Miami Opens 2016-17 Friday vs. Western Carolina

Western CarolinaatMiami

Series
All-time: First Meeting
Under Coach Larrañaga: 0-0
Home: 0-0 Away: 0-0
Last matchup: First Meeting.

Polls
Miami – AP: RV USA Today: RV
WCU – AP: NR USA Today: NR

Weather
Coral Gables, Fla.: 80/65
Cullowhee, N.C.: 67/36

The 2016-17 Hurricanes
Miami opens the 2016-17 regular season with 10 scholarship players, led by a trio of captains in seniors Davon Reed and Kamari Murphy, along with junior Ja’Quan Newton. Sophomores Anthony Lawrence and Ebuka Izundu also return for the Hurricanes.
This season, a group of five newcomers comprising Miami’s top recruiting class in program history will don a UM jersey for the first time. The Canes’ coaching staff reeled in four freshmen in McDonald’s All-American Dewan Huell, Jordan Brand Classic All-American Bruce Brown, Australian standout Dejan “DJ” Vasiljevic and Rodney Miller from national powerhouse Oak Hill Academy (Va.). Redshirt junior Rashad Muhammad also joins the class after sitting out a season ago due to transferring from San Jose State. The four-man group has been named one of the top 2016 classes in the country, with a No. 9 ranking from 247Sports, No. 10 from Scout, No. 13 from ESPN and No. 13 from Rivals.

Miami Picked Ninth in ACC Preseason Poll
Miami was predicted to finish ninth out of 15 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, as announced by the league at the 55th annual Operation Basketball. Duke was picked to win the ACC, followed by North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville.

Miami Earning Votes in Both National Polls
Miami is garnering votes in both the AP (48) and the USA TODAY Coaches (11) preseason polls. The Canes are six places out of the Top 25 in the AP poll and four positions out in the USA Today poll.

Selling Out the Watsco Center
In just his fifth season in Coral Gables, Jim Larrañaga and Miami SOLD OUT the season ticket allotment for all home games last year at the Watsco Center. It was the first time in Miami athletics history a team sold out their season. And now, the arena is sold out in back-to-back seasons.
For two straight years, fans have bought over 5,500 season tickets, more than doubling the total number of season tickets sold in Larrañaga’s first season in Coral Gables. When Coach L began his reign in Miami, fans bought 2,251 season tickets for the 2011-12 campaign. After a record-breaking season on the court in 2012-13, season tickets peaked at 3,674 for 2013-14, prior to this year’s 5,750 mark.

Miami Picked Ninth in ACC Preseason Poll
Miami was predicted to finish ninth out of 15 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, as announced by the league at the 55th annual Operation Basketball. Duke was picked to win the ACC, followed by North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville.

The Matchup Between Miami and Western Carolina
Not only will this will be the first meeting between Miami and Western Carolina, but Jim Larrañaga has also never faced the Catamounts in his 32 years as a head coach.
This will be Miami’s first matchup against a member of the Southern Conference since they defeated Georgia Southern 81-80 in overtime on Nov. 11, 2013.
The Hurricanes are 14-1 in home openers since 2001. In those 14 victories, the Canes have won by an average of 23.4 points. For a complete listing of season and home openers, see page five of the notes.
While Coach L has never faced Western Carolina, he has faced its head coach, Larry Hunter, before. While Larrañaga was at Bowling Green and Hunter was at Ohio, the two went 9-9 against each other.
In Miami’s season-opening win against UT-Rio Grande Valley last year, the Canes had five scorers in double-digits including 14 points from Davon Reed and 11 from Ja’Quan Newton.

Davon Reed Tabbed to NABC Honors Court
Senior Davon Reed was tabbed to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) 2015-16 NABC Honors Court, recognizing those men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season.
Reed, from Ewing, N.J., is majoring in sport administration with a minor in marketing and communications at Miami. He is expected to graduate from The U in May of 2017, after a four-year basketball career with the Hurricanes.
Last season Reed was also named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Men’s Basketball Team and the All-ACC Academic Honor Roll. Following his junior campaign, he was listed on Miami’s Dean’s List (3.5+ GPA), Athletics Director Honor Roll (3.2+ GPA) and Book Buster Honor Roll (3.0+ GPA).

