Canes Head To Blacksburg To Take On Hokies

March 2, 2003

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UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI (10-15, 3-11)vs.VIRGINIA TECH (11-16, 4-10)
Wednesday, March 5, 2003 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Cassell Coliseum (10,052) – Blacksburg, VA
TV: None; Radio: WAXY (790 AM)

ON VIRGINIA TECH:
Virginia Tech (11-16, 4-10 BIG EAST) are coming off an impressive 88-63 win versus Villanova on Saturday. The Hokies can clinch a berth in the BIG EAST Tournament, March 12-15, at Madison Square Garden with a win over the Hurricanes.

The Hokies have been led this season by the veteran frontcourt duo of junior forward Bryant Matthews and senior center Terry Taylor. Matthews leads the team in scoring at 17.1 points per game, while Taylor ranks second on the team in scoring (15.5 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (7.1 rpg).

Virginia Tech had been without junior guard Carlos Dixon (14.0 ppg) for four games due to a broken foot suffered against Miami on Feb. 11. Dixon returned to record three points in eight minutes in the Hokies win over Villanova.

THE SERIES:
Miami and Virginia Tech meet for the sixth time with the Hurricanes holding a 4-1 series lead. Miami has won four straight overall including an 85-65 win in Coral Gables earlier this season. Miami is 1-1 on the road against Virginia Tech.

TV/RADIO COVERAGE:
Miami’s game versus Virginia Tech is not televised. The game will be broadcast on the Hurricane Radio Network (WAXY – 790 AM). Joe Zagacki “The Voice of the Hurricanes” will handle the play-by-play. Brian London will serve as studio host.

UP NEXT:
Miami will conclude the regular season against St. John’s on March 8 at 9:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The game will be the final home game for seniors Rafael Berumen, Paulo Coelho, James Jones and Mike Simmons.

A WIN AGAINST VIRGINIA TECH WOULD:

Improve UM’s record to 11-14, 4-10 BIG EAST.
Mark Miami’s first BIG EAST road win this season.
Mark UM’s fifth straight win over Virginia Tech.

LAST OUTING:
BOSTON COLLEGE 72, MIAMI 68
March 1, 2003
Convocation Center, Coral Gables, FL
Troy Bell scored 32 points to lead the Boston College to a 72-68 win over the University of Miami at the Convocation Center. Jermaine Watson added 17 points for the Eagles.

Miami, which played with out leading scorer Darius Rice (19.1 ppg) who sat out due to a severly sprained ligament in his right (shooting) hand, was led by James Jones who finished with a career-high 27 points. Armondo Surratt chipped in a career-high 14 points in the losing effort.

Boston College jumped out to a 20-10 lead midway through the first half and it cruised to a 37-23 advantage at the break.

The Hurricanes shot 63.2 percent from the field in the second half and they outscored Boston College 45-35 in the stanza, but it was not enough as the Eagles took the four-point victory.

Boston College hit 26-of-31 free-throw attempts in the contest. The Hurricanes shot 53.7 percent from the field and nailed 22-of-26 attempts from the charity stripe in the game, but that still was not enough to overcome 21 turnovers.

LAST TIME AGAINST VIRGINIA TECH:
MIAMI 85, VIRGINIA TECH 65
February 11, 2003
Convocation Center, Coral Gables, FL
Darius Rice poured recorded his second double-double of the season with 32 points and 10 rebounds to lead the University of Miami to an 85-65 victory over Virginia Tech Hokies at the Convocation Center.

James Jones added 16 points and seven boards for Miami while Eric Wilkins, making his second start of the season, registered 13 points on 5- of-7 shooting from the field. Robert Hite chipped in 11 points off the bench for the Hurricanes.

Bryant Matthews scored 22 points to lead Virginia Tech. Terry Taylor added 15 points..

The Hurricanes shot 42.4 percent from the field and 6-of-7 from the line in the first half, which was good enough to gain a 37-33 advantage at the break.

