Miami 65, Virginia Tech 59
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 1/17/04
Blacksburg, VA -- Bryant Matthews poured in 33 points and grabbed 16 rebounds but received very little help from his teammates, as the Hokies dropped an important Big East home game to the Miami Hurricanes, 65-59. Tech was done in by poor shooting from the free throw line, where they made just 10-of-26 shots.
Matthews hit 11-of-24 shots from the field, making 5-of-8 three-pointers, including several from NBA range late in the game, in scoring over 30 points for the fourth time this season. Matthews, the Big East's scoring leader, upped his average to 24.8 points per game. But the rest of the team shot just 10-of-45 from the field, including a horrid 1-of-13 effort from freshman guard Zabian Dowdell, one game after he hit for 20 points at West Virginia.
Matthews struggled from the free throw line, hitting 6-of-13, but again, the rest of the team was worse, making just 4-of-13. After Matthews, no other Tech player scored more than five points.
The Hokies (8-6, 1-2 Big East) struggled on offense for most of the game against the bigger, taller Canes (12-5, 2-1), falling prey to an 18-4 run that turned a 13-all tie into a 31-17 Miami lead with 4:09 to go in the first half. Tech closed it to 34-26 at half time on a three-pointer by Bryan Randall, the first points of Randall's short basketball career at Tech.
In the second half, Miami extended the lead to 46-31 with 13:56 to go. The Hokies switched to a zone defense that confounded the Canes, who turned the ball over six times in the next five minutes. Tech lit up the Cassell Coliseum crowd of 5,603 with a 14-2 run that made it 48-45, Miami with 8:32 to go. Matthews had 10 points during the run.
Miami responded with four points to push the lead back to 52-45, and the Hurricanes held the Hokies off down the stretch, despite Matthews hitting three 3-pointers in the last five minutes of the game.
Miami was led by guard Robert Hite, who scored 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting. Hite killed the Hokies from behind the three-point line, where he made all five of his shots. Rodrigue Djahue added 12 points, but 6-10 Darius scored just 6 points on 2-of-10 shooting.
On the positive side of the ledger, the Hokies outrebounded Miami 43-41 and had just 8 turnovers to 20 for the Canes. But their shooting woes from the field and especially the free-throw line cost Tech their chance at being over .500 for the first time ever in the Big East.
Tech hosts Notre Dame (8-4, 2-1) Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum. The game will not be televised.
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Miami 65, Virginia Tech 59
1/17/04, Blacksburg, VA
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Miami......................... 34 31 65
Virginia Tech................. 26 33 59
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MIAMI FLA (12-5, 2-1)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
R Djahue 30 6-12 0-0 4-10 3 3 12
D Rice 34 2-10 1-3 0-9 2 2 6
A Surratt 32 1-5 0-0 0-1 7 2 2
G Diaz 24 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 3 2
R Hite 34 9-10 3-4 1-8 2 3 26
K Clark 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
G Hamilton 5 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 2
E Wilkins 22 3-3 3-6 1-5 1 3 9
W Frisby 15 2-2 2-2 1-4 1 3 6
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 25-46 9-15 8-39 17 20 65
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Percentages: FG-.543, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:
6-16, .375 (D Rice 1-6, A Surratt 0-3, G Diaz
0-1, R Hite 5-5, K Clark 0-1). Team Rebounds:
2. Blocked Shots: 4 (R Djahue 3, G Hamilton).
Turnovers: 20 (G Diaz 5, R Hite 4, A Surratt
4, D Rice 2, W Frisby 2, R Djahue, E Wilkins,
G Hamilton). Steals: 3 (R Hite 2, W Frisby).
VIRGINIA TECH (8-6, 1-2)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
B Matthews 37 11-24 6-13 10-16 2 4 33
P McCandies 13 1-2 0-0 2-4 1 0 2
Z Dowdell 32 1-13 2-2 1-1 2 2 4
S Harris 20 2-7 0-2 2-2 0 2 4
M Sailes 37 2-9 1-2 3-8 4 2 5
B Randall 16 1-3 0-2 1-2 0 2 3
A Calloway 22 1-4 1-2 0-4 0 1 3
C Collins 23 2-7 0-3 1-1 0 3 5
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-69 10-26 20-38 9 16 59
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Percentages: FG-.304, FT-.385. 3-Point Goals:
7-21, .333 (B Matthews 5-8, Z Dowdell 0-8, S
Harris 0-2, M Sailes 0-1, B Randall 1-1, C
Collins 1-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked
Shots: 1 (B Matthews). Turnovers: 8 (P
McCandies 2, Z Dowdell 2, B Matthews, B
Randall, C Collins, S Harris). Steals: 14 (B
Matthews 5, B Randall 3, M Sailes 2, Z
Dowdell 2, A Calloway, C Collins).
Technical fouls: None. A: 5,603. Officials: Ed
Corbett, Gene Monje, Reggie Greenwood
2003-2004 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results