Sweet 16: Miami vs. Marquette

No. 5/t4 Miami vs. No. 15/16 Marquette
March 28, 2013  |  7:15 p.m.
Washington, D.C.  |  Verizon Center

NCAA Bracket

Gametracker

TV:  CBS
Radio: 560 WQAM 
Webcast:  WQAM.com   

Twitter: @CanesHoops
Facebook: /MiamiBasketball

Miami in the NCAA Tournament: 6-6

Miami 29-6 (15-3 ACC)
Roster | Coaches | Schedule & Results | Stats | Game Notes | Record Book | Interactive Guide

The Game 
The No. 2 seed Miami Hurricanes face No. 3 seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championship on Thursday, March 28 at 7:15 p.m. at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

The Series vs. Marquette
Miami is 2-2 all-time against Marquette, winning a pair of games at home and dropping the two road contests. The Canes first faced the Golden Eagles on March 5, 1986, an 84-62 loss for UM. The last meeting between the two teams was a 106-90 Hurricanes win on Jan. 28, 1989 in Florida.

The Broadcasts
Catch the game on CBS with Verne Lundquist (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst) and Rachel Nichols (reporter) on the call. Listen to the NCAA Tournament games on Dial Global Sports as well as 560 WQAM Radio with Joe Zagacki (play-by-play) and Josh Darrow (analyst).

The Coach
Head coach Jim Larrañaga is in his 29th season as a head coach and second at Miami. He has a 519-353 overall record and is 49-19 in his second season at Miami. He is 10-13 overall in postseason play, including 7-5 in NCAA, 3-7 in NIT and 0-1 in CIT.

The Rankings – RPI/SOS
As of March 24, 2013 Warren Nolan: 4 / 6 Sagarin: 11 / 15 Realtime: 4 / 5 KenPom: 13

In the NCAA Tournament
• Miami is making its 18th postseason appearance in program history and fifth in the last six seasons.
• Miami NCAA Championship seed history: 2 (2013, East), 2 (1999, East), 5 (2002, West), 6 (2000, South), 7 (2008, South) and 11 (1998, South).
• Miami is 6-6 in the NCAA Championships (last appearance in 2008).
• Playing in its second Sweet 16 (2000), Miami has never advanced past the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Championship.
• 2013 is Miami’s sixth NCAA tournament berth since 1997 (first appearance was in 1960).
• Coach Jim Larrañaga is making his seventh NCAA tournament appearance – and 14th overall postseason trip – as head coach. He led George Mason to the 2006 Final Four.
• Five different coaches have led Miami to their seven NCAA tournament appearances: Jim Larrañaga (2013), Frank Haith (2008), Perry Clark (2002), Leonard Hamilton (1998, 1999, 2000), Bruce Hale (1960).
• Since Miami last appeared in the NCAA tournament on March 23, 2008, 137 different schools have played at least one game in the big dance.
• Miami is 1-0 all-time against the No. 3 seed after No. 6 UM defeated Ohio State 75-62 in Nashville, Tenn. on March 19, 2000.
• UM has never faced a BIG EAST team in NCAA tournament play.

Quick Hits
• Miami is 5-2 in neutral site games this season with three wins at the ACC Tournament and a pair of losses at the Hawai’ian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
• Miami is one of 23 schools to send both the men’s and women’s basketball teams to the dance this season. The Miami women earned a No. 8 seed lost to No. 9 Iowa in Iowa City on March 24. Both UM teams also played in the tournament in 1998.
• In Miami’s last tournament appearance, Jack McClinton posted a UM single-game NCAA tournament record 38 points, hitting 12-of-19 shots against St. Mary’s on March 21, 2008 in the first round.
• Prior to the Second Round game, no current Cane had ever played in the NCAA tournament. Julian Gamble and Kenny Kadji have both been to the NCAA tournament, both as redshirts in 2008; Gamble with Miami and Kadji with Florida.
• The games in Austin were UM’s first games played west of the Mississippi River, on the continental U.S., in Coach L’s two seasons at The U. This season the farthest west was in Ft. Myers, Fla. and last year was the game at Ole Miss. The Canes did play in Hawai’i this season.
• Coach Larrañaga is 7-5 overall in the NCAA Tournament.
• Miami is the first team in ACC history to win regular season and postseason and not get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championship.
• Miami is the only non-North Carolina team to win both the ACC regular-season and tournament since Georgia Tech in 1985. Their regular season was shared; no other non-North Carolina team has won outright.

Canes Advance to Sweet 16
With the 63-59 win over Illinois in the Third Round, Miami will face Marquette in its second Sweet 16 game in program history. The first was in 2000, when the Canes downed No. 11 Arkansas and No. 3 Ohio State in Nashville, Tenn., before losing to No. 7 Tulsa in Austin, Texas.

