Harris, a sophomore, was 20 of 25 for 270 and three touchdowns in Miami’s 33-17 win over the Yellow Jackets.

Como en todos los partidos importantes de esta temporada, el resultado para los Huracanes dependía en su estrella Jack McClinton.

El veterano, quien fue nombrado el jugador de la semana la semana pasada por sus hazañas contra Wake Forest y Duke, marcó 35 puntos pero Miami (15-9, 4-7) no pudo sorprender al numero tres del país, North Carolina (23-2, 9-2), y calló 69-65 en el BankUnited Center.

Los Huracanes comenzaron bien, adelantándose 7-0 en los minutos iniciales pero los Tar Heels respondieron inmediatamente con un parcial de 10-0 y el partido se nivelo.

McClinton marcó 12 de los primeros 14 puntos locales mientras que Tyler Hanesbrough, el jugador del año en 2008, no anotó sus primeros puntos hasta que quedaban 8:31 para jugar en el primer tiempo.

Miami extendió el marcador a 26-22 tras un parcial de 10-0 con seis minutos pero los visitantes no se rindieron y consiguieron entrar al vestuario por delante 29-26.

Sin Dwayne Collins, quien no jugó tras lesionarse el tobillo contra Duke, el conjunto de Haith comenzó el segundo tiempo con nervios y eso les hizo olvidar lo que les había servido tan bien en la victoria contra Wake Forest. Empezaron a triar rápidamente y la experiencia de los Tar Heels exploto a los Huracanes. Un parcial de 14-3 adelanto a los visitantes 54-40 y parecía que no había forma que los Huracanes volvieran al encuentro. 

McClinton, como tantas veces este año, puso a sus compañeros en su espalda y convirtió sus siguientes tres tiros, dos de ellos triples, y los Huracanes cortaron a 54-48.

Tras otros cuatro puntos del veterano y un triple de Brian Asbury el marcador leía 58-57 con 4:43 por jugar.

Con la emoción en el estadió a lo máximo, los equipos intercambiaron otros cuatro triples y, tras un fallo de Wayne Ellington, Miami paró el partido con posesión y 1:43 en el marcador.  Jimmy Graham falló en darle a Miami la ventaja tras conseguir el rebote del tiro de McClinton pero los Tar Heels no pudieron adelantarse por más. En la siguiente jugada Asbury fue penalizado por una falta ofensiva sobre Hansbrough y el marcador seguía igual con 43 segundos restantes.

El equipo del mítico Roy Williams tomo mando del balón conformándose con gastar todo los 35 segundos que les pertencían y Ty Lawson, , el héroe de los visitantes contra Duke, sentenció el encuentro con 10.6 en el marcador con un triple espantador. 

Sin duda tendrán que ganar la mayoría de sus partidos restantes si esperan disputar el torneo nacional

Esta noche el objetivo es claro para Miami (15-8, 4-6), vencer al tercer mejor equipo del país y el puntero en la liga, North Carolina (22-2, 8-2) en el BankUnited Center.

Con un importante viaje a Tallahassee el miércoles para enfrentar a Florida State, los Huracanes saben que no pueden olvidar el partido contra los Tar Heels. Aunque la gran mayoría del país no espera que el conjunto de Frank Haith tenga oportunidad en este partido, los Huracanes ya han demostrado en varias ocasiones este año que pueden jugar con los mejores.

Ahora lo que toca es ganar. Si Miami espera triunfar necesitarán otro tremendo juego de Jack McClinton, su líder ofensivo quien fue nombrado el jugador de la semana en el ACC tras sus increíbles partidos contra Wake Forest y Duke. El veterano marcó una media de 33 puntos en los dos partidos y le ganó a los Demon Deacons él solo. Contra Duke marcó el tiro clave que mandó el partido a tiempo extra.

Este será el segundo encuentro del año entre los dos equipos y los de Haith buscarán revancha por la derrota que sufrieron el 17 de enero en Chapel Hill 82-65. En ese momento los Tar Heels eran el número cinco del país y Wayne Ellington dominó a los visitantes. El veterano de North Carolina conectó con siete triples y terminó con 23 puntos. Tyler Hansbrough, el jugador del año la temporada pasada, añadió 24.

Esta vez los Tar Heels llegan al encuentro en Miami con su confianza a lo máximo.

Si esperan ganarle a los Huracanes tendrán que olvidar su victoria del miércoles sobre Duke 101-87. Los Tar Heels perdían por ocho en el descanso pero salieron en el segundo tiempo y dominaron a los Blue Devils por las jugadas de Ty Lawson, que marcó 21 de sus 25 puntos en el segundo tiempo.

Las claves para Miami son obvias. Tendrán que detener a Hansbrough, quien dominó en el primer encuentro. Si logran parar a Ellington y Lawson tendrán opciones, pero lo que fue evidente del primer partido entre los dos es que si solo aparece McClinton no será suficiente. Necesitarán un juego colosal del equipo entero.

As seen in El Nuevo Herald.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP)—Mindful of the ongoing economic downturn, Miami’s football team will charter buses instead of planes this fall for trips to Central Florida and South Florida.

The decision by coach Randy Shannon will save Miami $140,000, athletic director Kirby Hocutt said Tuesday.

“You know how the economy is right now. It’s really tough,” Shannon said. “I look across a lot of the programs in the country and everyone’s making these cuts. So it’s a financial benefit to us, and it works out in terms of the time situations as well.”

