Men's Basketball Opens Charleston Classic vs. Tulane

Aug. 4, 2009

Charleston Classic Bracket (PDF)

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CORAL GABLES, FLA. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team will open the 2009 Charleston Classic versus Tulane on Thurs., Nov. 19, at 1:30 p.m. at the Carolina First Arena in Charleston, S.C.

The second edition of the bracket-format tournament runs from Nov. 19-22 and features eight teams, including Miami, 2009 NIT champion Penn State, Davidson, South Carolina, USF, La Salle, UNC Wilmington and Tulane.

The winner of the Miami-Tulane game will face the winner of the match between Penn State and UNC Wilmington on Fri., Nov. 20, at 12:30 p.m., while the losing teams will square off on Friday at 3 p.m.

In all, there will be 12 games as each team competes in one contest per day, with the two remaining undefeated teams meeting in a championship game on Sun., Nov. 22, at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

Miami (19-13), winners of the 2007 Puerto Rico Tip-Off and third-place finishers in the 2008 Paradise Jam, is among four postseason teams in the field. The Hurricanes, who return a pair of starters and two of their top-three scorers in 2009-10 – including 6-8 senior forward Dwayne Collins (10.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg), advanced to the second round of the 2009 NIT in their fourth postseason appearance in the last five years.

Tulane (14-17, 7-9 C-USA) returns its top-two scorers, including senior guard Kevin Sims who averaged a team-best 13.0 points and 4.0 assists per game, while converting 40.8 percent of his three-pointers. The Wave finished eighth in Conference USA and won four of its final six games.

Fellow ACC member Clemson won the inaugural Charleston Classic in 2008, defeating Temple, 76-72.