Miami torched the nets with 63 percent shooting from the floor in the second half to take control of the game and capture an easy 20-point win.

The Hurricanes shot a season-high 51.7 percent from the field for the game, including 42.9 percent from beyond the arc, while holding Virginia Tech to just 37.9 percent field-goal shooting.

ON THE COACHES:
University of Miami head coach Perry Clark is his third season with the Hurricanes and 14th season overall as a collegiate head coach. Clark is 50-35 (.588) at Miami while his career record stands at 235-180 (.566).

Virginia Tech head coach Ricky Stokes is in his fourth season with the Hokies posting a 45-68 (.398) record.

RICE NAMED TO MIDSEASON WOODEN LIST:
Darius Rice is among 30 midseason finalists for the 2002-03 John R. Wooden Award. A national poll was conducted by the Wooden Award Midseason Committee to determine the Top 30 Midseason candidates.

The Wooden Award, which will be presented on April 1 in Los Angeles, is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball and is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 grade point average.

Rice is one of seven BIG EAST players on the list of 30 candidates including Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse), Marcus Hatten (St. John’s), Brandin Knight (Pittsburgh), Emeka Okafor (Connecticut), Michael Sweetney (Georgetown) and Chris Thomas (Notre Dame).

JONES NAMES TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM:
James Jones has been selected to the 2003 Verizon Academic All-District II Men’s Basketball team. Jones is now eligible for the national Verizon Academic All-America Team, which will be announced on March 6. This marks the second consecutive season Jones has earned Verizon Academic All-District honors.

Joining Jones as All-District selections are Matt Bonner (Florida), Adam Hess (William & Mary), Jon Larranaga (George Mason) and Brad McKeiver (Campbell).

Jones is a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star and carries a 3.405 cumulative GPA in finance. He was named a 2001 Arthur Ashe Scholar Athlete and was runner-up for the 2001-02 BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete Award.

CARRYING THE LOAD:
Darius Rice (19.1 ppg) and James Jones (16.9 ppg) have shouldered the scoring load for the Hurricanes this season. The two are accounting for half (50.3%) of Miami’s points.

RICE NAMED ALL-DISTRICT SIX FIRST-TEAM:
Darius Rice was named first-team All-District 6 for the second consecutive season by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Rice joins Tim James (1998, 1999) as the only Hurricanes to earn first-team All-District honors in consecutive seasons. He currently ranks among the BIG EAST Conference leaders in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage and three-point field goals made.

Rice, who was a second-team All-District selection as a freshman, joins UM legend Rick Barry (1963, 1964, 1965) as the only Miami basketball players to earn All-District honors in three straight seasons.

The selection of Rice marks the sixth consecutive season the Hurricanes have had at least one All-District selection.

COMING ON STRONG:
Miami forward Darius Rice has really heated up in the new year averaging 21.1 points per game in the months of January and February.

PLAYING THEIR BEST AGAINST THE BEST:
The UM forward combination of Darius Rice and James Jones have both shined this season in the big games. Against ranked teams Rice is averaging 34.3 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 35-69 (.507) from the floor and 15-33 (.455) from three-point range. Jones is averaging 21.0 points against those teams while shooting 21-39 (.538) from the field.

RICE SEEING 20-20:
With his 32 points against Virginia Tech, Darius Rice recorded his fourth consecutive game of 20 or more points. It marked the first time in his UM career he had posted four consecutive games of 20 or more points. The last player to record four straight 20-point games was Tim James who posted five straight during the 1998-99 season. Rice has recorded eight games of 20 or more points this season which leads the team.

NO DAY AT THE BEACH:
Miami’s 73-72 win over No. 11 Connecticut this season marked the ninth consecutive season that the Hurricanes defeated a ranked opponent at home.

