Miami Faces Florida State in Battle of Ranked Teams
Jan. 23, 2011
Miami (18-1, 4-0 ACC) at Florida State (15-4, 3-1 ACC)
Date & Tip Time: Monday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m.
Location: Tallahassee, Fla. | Donald L. Tucker Center
TV: Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports South
Radio: WVUM 90.5 – wvum.org
Video Stream: N/A
Live Stats: Seminoles.com
Click here to see the Fox Sports Florida and Fox Sports South channel guide.
GAMEDAY
The No. 17/22 Hurricanes will head to Tallahassee, Fla. to face in-state rival and No. 22/16 Florida State Monday at the Donald L. Tucker Center at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports South.
THE TEAMS
Miami is ranked No. 17 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the ESPN/Coaches poll and has won 17 straight games – behind only Duke for the longest current win streak in the nation.
Riquna Williams and Shenise Johnson are Nos. 1 and 2 in the Atlantic Coast in scoring with 20.9 and 19.1 points per game respectively.
Florida State is ranked No. 22 in the AP poll but is 16th in the ESPN/Coaches poll and is 3-1 in the ACC heading into Monday night’s contest.
The Seminoles only loss in their last seven games came to No. 3 Duke. In the 87-70 defeat, Courtney Ward scored a game-high 25 points with 6 three-pointers and team-best five assists.
GIMME THAT
With an average of 15.6 steals per game, the Hurricanes rank first in the nation. Shenise Johnson get her hands in on 3.5 thefts per game, while Riquna Williams and Morgan Stroman are close behind with 3.3 and 3.2 per outing respectively. Stefanie Yderstrom, Sylvia Bullock, Krystal Saunders and Shanel Williams each average one or more steals per game and as a team, Miami has scored 30.2 points per game off of turnovers – compared to only 12.2 from its opponents.
THE NATIONALLY RANKED `CANES
After a No. 22 ranking in the AP poll last week, the `Canes have moved up to No. 17 this week after home wins over Clemson and Boston College. Miami moved up from No. 25 to No. 22 in the ESPN/Coaches poll as well.
Miami was ranked No. 25 in the AP poll for one week last season, but prior to that the `Canes hadn’t been ranked in either poll since the 2003-04 season.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK PART 3
Riquna Williams earned the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week honor as announced by the conference office on Jan 17 after scoring a combined 62 points in wins over Clemson and Boston College.
The honor is the fifth in Williams’ career after winning the award earlier this season (Dec. 13, Dec. 27) and twice as a sophomore. She currently leads all active ACC players for the most weekly awards.
The Pahokee, Fla. native earned her second weekly nod after she scored a then season-high tying 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting in Miami’s convincing 82-46 victory at Ole Miss on Dec. 21.
Williams earned her first player of the week accolade earlier in the season after scoring a game-high 23 points in a win over No.11 Georgetown (Dec.7), while grabbing six rebounds and swatting away a pair of shots. Williams also scored a game-high 18 points in Miami’s lopsided victory over Alcorn State on Dec. 11.
NOS. 1 AND 2
As of Jan. 22, Miami junior Riquna Williams was leading the ACC with 20.9 points per game. In the conference the closest person to her is fellow teammate Shenise Johnson, who is scoring 19.1 points per game.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Hurricanes are a perfect 15-0 at home this season and have won 19 consecutive games inside the BankUnited Center dating back to the `Canes regular season-finale overtime win over Boston College on Feb. 28, 2010.
The 19 straight wins at home is the second-longest home winning streak in program history.
UM’s longest home streak came during the 1990-91 through 1992-93 season. That
streak spanned 24 games.
Shenise Johnson’S DOMINANCE
In claiming her third career ACC Player of the Week award (Jan. 3), Johnson may have had the best week of her collegiate career. In three straight wins over Morgan State, Lipscomb and Virginia, the junior matched a career-best with 11 made field goals – scoring 22, 25 and 30 points respectively. She also grabbed double-digit boards in those games, and now has seven double-doubles this season – most among ACC guards.
WINNING STREAK
Miami has won 17 straight games overall – the second longest streak in program history and is the second-longest current win streak in the country – behind only No. 3 Duke.
