Miami Preview
December 09, 2011 02:54 PM | General
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES | MIAMI GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia doesn’t have much time to relish its 85-80 double-overtime victory over Kansas State Thursday night.
The game didn’t end until about 11:30 Eastern Time, and the team didn’t arrive back in Morgantown until 4 a.m. As a result, all the Mountaineers have is just one day’s worth of prep to get ready for a very solid Miami team coming to Morgantown on Saturday night that owns a 5-3 record against some outstanding early season competition.
The Hurricanes last played Tuesday at the Bank United Center against 21st-ranked Memphis where Miami dropped a 71-54 decision. UM has also faced Tennessee Tech (win), Rutgers (win), North Florida (win), Florida Gulf Coast (win), Ole Miss (loss), Purdue (loss) and UMass (win) in the early going.
Coach Jim Larranaga took over the Miami program last spring after guiding George Mason for the past 14 seasons, including taking the 11th-seeded Patriots to the 2006 Final Four in one of the great Cinderella stories in college basketball history.
Frank Haith left Larranaga quite a bit of talent in Coral Gables, including senior guard Malcolm Grant (15.6 ppg., .385% from 3), who owns a pair of 20-point games against Florida Gulf Coast and Ole Miss and has reached double figures in points in all but one game this season.
It was Grant who led Miami to a comeback 79-76 victory over West Virginia last December, the guard carving up the Mountaineers with 26 points, including making 13 of 14 from the free throw line. Guard Durand Scott also played well against WVU in last year’s game, tallying 11 points and grabbing five rebounds.
Reggie Johnson, a 6-foot-10, 284-pound junior center who had 14 key points and seven boards in last year’s victory over the Mountaineers, is unavailable until January after suffering a knee injury in the summer. And top recruit Bishop Daniels has also been slowed by a turf toe injury during the preseason and has not seen any action so far this year.
Consequently, Miami is only using nine players, although eight different guys have started at least two games so far this season.
Scott is averaging 12.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while Trey McKinney Jones, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, shows averages of 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.
The Hurricanes have been using a four-guard lineup to go with 6-foot-10, 230-pound sophomore forward Raphael Akpejiori (3.1 ppg., 2.6 rpg.).
McKinney Jones and Scott go 6-foot-5, while Larkin and Grant are in the 6-foot range. Larranaga can bring 6-foot-11 Kenny Kadji (6.4 ppg., 4.9 rpg.), 6-foot-6 Erik Swoope (5.9 ppg., 3.8 rpg.) and 6-foot-6 Garrius Adams (5.6 ppg., 4.0 rpg.) off the bench for additional size.
Against Memphis on Tuesday night, the Hurricanes only trailed the Tigers by one, 27-26, at halftime before being outscored 44-28 in the second half. McKinney Jones and Scott were the only Miami players to reach double figures with 10 points each.
Against UMass on Dec. 3, Scott led Miami with 16 points – all 16 of those points coming from the free throw line.
West Virginia is coming off its best all-around performance of the season Thursday night against Kansas State in Wichita. Senior forward Kevin Jones scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season and the 17th of his career. Jones knocked down 12 of 17 field goal attempts, including a game-tying 3 at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.
“Thank god he rebounded the ball and scored some goals; made some plays to kind of keep us in the game,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
“We knew we had to match (Kansas State’s) intensity and match their toughness,” added Jones. “I am just glad how our young guys matched our challenge and played so tough tonight.”
Senior guard Truck Bryant contributed a season-high 24, hitting 9 of 12 from the line, and junior forward Deniz Kilicli scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Freshman Aaron Brown came off the bench to add 10 points, including four in a row during a key stretch in overtime.
Jones leads the Mountaineers with averages of 21.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game while shooting 57.4 percent from the floor. Bryant boosted his season’s average to 15.6 points; Kilicli (11.3 ppg.) and freshman guard Jabarie Hinds (10.1 ppg.) are also averaging double figures.
Miami’s last trip to Morgantown came in 2003, a 68-63 Mountaineer victory, when both were still in the Big East. Overall, the two schools have played 14 times with each winning seven. However, Miami is 6-2 over the last eight games.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Tickets still remain and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia doesn’t have much time to relish its 85-80 double-overtime victory over Kansas State Thursday night.
