Miami Plays Host To NC A&T For First Time
Dec. 21, 2003
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NORTH CAROLINA A&T (0-6) VS. UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI (6-3)
Monday, December 22, 2003 – 7:30 p.m.
Convocation Center (7,000) – Coral Gables, FL
TV – None; Radio – WAXY (790 AM)
Website – www.hurricanesports.com
ON NORTH CAROLINA A&T:
North Carolina A&T enters its game with the Hurricanes with a record of 0-6 following a 105-51 loss at Virginia Commonwealth on December 15th.
The Aggies have struggled offensively this season averaging only 47.7 points per game while shooting 98-359 (.273) from the field. North Carolina A&T opponents are averaging 88.3 points per game and are shooting 53.1 percent from the field.
Freshman guard Sean Booker has been the Aggies top offensive player this season averaging a team-best 11.5 points per game off the bench. He is the only Aggie averaging in double-figures in scoring this season.
THE SERIES:
Miami and North Carolina A&T are meeting for the first time in basketball.
UP NEXT:
Following the North Carolina A&T game the Hurricanes return to action on December 27th when they host Florida Atlantic beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
TV/RADIO COVERAGE:
The North Carolina A&T game will not be televised. The game will be broadcast on the Hurricane Radio Network (WAXY – 790 AM). Joe Zagacki “The Voice of the Hurricanes” will call all the action with Josh Darrow adding analysis. Brian London will serve as studio host. Fans can also catch the game on the web at hurricanesports.com.
ON THE COACHES:
University of Miami head coach Perry Clark is in his fourth season with the Hurricanes and 15th season overall as a collegiate head coach. Clark is 57-41 (.582) at Miami while his career record in 14 seasons stands at 242-186 (.565).
North Carolina A&T coach Jerry Eaves is in his first season as a collegiate head coach. The Aggies are 0-6 this season.
A WIN AGAINST NC A&T WOULD:
Improve Miami’s record to 7-3 on the season.Improve Miami’s home record to 6-1 this season.Mark Miami’s second straight win.
LAST GAME: MIAMI 72, TEMPLE 66
Darius Rice scored a team-high 25 points to lead the University of Miami to a 72-66 victory against Temple at the Orange Bowl Classic held at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, Fla.
Rice made a season-high five 3-pointers and added five rebounds and three assists. His final assist led to Gary Hamilton’s layup that helped seal the game.
The Hurricanes scored 10 of the final 12 points in the game after the Owls led 64-62 with less than two minutes to play.
Temple led 22-14 late in the first half before Rice sparked a 13-4 run for Miami. He hit two 3-pointers to help the Hurricanes cut the lead to 30-29 at the break.
Rice finished 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and 9-of-16 from the floor. Robert Hite added 15 points, and Guillermo Diaz chipped in 10 off the bench.
David Hawkins led the Owls with 28 points on 8-of-20 shooting and had seven rebounds. But he went 1-of-6 from the 3-point line, adding to Temple’s woes from long range. The Owls finished 5-of-23 from beyond the arc.
MIAMI VS. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS:
Since joining The BIG EAST Conference beginning with the 1991-92 season, the Hurricanes have compiled an 87-42 (.674) record against non-conference opponents, including a 60-14 mark (.811) at home. Miami is 6-3 against non-conference opponents this season.
HIGH FLYERS:
The University of Miami’s backcourt may be the most athletic in the country. Miami’s guards have an average vertical jump of 38.2 inches. All of UM’s guards have vertical jumps of at least 36 inches. Leading the way is freshman Guillermo Diaz who has a vertical leap of 41 inches.
TOP RECRUITING CLASS:
Head coach Perry Clark and his staff put together one of the nation’s top recruiting classes for this upcoming season. Miami’s class of forward Karron Clarke, guard Guillermo Diaz, forward/center Leonard Harden III, guard Anthony Harris and forward/center Anthony King is ranked as high as eighth in the nation by Street & Smith’s.
VS THE STATE OF FLORIDA:
Miami is 295-145 (.670) against teams from the state of Florida. Miami has won 30 of its last 34 games against Florida schools dating back to the 1992-93 season.
CATCHING FIRE:
Darius Rice has recorded 29 games of 20-or-more points during his UM career including three games this season. Even more impressive is the fact that Rice has gone for 20-or-more points in a single half a total of nine times during his career.
CLARK TOPS AMONG UM COACHES:
Fourth-year head Coach Perry Clark recorded 51 wins in his first three seasons with the Hurricanes marking the most wins by any UM basketball coach in his first three seasons. Clark is 6-3 this season giving him 57 wins as UM’s head coach. The most wins by a UM coach in his first four seasons is 65 set by Bill Foster from 1985-89.
RICE NAMED WOODEN AWARD CANDIDATE:
Senior forward Darius Rice has been named one of 50 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden College Basketball Player of the Year Award.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It 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 GPA.
The 2004 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American team and the presentation of the Legends of Coaching Award, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday, April 10, 2004 and will be broadcast live on CBS.