The Hurricanes have only reached a winning streak of at least 10 games five times previously and its the first such streak for the `Canes since the 1992-93 season, when they won 10 consecutive games.
The longest winning streak in team history occurred during the 1991-92 season, when Miami won 30 straight games.
IN THE RPI
Miami is one of seven ACC teams that ranks among the Top 50 in the latest RPI rankings.
Rank Team SS Rank
1. Duke 2
14. Maryland 29
18. Georgia Tech 41
22. Florida State 37
26. Miami 125
34. Boston College 72
38. North Carolina 208
53. Virginia 19
99. Virginia Tech 43
127. NC State 108
131. Clemson 61
138. Wake Forest 173
JOHNSON: ALL-AROUND PLAYER
Everyone knows that Miami junior Shenise Johnson is a great talent. However, there are plenty of numbers to back that up. As was the case last season, Johnson is currently the only player in the ACC to rank in the Top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists. Below are some of her conference rankings.
19.1 ppg – 2nd
8.0 rpg – 5th
.513 field goal % – 8th
3.7 apg – 9th
.897 free throw % – 1st
3.5 spg – 1st
1.6 assist/turnover ratio – 6th
MIAMI HOLIDAY CLASSIC CHAMPS
The Hurricanes won Miami Holiday Classic at the BankUnited Center with decisive wins over George Washington and Morgan State.
Junior Shenise Johnson was named the classic’s MVP while Riquna Williams and Stefanie Yderstrom were named to the Miami Holiday All-Classic Team.
TJ’S HONORED JERSEY
The greatest player in Miami women’s basketball history had her jersey honored prior to the Morgan State game on Dec. 30.
Tamara James’ jersey is just the third to be honored at Miami, joining Maria Rivera (1984-88) and Frances Savage (1988-92).
James still holds the school scoring record at 2,406 points. The South Florida native is the only player from the University of Miami to be taken in the first round of the WNBA Draft, going to the Washington Mystics as the seventh overall pick in 2006.
LIVE STREAMING VIDEO
Miami women’s basketball home games will be streamed live on `Canes All-Access throughout the 2010-11 season. The only games that will not be streamed will be those televised on Regional Sports Networks.
The service will be provided at a fee of $9.95 a month or $79.95 for a year. Visit hurricanesports.com/allaccess/ to sign up.
CHAT WITH FELLOW `CANES
Log onto HurricaneSports.com during Miami athletic events to chat with Miami insiders and other fans about the game and your favorite student-athletes. To join the chat, click on the Cover It Live program found online with each game’s preview beginning 30 minutes before tip-off.
A WINNING STATEMENT
The Hurricanes 81-72 overtime win over No. 11 Georgetown on Dec. 7 was the first against a ranked non-conference opponent since Dec. 29, 2005, when Miami defeated No. 25 Ole Miss, 79-70, in the Hurricane Holiday Classic.
A BIG WIN
Miami was dominant in its 82-46 win over Ole Miss on Dec. 18. In fact, the 36-point margin of victory was the largest ever in a game against a BCS Conference opponent on the road and the most in any game since an 80-43 win at home against St. John’s on Feb. 14, 2001.
TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS
The `Canes won their own Thanksgiving Tournament for the fifth time in the last six years. Morgan Stroman was the named the tourney MVP as Miami cruised to wins over FAU and UNC Greensboro. Shenise Johnson was also named to the all-tourney team.
DOUBLE-FIGURE STREAK
With 20 points against Boston College, Shenise Johnson has now scored in double-figures in 56 straight games – the highest active streak of any Atlantic Coast Conference player.
THREE-POINT STREAK
With seven three-pointers against Boston College, including six from Riquna Williams, the Hurricanes have made at least one three-point field goal in 311 straight games dating back to the 2000-01 season.
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR?
University of Miami junior guards Riquna Williams and Shenise Johnson have been named to the 2010-11 Naismith Preseason Watch List as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Williams, known as `Fire’ for her explosiveness and ability to score in bunches is garnering national attention for the first time in her impressive career. Johnson, who has embraced the moniker `Ice’, because of her calm, cool and collected playing style, had previously been named to the Wade and Wooden Preseason Watch Lists.
