12th Ranked Canes Face Pittsburgh Looking To Stay Hot At Home
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CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami/SportsDirect) – The Miami Hurricanes have been near-unbeatable at the Bank United Center in Coral Gables.
No. 12 Miami looks to continue its ACC home dominance on Tuesday night when it hosts Pittsburgh, which is coming off a home loss to No. 7 Virginia.
The Hurricanes are 5-0 at home in conference play, winning those games by an average of 12 points, and are 11-1 overall at the BUC.
Miami, fourth in the ACC but only one game behind first-place North Carolina, escaped Atlanta with a 75-68 road victory over pesky Georgia Tech on Sunday thanks to clutch foul shooting in the final minute (9-of-9) and a 22-point performance by senior shooting guard Sheldon McClellan.
"The kid is great, he just doesn't know how good he is," Miami coach Jim Larranaga told reporters of McClellan on Sunday. "He took nine shots today [and] he was 7-for-9. If I shot as well as him, I would have taken 20 shots and probably still would have only made seven. He's so unselfish. He's so team-oriented. He's a great teammate."
The Panthers scored only 50 against the defensive-minded Cavaliers in a 14-point loss on Saturday and have dropped three of their last five games - all by double digits.
"You can't let a team go 9-of-16 (on 3-pointers) and shoot 50 percent from the field and expect to beat a good defensive team at the same time," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon told reporters after the loss.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU
ABOUT PITTSBURGH (17-5, 6-4 ACC): The Panthers are led by junior forwards Michael Young (16.8 point, 6.9 rebounds) and Jamel Artis (15.5, 4.5) and senior point guard James Robinson.
Young and Artis are shooting a combined 53.5 percent from the field and 79.3 percent at the foul line while Robinson (9.4 points, 5.3 assists) runs the offense and has 11 turnover-free games.
Junior forward Sheldon Jeter (8.6), inserted into the starting lineup two games ago, scored 31 points combined in that role while guard Sterling Smith (6.4) is hitting 46.1 percent on 3-pointers.
ABOUT MIAMI (18-4, 7-3): McClellan, the team's scoring leader (16.4, 53.7 percent from the field) is 12-for-15 from the field, including 4-of-4 on 3-point shots, in Miami's last two games.
Senior point guard Angel Rodriguez (11.1) was scoreless against Georgia Tech but dished out six assists and has 28 with only five turnovers in his last four games.
Backup sophomore point guard Ja'Quan Newton (12.0 points), who hit a miracle 3-pointer falling out of bounds late in Saturday's win over the Yellow Jackets, and junior swingman Davon Reed (10.5) also average in double figures.
TIP INS
- Pittsburgh ranked fourth (77 percent) and Miami 11th (76.1) nationally in free-throw shooting percentage coming into the week.
- Miami is 6-0 this season and 10-0 over the last two seasons when McClellan scores 20 or more points.
- Pittsburgh's Robinson ranks third nationally with a 5.09:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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