Miami Preview
March 05, 2004 11:23 AM | General
March 5, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia faces a Miami team this Saturday night still clinging to the hope of making it to the Big East tournament in its final season as a conference member.
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| Junior D'or Fischer is coming off a 19-point, 8-rebound effort against Syracuse Tuesday. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The Hurricanes avoided mathematical elimination Wednesday night with a 59-56 win over Villanova to snap a 10-game losing streak that spanned 41 days.
“Whether or not we go to New York, we didn’t want to give it to anybody,” Clark told the Miami Herald.
Now, Miami has a chance to make the Big East tournament. Here’s how:
The big problem for the Hurricanes, however, is that their post-season destination is not entirely in their hands. Miami lost both meetings to Georgetown this year and has to root for Virginia Tech to win on the road to stay alive. If both teams win, Georgetown goes to the tournament.
Miami will know its fate before it plays West Virginia at 7 pm because the Georgetown-Virginia Tech game takes place earlier in the day at noon.
“There’s still a little open window, and we need to seize the opportunity,” said sophomore forward Gary Hamilton.
That Miami is even in this situation is somewhat baffling, considering the Hurricanes have one of the conference’s best players in 6-foot-10 senior forward Darius Rice.
The Jackson, Miss., native, is averaging 16.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 27 games this year. Rice overcame a recent ankle injury that kept him out of two contests to score a game-high 20 in the Villanova win. He is the active career leader in Big East scoring with 1,012 points. Only Tim James (1,062) has scored more points in Big East games for UM.
Six-two guard Robert Hite is averaging 15.4 points per game and is shooting 49.5 percent from the floor. Hite has a single-game scoring high of 27 this year. Six-two freshman guard Guillermo Diaz has made an impact this year, averaging 12 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.
Despite slipping under .500 with a 14-15 overall record, the Hurricanes are still outscoring their opponents by an average of more than three points per game.
Miami is facing a struggling West Virginia team that has lost four straight and is having a difficult time scoring points. In their four straight losses to Pitt, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and Syracuse, the Mountaineers have scored 58, 53, 49 and 52 points. WVU has also had a tough time finding its shooting stroke, making 37 percent of its field goal attempts (80 of 216) and only 25.5 percent of its three-point tries (24 of 94).
West Virginia (14-12, 6-9) did get one of its best performances of the year from 6-foot-11 junior center D’or Fischer against Syracuse. Fischer scored a season-high 19 points while grabbing 8 rebounds. He is the team’s leading scorer averaging 10.5 points per game.
Six-ten, sophomore Kevin Pittsnogle has lifted his average to double figures at 10 points per game, while 6-foot-7 junior forward Tyrone Sally is averaging 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
A win for West Virginia over Miami could push it all the way up to a ninth seed for the Big East tournament if Virginia Tech loses to Georgetown. The Mountaineers could also slip all the way down to an 11th seed if it loses, Villanova beats Pitt and Virginia Tech wins.
Meanwhile, three of the four Big East tournament byes have been determined. Pitt, Connecticut and Providence have all clinched byes, leaving the remaining spot up for contention between Syracuse, Boston College and Seton Hall. Syracuse has the inside track with a 10-5 league record. If the Orangemen defeat Connecticut Saturday they get the final bye.
BC could get the fourth bye with a win over Providence and a Syracuse loss while Seton Hall could finish fourth with a win at Rutgers and losses from Syracuse and BC. If all three teams lose Syracuse gets the bye.
The Big East tournament begins Wednesday, March 10 at Madison Square Garden. The 8-9 game will begin at noon, followed by the 5-12 game at 2 pm.
The night session features the 7-10 game at 7 pm and the 6-11 game at 9 pm. All four first-round games will be televised by ESPN.
