How to Watch Miami Take on Purdue for a Sweet 16 Appearance in March Madness
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The Miami Hurricanes have gotten the monkey off their back against the Missouri Tigers in the first Round of the NCAA Tournament.
Now they battle against one of the favorites in the March Madness, the Purdue Boilermakers, in the first outing of Sunday's slate of games of the second round.
Miami Player's to Watch: Shelton Henderson and Dante Allen
Even with the struggles of Tre Donaldson and Malik Reneau, the Hurricanes saw their freshman step up. More specifically, Dante Allen and Shelton Henderson were the two keeping the Canes afloat early in the game, while the others tried to figure out what they needed to do to get in rhythm.
"They are kind of the foundation of the program, along with these guys, unless they go somewhere. But they are the ones I identified early, and I had the utmost trust in them," Lucas said about his freshmen duo," And that's why they played that amount of minutes.
"Shelton is somebody I've known for a while. We went to the same high school. He trained in the same gym I did. So I've seen him grow up. I always like to say I recruited Dante secondhandedly when I was at another school recruiting some of his teammates. I saw Dante play a lot and I said if I ever got a job that would value what Dante Allen did, I would take him with me. And I just had the opportunity to get this one.
"Their makeup, the way they're built, the winning characteristics, their pedigree, it gives me nothing but trust in them."
Purdue Player to Watch: Braden Smith
The all-time NCAA assists leader played an outstanding game against Queens en route to a 30-point victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Smith finished with 26 points and eight assists, continuing to show why he was one of the favorites to win national player of the year earlier in the season. Smith is a dangerous guard that the Hurricanes will have to be crafty defensively.
Who: Purdue (28-8, 13-7 Big 10) vs. Miami (26-8, 13-5 ACC)
When: March 22, 12:10 p.m. ET
Where: Enterprise Arena in St. Louis, Missouri
TV: CBS
All-time series: Purdue leads 3-1
Last Time Out, Purdue: The Boilermakers are coming off a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, where their star guard played out of his mind. They took down Queens with Trey Kaufman-Renn adding in 25 points as well.
Last Time Out, Miami: The Hurricanes responded after scoring 27 points in the first half by scoring 53 in the second against the Missouri Tigers, led by Malik Reneau's 24 points and Tre Donaldson's near triple-double.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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