M on December 18, Miamiimproved its record against teams from the state of Florida to292-141 (.674). Miami has won 27 consecutive games againstteams from the state of Florida. Miami has not lost to a Floridaschool since a 72-64 season opening loss to Florida Interna-tionalon Dec. 1, 1992.

MIAMI IN THE 2001-02 POLLS:
The Miami Hurricanes cracked the top-25 for the first time this seasonwith a No. 23 national ranking in the latest ESPN/USA Today Top 25College Basketball poll. UM also jumped into the AP poll debuting at No.24. Miami was last ranked at the end of the 1999-00 season. UM finished23rd in the Associated Press poll and 20th in the ESPN/USA TodayCoaches poll.

WINNING WAYS:
Last season Miami posted its seventh consecutive winning season.The last time Miami recorded at least seven straight winning seasons wasthe 1968-69 campaign when the ‘Canes registered their 10th straightwinning season.

DID YOU KNOW?:
The University of Miami has registered a league best 36-14 (.720)conference mark since the 1998-99 season.

WHO WILL TAKE CHARGE TONIGHT?:
This season the Hurricanes have had several players put the team ontheir shoulders and lead them to victory. In 10 of the first 12 games theHurricane player that has either led or tied for the team lead in scoring hasalso led or tied for the team lead in rebounding.