RICE NAMED NAISMITH CANDIDATE:
Darius Rice has been named one of 30 preseason candidates for the 2003-04 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award.
The Naismith Awards program, now in its 36th 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. Members of the board were asked to name top male and female players who are most likely to be in contention for the award.
VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS:
Miami was 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.
WORKING OVERTIME:
Miami played a school single-season record five overtime games last season. Miami finished 1-4 in those 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).
PLAYING HIS BEST AGAINST THE BEST:
UM forward Darius Rice shined last season in the big games. Last season against ranked teams Rice averaged 34.3 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 35-69 (.507) from the floor and 15-33 (.455) from three-point range.
MR. CLUTCH:
Darius Rice’s three-point basket with 0.5 seconds left to defeat Connecticut on January 20th marked the fourth time last season the forward 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.
IT’S ALL ACADEMIC:
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the University of Miami men’s basketball program ranks third in the nation among the 117 Division I-A institutions with a 78 percent graduation rate for student-athletes who entered school from 1993-97 and earned their degrees within six years.
Only Stanford (100%) and Southern Methodist (83%) had higher graduation rates among Division I-A institutions. The national average for Division I-A men’s basketball players over that four-year period was 36 percent.
In addition the Hurricanes ranked in a tie for 19th among all 327 Division I institutions.
Graduation rates were tabulated and released by the NCAA in its 2003 NCAA Graduation Rates Report. The Hurricanes’ 78 percent graduation rate is the highest among any institution in the BIG EAST, ACC or SEC.
From 1993-94 to 1995-96 the Hurricanes registered a perfect 100 percent graduation rate.
For the 1995-96 class, both the UM men’s and women’s basketball programs registered 100 percent graduation rates. Miami was one of only six Division I-A institutions, along with BYU, Duke, Rice, North Carolina and Virginia Tech, to record a 100 percent graduation rate for that class in both men’s and women’s basketball.
BEING THROWN INTO THE FIRE:
Miami relied heavenly on four of its freshmen last season. Rob Hite, Armondo Surratt, Eric Wilkins and Gary Hamilton started a combined 50 games and all averaged 16 or more minutes per game. The 50 combined freshmen starts wee the most since the 1985-86 season, UM’s first since the program was dropped in 1971, when Eric Brown (27), Dennis Burns (20), Bryan Hughes (28), Kevin Presto (28) and Mark Richardson (18) combined to start 121 games.
Twice last season the Hurricanes have had three freshmen in the starting line-up. Miami had at least one freshman in the starting lineup in all but one game last season.
HURRICANES DISTRIBUTE DINNERS:
Members of the University of Miami men’s basketball team as well as several student-athletes from the Hurricanes’ football, women’s rowing, women’s track, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s soccer programs handed out Thanksgiving dinners to six Miami-area organizations prior to the start of the women’s basketball exhibition game versus The Tournament of Champions on November 17 at the Convocation Center.
The six Miami-area organizations who picked up dinners were: Children & Families, Ronald McDonald House, Gladstone Center, Florida Baptist Home, Universal Truth Center, and Child Hope.
The full dinners were donated by Sysco Food Services of South Florida. This Thanksgiving marked the eighth consecutive year that University of Miami Athletic Department and its student-athletes have reached out to the community during the holidays.
UM SIGNS CENTER EARLY:
Head coach Perry Clark signed of 6-11, 233 pound center Chester “C.J.” Giles (Seattle, Wash.) to a national letter of intent during the early signing period.
Last season Giles averaged 8.2 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks per game earning third-team All-State honors and helping Rainier Beach High School to a 26-3 record and its second consecutive Class 3A State Championship. Rainier ended the season ranked 16th in the nation by USA Today.
Giles is ranked 39th overall and 7th at his position by Rivals.com. He is the 12th ranked high school center in the nation by Athlon Sports, is ranked among the Top-100 players in the nation by Lindy’s (No. 66) and The Sporting News (No. 87), and is an honorable mention All-America selection by Street & Smith’s.
BIG EAST SINGLE GAME TICKETS ON SALE:
Single-game tickets for all eight University of Miami men’s basketball BIG EAST conference home games, including battles with Pittsburgh, Villanova, Georgetown and defending NCAA Champion Syracuse, will be available online at www.hurricanesports.com starting at noon on Saturday, December 13.
Fans may also purchase single-game tickets at the Convocation Center box office on Sunday, December 14 when Miami faces intra-state rival Florida State, or at the Hurricane Ticket Office beginning Monday, December 15.
Fans can order single-game tickets by phone starting December 15 by calling 305-284-CANE.
MINI PLAN TICKETS ON SALE:
UM is offering a new Saturday “7” mini-plan, which includes tickets for all seven of Miami’s Saturday games, for just $140. The plan includes some of Miami’s biggest games including match-ups with intra-state rivals Florida International and Florida Atlantic, as well as BIG EAST games versus Pittsburgh, Georgetown, defending NCAA Champion Syracuse, and West Virginia.
