Miami Looks To Rebound From First Loss, Takes On St. John's

Jan. 8, 2002

From the Associated Press

After having their longest winning streak in more than 50 years snapped,Miami looks to bounce back Tuesday as it continues Big East play with amatchup against St. John’s at Alumni Hall.

The 21st-ranked Hurricanes (14-1, 1-1) had won 14 in a row before falling76-75 to Connecticut on Saturday. It matched the longest winning streak inschool history, having also won 14 straight in 1947.

After the Huskies’ Johnny Selvie made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left,the Hurricanes had one more chance to score but John Salmons missed a shotafter driving into the lane.

Darius Rice led Miami with 22 points and Salmons added 17.

Rice is tied with James Jones for the team lead in scoring at 13.6 per game.Jones paces the team with 7.2 rebounds per game.

Miami has the Big East’s top road record since the 1998-99 season at 19-8,but one of those defeats was a 67-63 overtime loss to St. John’s last seasonat Madison Square Garden.

This series has been very close in recent years, with an average margin ofvictory of just 4.6 points over the last 11 meetings. The Red Storm (10-3,1-1) have won seven of those games, and hold a 13-10 lead in the all-timeseries.

St. John’s defeated the only ranked team it has played this season, beatingthen-No. 20 Wake Forest 72-60 at home on Dec. 22.

The Red Storm’s only loss in their last seven games was a 77-54 defeat atPittsbugh in their conference opener last Wednesday. They bounced back fromthat setback with Saturday’s 72-53 victory over West Virginia.

Freshman Eric King scored all 10 of his first-half points on offensiverebounds and finished with 18. King added 10 rebounds for St. John’s, whichset a season high with 44 rebounds.

While King continues to improve, Marcus Hatten has been the Red Storm’s topplayer thus far.

The point guard had 17 points Saturday and is averaging 19.6 over the lastseven games. Hatten leads the team with 17.9 points, 4.4 assists and 3.5steals per game. He is among the conference’s leaders in each of thosecategories.