Larrañaga Returns to the Verizon Center
The Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., is the site of George Mason’s magical run to the 2006 Final Four. Jim Larrañaga and his staff led the Patriots past Wichita State in the Sweet 16 then upset Connecticut in the Elite Eight on the way to GMU’s first Final Four appearance.

Canes in the Postseason
In five postseason games, Shane Larkin, Durand Scott, Rion Brown and Trey McKinney Jones are all averaging 9+ points, have hit 10+ 3-pointers and are shooting better than 80 percent at the line.
Larkin is averaging 19.6ppg, 5.8 apg, 4.0 rpg and 2.2 spg, hitting 46.2 percent FG and 89.3 percent FT, hitting 25 of 28.
Scott has scored 14.8 ppg in five postseason games, hitting 10-23 (43.5%) from distance, 49.0 percent FG and 93.3 percent FT. He has notched 32 points (vs. NC State) and 21 points (vs. Pacific).
Brown knocked down five from distance against Illinois, now totalling 11 treys in five postseason games. He is averaging 9.8 ppg and 2.4 rpg while shooting 50.0 percent (16-32) from the field and 55.0 percent (11-20) from distance. He is a perfect 6-6 at the line.
McKinney Jones is 11-23 from three, averaging 9.2 ppg, along with 3.8 rpg. He’s hitting 83.3 percent at the line and 42.9 percent from the field.

Brown in the Postseason
Rion Brown has averaged 9.8 ppg, hitting 11-20 treys (55.0%) in five postseason games this season. In 30 regular season games, he averaged 5.9 ppg, hitting 26 total from distance at a 25.5 percent clip.
A year ago, Brown averaged 14.3 points, knocking down 42.3 percent from distance in four postseason games after posting just 6.1 ppg in 27 regular season games. He hit 38.5 percent from three in those outings.
As a freshman in 2010-11, he notched 5.8 ppg in five postseason games and just 4.1 ppg in the regular season.

Game Wrap – Miami vs. Illinois
• With the win, Miami advanced to the Sweet 16 for only the second time in school history (2000).
• Miami improved to 6-6 all-time in seven NCAA tournament appearances.
• The Hurricanes increased their single-season school-record wins total to 29.
• Miami, who shot 40 percent from the field against Illinois, improved to 19-2 when shooting 40-49 percent from the field.
• Cousy Award finalist Shane Larkin now has five straight games with 4+ assists (4 vs. Boston College, 3/15; 4 vs. NC State, 3/16; 7 vs. UNC, 3/17, 9 vs. Pacific 3/22) and three straight games with 5+ assists (7 vs. UNC 3/17, 9 vs. Pacific 3/22, 5 vs. Illinois).
• Rion Brown who finished the game with 21 points, and connected on five 3-pointers, recorded his second highest point total of the season. Brown scored 22 points at Georgia Tech on Jan. 5 and vs. Boston College on Feb. 5. Brown set a career high in field goal attempts with 14. His previous high was 12 vs. Minnesota on Mar. 19, 2012.
• Starters: Shane Larkin, Durand Scott, Trey McKinney Jones, Kenny Kadji & Julian Gamble.

ACC Champions
With the win over North Carolina, Miami won its first ACC Championship in school history, adding to the list of firsts for the team this season.
With a 15-3 ACC record, Miami earned its first outright regular season conference championship in program history in Coach L’s second year with the team. Of current league coaches, Roy Williams also won the ACC regular season in his second year in the ACC, taking over UNC in 2003-04, and winning in 2004-05. With a 13-3 mark in the league in 1999-2000, Miami tied Syracuse for the BIG EAST regular-season title, the Canes’ only other conference championship in school history. In 1999-2000, Leonard Hamilton led Miami to a 23-11 mark and an appearance in the NCAA tournament.

29-Win Season for Miami
With a 29-6 record, Miami has posted its 14th 20-win season, and Coach Larrañaga’s second-straight with the Hurricanes. With the win over Boston College on March 15, Miami topped the school record for most wins in a season, which was 24 in 2001-02 under Perry Clark, when the Canes were 10-6 in the BIG EAST and went to the NCAA tournament. Last year the Canes were 20-13 overall, (9-7 in the ACC) and played in the NIT.

Larrañaga Named National Coach of the Year
Coach L was named the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year. Larrañaga led the Canes to their first ACC regular season and tournament championships, as well as the best record in school history. In his second season with Miami, the Hurricanes were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. Larrañaga is also listed as a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year, the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year and the Skip Prosser Man of the Year awards. The second-season coach was selected as the ACC Coach of the Year by both his peers and the ASCMA.