WORKING OVERTIME:
Miami played its fifth overtime of the season against Villanova on February 8. Miami is 1-4 in overtime games this season. The five overtime games establishes a school single-season record. Miami was 3-0 last season in overtime games. Miami has played at least one overtime contest in each of the last five seasons. UM has amassed a 9-6 record (including tournament games) in BIG EAST overtime contests (5-3 at home). The ‘Canes own a 25-24 overall record in overtime contests during their history (5-5 in double-overtime games and a 20-19 mark in single-overtime contests).

VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS:
Miami is 1-2 against ranked teams this season. The Hurricanes are 19-19 versus ranked opponents since 1996-97 and have defeated at least one ranked team in each of the last nine seasons. Miami is 28-84 (.250) all-time against ranked teams including a 25-70 (.263) record since the rebirth of the program in 1985.

MIAMI GRADUATION RATE RANKS THIRD:
According to a report released by The Chronicle of Higher Education, the University of Miami men’s basketball program ranks third in the nation among the 115 Division I-A institutions with an 82 percent graduation rate for student-athletes who entered school from 1992-93 to 1995-96.

The national average for men’s basketball players over that four-year period was 34 percent. Graduation rates were tabulated and released by the NCAA in its 2002 NCAA Graduation Rates Report.

Miami’s 1993-94 to 1995-96 classes registered a perfect 100 percent graduation rate.

MR. CLUTCH:
Darius Rice’s three-point basket with 0.5 seconds left to defeat Connecticut on January 20th marked the fourth time this season the junior forward has hit a three-pointer at the end of regulation to either win the game or send the game to overtime.

With the Hurricanes’ down 72-69 to Florida , Rice connected on a three-pointer from the right corner with 26 seconds remaining to tie the score. Florida went on to win the game 94-93 in double-overtime.

On January 4th against North Carolina, Rice hit a three-pointer, again from the right corner, to tie the score at 60-60 with three seconds left. Miami went on to win the game 64-61.

In Miami’s first meeting with Connecticut on January 11, Rice sent the game to overtime with a three-pointer from the tip of the key tying the score at 71-71 with two seconds left. Connecticut won the game 83-80.

MIAMI CHRISTENS CONVOCATION CENTER:
The Hurricanes christened the Convocation Center, the new on-campus home of men’s and women’s basketball, and the University’s first large-capacity venue for other educational, cultural and community events with a 64-61 overtime win over North Carolina on January 4.

The $48 million facility, totally funded through private donations, seats 7,000 for basketball and will provide the University and the Coral Gables community with a facility designed for a wide array of uses.

UM LEAVES MIAMI ARENA IN STYLE:
Miami ended its 14-year run at Miami Arena with a 68-62 victory over Lehigh on December 30. Miami began playing its home games at the Miami Arena in 1988 and registered a 135-66 (.672) record including a 5-0 record this season. Since 1994-95 the Hurricanes had compiled a 98-26 (.790) overall home record at the Arena.

ITS BEEN A WHILE:
Freshmen Robert Hite and Armondo Surratt were both in the starting lineup for the Hurricanes’ game against Charlotte on December 15 marking the first time since the 1993-94 season that two freshmen started for the Hurricanes. That season freshmen Alex Fraser and Torey McCormick started the final 14 games of the season. Hite and Surratt have started the last three games together.

MIAMI vs. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS:
Since joining The BIG EAST Conference beginning with the 1991-92 season, the Hurricanes have compiled an 81-39 (.672) record against non-conference opponents, including a 56-13 mark (.809) at home. Miami finished 7-4 against non-conference opponents this season and has won 24 of its last 29 games against non-conference teams. Miami has won 20 consecutive home games against non-conference opponents.

RICE NAMED TO PRESEASON NAISMITH LIST:
University of Miami junior forward Darius Rice was been named one of 30 preseason candidates for the 2002-03 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award.

The Naismith Awards program, now in its 35th year, honors the outstanding college basketball players in the United States. The awards program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of student-athletes in basketball.

The candidates were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectors comprised of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball analysts.