McClellan On NBA Opening Day Roster
Miami graduate Sheldon McClellan signed a partially guaranteed contract with the Washington Wizards, and on the NBA’s opening day, McClellan played in his first professional game. Against Atlanta, he scored seven points and had a steal in four minutes.

Navy Seals Training
The Miami basketball team went through a two-day training session with the Navy Seals on the UM campus in late August. The team worked out on both the land and in the swimming pool. Check out the highlight video here: https://youtu.be/VCZ_9t2FVR0.

Miami Reloads with Five Newcomers
The Hurricanes will have five new players wearing Miami uniforms this season, including four freshmen and one junior transfer. Of the five newcomers, Dewan Huell (Miami Norland) and Bruce Brown (Vermont Academy) are high school All-Americans, DJ Vasiljevic (Australia) has FIBA and national team experience, Rodney Miller attended Oak Hill Academy (Va.) and junior Rashad Muhammad was the leading scorer at San Jose State two seasons ago.

Exceeding Expectations
In the past five years, Coach Jim Larrañaga’s Canes have exceeded preseason expectations every campaign. Larrañaga is the only coach in the ACC to finish above the preseason poll predictions every season, and has the largest margin of surpassing those expectations.

Larrañaga One of the Best
Among active coaches, Jim Larrañaga is the 11th-winningest coach in the country at major schools with 588 victories, and is ranked No. 42 on the list of all-time winningest coaches at major schools. Among the seven ACC coaches with five-plus years in the league, in their first five years at their current school, Coach L is second in overall wins (118), overall winning percentage (.674), ACC victories (54), winning percentage in ACC games only (.614). Among all-time ACC coaches (includes only seasons coaching at ACC schools during years as ACC member), Coach L is ranked No. 25 all-time in ACC wins and No. 29 all-time in overall wins, in just five years in the league. He is ninth all-time in winning percentage in ACC games only (.614).

It’s All About Location
Miami’s complete 13-man roster includes players from three countries – Nigeria, Australia and the U.S., including eight states: Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania.

Canes Recruit Top-15 Class for 2016-17
In the fall of 2015, Miami signed one of the top 15 recruiting classes in the country, with 247Sports ranking the class No. 9, Scout at No. 10, ESPN at No. 13 and Rivals at No. 13. The 2016 class rankings topped Miami’s best mark from 2005, when the Canes signed four four-star recruits – Jimmy Graham, Brian Asbury, Adrian Thomas and Denis Clemente – in a class that was ranked No. 12 in the nation by Scout. In 2009, Miami’s signing class was nationally ranked No. 19 by Scout and No. 24 by ESPN. That Hurricanes’ heralded 2009 class was comprised of ESPNU 100 picks Durand Scott, Garrius Adams and Donnavan Kirk, in addition to May signee Antoine Allen.
Since 2002, Miami has signed 16 Scout top-100 players, including three five-star, top-25 players in DeQuan Jones (22, 2008), Dewan Huell (25, 2016) and Durand Scott (25, 2009).
Since Larrañaga’s arrival, his staff has signed five top-100 players in Huell (25), Bruce Brown (44), Ja’Quan Newton (52, 2014), Rodney Miller (90) and James Palmer (98, 2014). Huell and Brown are the most lauded signees for Miami since Scott in 2009, Jones in 2008, No. 32 Guillermo Diaz in 2003 and McDonald’s All-American Darius Rice in 2000.

Steve Edwards to be Inducted into UMSHoF
University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame has announced its class of 2017 inductees, which includes Steve Edwards, who played basketball at Miami from 1992-96.
One of the most prolific long-range shooters in Miami history, Edwards still ranks second in the record books with 265 career 3-point field goals, a mark that is still the BIG EAST Conference record. Edwards, a two-time honoree as “Mr. Basketball” in the state of Florida, was named to the conference all-freshman team in his first year for UMSHoF member Coach Leonard Hamilton. Plagued by injuries his whole career, he still led Miami in scoring in three of his four seasons and ranks 13th all-time with 1,393 points and is 10th in career steals. “Stevie” led the Canes to their first post-season appearance (1994-1995) since the rebirth of the basketball program and back-to-back-winning seasons.