Never before in program history has a pair of teammates been named to the list, but Johnson and Williams may come to expect national attention like this more often. In arguably the best women’s basketball conference in the country, the duo finished the 2009-10 season as the second- and third-best scorers in the ACC – Williams with 19.6 and Johnson with 19.0. Johnson was also the only player in the conference to rank among the Top 10 in scoring, rebounding (7.7 rpg) and assists (4.6 apg) from her guard position.
In late February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors will compile a mid-season team of the top 30 players in the nation. Then in March, the Naismith Trophy voting academy will vote to narrow the list to the four finalists.
INSIDE THE PROGRAM
The 2010-11 women’s basketball season will be the first to offer multiple social media outlets for fans and loyal supporters of the program to keep current with the Hurricanes.
You can follow all University of Miami teams on Twitter by visiting twitter.com/hurricanesports or follow just women’s basketball at twitter.com/miamiwbb. Fans can also check out HurricaneSports and University of Miami Women’s Basketball on facebook.com to get up-to-date news and information on the women’s basketball program. HurricaneSports.com will also have all the most recent bio information and stats for all the team’s players.
For even more exclusive content – including video interviews, photos and more – be sure to visit the UWomen’s Hoops Blog at
uwomenshoops.tumblr.com.
ANOTHER HURRICANE FIRST
In its 77-48 win over Clemson on Jan. 14, Miami did something that it had never done since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2004.
The 29-point margin of victory was the largest over an ACC team and the 35 forced turnovers in that game was also the most since joining the league.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
In a special ceremony prior to the UAB game on Nov. 22, Shenise Johnson and Riquna Williams were recognized by Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt and head coach Katie Meier for scoring their 1,000th career-points.
Johnson reached the benchmark during Miami’s WNIT quarterfinal matchup at Providence with a career-best 33-point performance. Williams surpassed the threshold in an 18-point effort against Miami (OH) on Nov. 20.
Johnson currently sits in 9th place all-time at Miami with 1,431 career points and needs 32 points to pass Kym Hope (1995-99) for eighth place. With 1,332 points, Williams ranks 11th all-time.
JOHNSON ALL-ACC
Miami guard Shenise Johnson was named to the Preseason All-ACC team as announced by the conference office on Oct. 26 from the ACC Women’s Basketball Media Day held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Johnson becomes the first Hurricane since Tamara James in 2005 to be named a preseason all-conference member.
Preseason Player of the Year
Jasmine Thomas, Sr., G, Duke
2010-11 Preseason All-ACC Team
Jessica Breland, Sr., F, North Carolina
Shenise Johnson, Jr., G, Miami
Carolyn Swords, Sr., C, Boston College
Jasmine Thomas, Sr., G, Duke
Courtney Ward, Sr., G, Florida State
`CANES INK THREE TO 2011 CLASS
The Hurricanes have signed Michelle Woods of Naples, Fla., junior college transfer Jessica Capers of Gastonia, N.C. and Tyler Hobgood of Oxford, N.C. to their 2011 incoming class.
Woods, out of Naples Community School has been ranked as high as the No. 44 overall prospect by ESPN HoopGurlz and as the 10th best shooting guard by All Star Girls’ Report.
Capers signed to play at West Virginia in 2007, but a knee injury sidelined her for her freshman season. During the Mountaineers’ 2009-10 campaign, the 6-2 forward saw action in 18 games, but she decided to transfer to Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla. at the conclusion of the season.
Capers is ranked as the No. 3 overall junior college power forward in the country and 10th overall JC prospect according to the Dan Olson Collegiate Report.
Hobgood, a 6-1 power forward from JF Webb High School enters her senior season with a long list of accolades. She has already been named an all-conference performer on three occasions and has led her league in rebounding each of the last three seasons. Behind her aggressive play, JF Webb has won its conference’s regular season championship three straight years.
You can follow all University of Miami teams on Twitter by visiting twitter.com/hurricanesports or follow just women’s basketball at twitter.com/miamiwbb . Visit HurricaneSports.com and Miami Hurricanes Women’s Basketball on facebook to get all the up-to-date news and information on the women’s basketball team.
