Miami's Familiarity with Mizzou Brings An Early Advantage in First March Madness Game
In this story:
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes have only faced the Missouri Tigers one time in program history.
In 2002, the Canes and Tigers battled in a No. 5/No. 12 First Round Matchup in the NCAA Tournament, where the Canes were upset.
Now, over two decades later, it is a similar matchup for head coach Jai Lucas in his first NCAA Tournament appearance. He has watched them for some time, and now he has two weapons in his back pocket from the same Tiger tree.
"You know I've watched them for a while, 'cause I know Coach Gates for a while, so I kind of know a little bit about him," Lucas said. "I'm watching a ton this year, but kind of just the I guess the base of their program and how they play and what they do, of course, we have some people on staff and former players from Missouri. So hopefully they can come up with some type of scouting report."
On his coaching staff, he brought over Charlton Young from the Tigers during the offseason, as well as forward Marcus Allen, who will unfortunately miss out on this opportunity to play due to his ongoing battle with cancer.
But has Lucas said, this is a chance to pick their brains, understand the ins and outs of the Mizzou game plan that has been wired into both.
Moreover, Lucas has familiarity with star guard Mark Mitchell. Mitchell is averaging 18.3 points a game, but Lucas knows he is capable of doing it. He coached him during his sophomore year at Duke.
"They have a lot of speed in the backcourt, knowing some of their guys, and I coach one of their actually one of their best players, Mark Mitchell. I coach him at Duke," Lucas said. "So I've seen how he has progressed throughout his career and how he's been there, and he's a big part of the team. You know, so I'll get a better feel of him tonight and moving forward, but, you know, for us, we play a certain brand of basketball, so we just have to stick to what it got us there."
However, Lucas also knows he can't solely rely on those things. He has his own game plan to attack, and out working the Tigers starts with beating them at their own game. It's a defensive-minded battle that the Canes are prepared for.
"You know they're gonna be competitive, they're gonna play hard. They're gonna fight every possession. You know they're gonna crash. He's one of the coaches that sit all five to the glass, and then just defensively, they'll pick up, kind of extended pressure, some of the stuff was seen before. So we'll kind of see, but I know it's gonna be more of a defensive-minded battle. And before him, coming from Leonard Hamilton in Florida State tree, so it's a lot of stuff we'll see."
Follow all social media platforms to stay up to date with everything Miami Hurricanes-related: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube,and BlueSky.
Read More Miami Hurricanes News:
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.
Follow Justice_News5