The game didn’t end until about 11:30 Eastern Time, and the team didn’t arrive back in Morgantown until 4 a.m. As a result, all the Mountaineers have is just one day’s worth of prep to get ready for a very solid Miami team coming to Morgantown on Saturday night that owns a 5-3 record against some outstanding early season competition.
The Hurricanes last played Tuesday at the Bank United Center against 21st-ranked Memphis where Miami dropped a 71-54 decision. UM has also faced Tennessee Tech (win), Rutgers (win), North Florida (win), Florida Gulf Coast (win), Ole Miss (loss), Purdue (loss) and UMass (win) in the early going.
Coach Jim Larranaga took over the Miami program last spring after guiding George Mason for the past 14 seasons, including taking the 11th-seeded Patriots to the 2006 Final Four in one of the great Cinderella stories in college basketball history.
Frank Haith left Larranaga quite a bit of talent in Coral Gables, including senior guard Malcolm Grant (15.6 ppg., .385% from 3), who owns a pair of 20-point games against Florida Gulf Coast and Ole Miss and has reached double figures in points in all but one game this season.
It was Grant who led Miami to a comeback 79-76 victory over West Virginia last December, the guard carving up the Mountaineers with 26 points, including making 13 of 14 from the free throw line. Guard Durand Scott also played well against WVU in last year’s game, tallying 11 points and grabbing five rebounds.
Reggie Johnson, a 6-foot-10, 284-pound junior center who had 14 key points and seven boards in last year’s victory over the Mountaineers, is unavailable until January after suffering a knee injury in the summer. And top recruit Bishop Daniels has also been slowed by a turf toe injury during the preseason and has not seen any action so far this year.
Consequently, Miami is only using nine players, although eight different guys have started at least two games so far this season.
Scott is averaging 12.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while Trey McKinney Jones, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, shows averages of 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.
The Hurricanes have been using a four-guard lineup to go with 6-foot-10, 230-pound sophomore forward Raphael Akpejiori (3.1 ppg., 2.6 rpg.).
McKinney Jones and Scott go 6-foot-5, while Larkin and Grant are in the 6-foot range. Larranaga can bring 6-foot-11 Kenny Kadji (6.4 ppg., 4.9 rpg.), 6-foot-6 Erik Swoope (5.9 ppg., 3.8 rpg.) and 6-foot-6 Garrius Adams (5.6 ppg., 4.0 rpg.) off the bench for additional size.
Against Memphis on Tuesday night, the Hurricanes only trailed the Tigers by one, 27-26, at halftime before being outscored 44-28 in the second half. McKinney Jones and Scott were the only Miami players to reach double figures with 10 points each.
Against UMass on Dec. 3, Scott led Miami with 16 points – all 16 of those points coming from the free throw line.
West Virginia is coming off its best all-around performance of the season Thursday night against Kansas State in Wichita. Senior forward Kevin Jones scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season and the 17th of his career. Jones knocked down 12 of 17 field goal attempts, including a game-tying 3 at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.
“Thank god he rebounded the ball and scored some goals; made some plays to kind of keep us in the game,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
“We knew we had to match (Kansas State’s) intensity and match their toughness,” added Jones. “I am just glad how our young guys matched our challenge and played so tough tonight.”
Senior guard Truck Bryant contributed a season-high 24, hitting 9 of 12 from the line, and junior forward Deniz Kilicli scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Freshman Aaron Brown came off the bench to add 10 points, including four in a row during a key stretch in overtime.
Jones leads the Mountaineers with averages of 21.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game while shooting 57.4 percent from the floor. Bryant boosted his season’s average to 15.6 points; Kilicli (11.3 ppg.) and freshman guard Jabarie Hinds (10.1 ppg.) are also averaging double figures.
Miami’s last trip to Morgantown came in 2003, a 68-63 Mountaineer victory, when both were still in the Big East. Overall, the two schools have played 14 times with each winning seven. However, Miami is 6-2 over the last eight games.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Tickets still remain and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free.
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