HURRICANES MEET LOYOLACHICAGO IN NCAA TOURNEY
Loyola-Chicago will be opponent in first round Thursday in Dallas.
The Hurricanes
CORAL GABLES — entered Selection Sunday knowing they would play in their third
consecutive NCAA Tournament. Now they know where they’re heading.
Miami (22-9) earned a No. 6 seed in the South region and will face No. 11 Loyola-Chicago on Thursday in a first-round game at American Airlines Center in
Dallas, home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
The Ramblers (28-5, 15-3) won the Missouri Valley Conference with a 65-49 decision over Illinois State. One of their wins was a 65-59 victory at then-No. 5 Florida on Dec. 6. This is their first NCAA bid since 1985.
The winner meets the winner of a Thursday first-round game between No. 3 seed Tennessee (25-8) and No. 14 Wright State (25-9). That game is Saturday. The South region runs through Atlanta. Virginia is the No. 1 seed.
Loyola-Chicago shoots 50.7 percent as a team and five of its players average in double figures, led by 6-foot-1 guard Clayton Custer (13.4 points per game, 4.3 assists, 1.5 steals). Guard Donte Ingram (11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds) is the Ramblers’ leading rebounder at 6-foot-5, 215 pounds. They aren’t a big team, with center Cameron Krutwig (6-9, 260) and forward Aundre Jackson (6-5, 230) their beefiest regulars.
Loyola-Chicago is a strong
defensive team, ranking 24th in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive efficiency ratings. Its offense is 68th, and it is 41st overall. It is also 312th of 351 Division I teams in tempo. Miami ranks 52nd (defense), 45th (offense), 36th (overall) and 225th (tempo).
UM went 11-8 against ACC opponents, and finished the end of the regular season ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll. The Hurricanes went 11-6 away from home, including a win at North Carolina, the ACC Tour- nament finalist.
The Canes lost to UNC 82-65 on Thursday in the conference tourney, but they had more than enough to make it to the tournament. Since playing in the Sweet 16 in 2013 — a feat repeated in 2016 — Miami has gone dancing in four of the last five seasons.
Including Virginia — the ACC champion and top overall seed — the ACC had nine bids, more than any other conference.
Miami players, coaches and about 75 fans watched the bracket reveal Sunday from a party UM threw at its Rathskeller bar on campus. The loudest boos were reserved for Florida State, Duke and UNC, along with Florida. A few fans threw scattered boos at Notre Dame, which did not make the field, and some laughed at the inclusion of Syracuse — an entrant despite its 20-13 record and 8-10 mark in ACC play.
Last year, Miami finished 21-12 (10-8 ACC) and lost to Michigan State 78-58 in a first-round game in Tulsa, Okla. UM lost two seniors from that team (forward Kamari Murphy and guard Davon Reed).
This UM squad added freshman guard Lonnie Walker, who leads the team in scoring (11.5 points). Sophomore forward Dewan Huell is tied for second (11.4, with 6.6 rebounds). For the last 11 games, the Canes have been playing without leading rebounder and assist-getter Bruce Brown (7.1 and 4.0, along with 11.4 points), a sophomore who has a foot fracture. Coach Jim Larranaga left no room for doubt Sunday about Brown’s status. Asked if Brown could return for Thursday’s game, he responded with a forceful, “No.”
Brown, who has been out since Jan. 30 — a span of 11 games — will be re-evaluated this morning. Doctors may tell him he can put a sneaker on his broken left foot instead of the walking boot he has worn of late. But he won’t be wearing a uniform.