Originally, the school planned to fly for those trips to Orlando and Tampa, cities that both are approximately three-to-four-hour drives from the Hurricanes’ campus. But in an uncertain economy, Hocutt has told his department to spend wisely, part of a newly installed 44-point plan to get the Hurricanes through what he called “a critical economic time.”“The economic situation that we face within our athletics department is no different than businesses across our state and our country are facing,” said Hocutt, whose department announced some layoffs last month.

Numerous schools, both public and private, have announced belt-tightening or other measures deemed necessary by the sharp economic downturn nationwide. Stanford is bracing to lose $5 million off what it was expecting from athletics over the next three years, and some schools are concerned that programs could be dissolved entirely to save money.

Hocutt says Miami isn’t in such trouble.

“We’re all concerned about the situation, the downturns that could affect our season-ticket holders, our donations,” Hocutt said. “We’re not to a position where we’re considering the elimination of any programs. However, we are taking measures within our department to make sure we’re as prudent and as efficient as possible.”

That 44-point plan, Hocutt said, includes things like making sure all flights taken for athletic department purposes are booked at least 21 days ahead of time, a move that typically results in getting the lowest possible fares.

School officials were not certain the last time Miami’s football team didn’t fly to a road game, other than noting it has been at least 10 years. The Hurricanes flew to Gainesville to play the eventual national champion Florida Gators last season.

The savings of just those two flights is significant, Hocutt said. However, the Hurricanes will fly as planned to their other in-state game next season: Miami is expected to open the year in Tallahassee against Florida State, although the schedule will not be formally announced by the Atlantic Coast Conference until Thursday morning.

“Going to Tallahassee, that’s almost an eight-hour trip for us, a brutal trip,” Shannon said. “That’s too tough.”

Miami’s annual athletic department budget is about $60 million, $24 million of which comes from football season-ticket sales and renewals. The school unveiled its pricing plan for the coming season Tuesday, and 15,000 seats— roughly 20 percent of the capacity of Dolphin Stadium—will be offered at lower costs than in 2008.

Excluding club seating and family only sections, season ticket packages last season ranged from $199 (over one end zone in the upper deck) to $775 (for seats between the 30-yard-lines on the lower level). For 2009, those packages will range from $119 to $775, with some single-game seats available for $19 and certain season packages in family sections offered at $99.

By late March or early April, after the annual renewal drive has started in earnest, Hocutt said he’ll have a better idea how Miami will pull through the tough economic times.

“Is it something that I wake up and think about every day? Yes. Is it something that we’re talking about to our coaches, to our unit leaders? Yes,” Hocutt said. “Do we know the effects that it’s going to have on our department? Not yet.”

Coral Gables, Fla. (Hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami’s Jack McClinton has been named ACC Player of the Week after averaging 33.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals as the Hurricanes defeated sixth-ranked Wake Forest, 79-52, on Wednesday and fell at No. 4 Duke on Saturday in overtime 78-75. 

The Baltimore, Md. native – who earns the honor for the first time this season and the third time in his career – made 23-of-37 from the floor (.621) in the two games, including 11-of-16 from behind the arc (.688) and nine-of-11 from the free throw line (.818). 

McClinton also earned Player of the Week accolades from CollegeHoops.net.

Against the Demon Deacons, McClinton tallied 32 points, including a season-high six three-pointers as Miami set school records for the largest margin of victory (27) against both a ranked opponent and an ACC opponent. Three days later, McClinton scored a season-high 34 points in Cameron Indoor Stadium and forced overtime with a 28-foot three-pointer with 20 second left to play. The 6-1 senior guard scored Miami’s final 11 points of regulation and all seven overtime points.

With 66 points between the two games, McClinton moved up three spots to claim eighth place among Miami’s all-time leading scorers with 1,537 points in three seasons with the Hurricanes.

He leads the ACC in career three-point field goal percentage (.443) and is second in career free throw percentage (.893), while leading all ACC players in 2008-09 in three-point field goal percentage (.471) and three-point field goals per game (3.1). McClinton is second among all ACC players averaging 23.0 points per game in conference games, while putting up 19.7 points per game for the season (fourth best in the league).

Florida State’s Solomon Alabi earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors after helping the Seminoles to a pair of come-from behind victories over Georgia Tech and on the road against 10th-ranked Clemson

DURHAM, N.C. (AP)—Everyone wondered how long it would take Duke to recover from its blowout loss at Clemson. It turned out the fourth-ranked Blue Devils needed about a half to find themselves again.

Duke trailed by 16 points in the second half before Gerald Henderson and David McClure sparked a comeback to beat Miami 78-75 in overtime Saturday, sending the Blue Devils into next week’s rivalry game against North Carolina with some restored confidence.

Henderson scored 18 of his 19 points after halftime for the Blue Devils (20-3, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), including the go-ahead basket with 3:16 left in overtime. Meanwhile, reserve David McClure had a career-high 13 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass after halftime that helped the Blue Devils get back in the game.

It wasn’t the dominating performance many would have expected from Duke coming off a 74-47 loss against the 10th-ranked Tigers, its worst defeat since a 30-point loss to UNLV in the 1990 NCAA championship game. The Blue Devils shot the ball poorly, couldn’t grab a rebound for the first half and at times looked about as lost as they did Wednesday night.

This time, the Blue Devils had a response.

“You don’t put (the Clemson game) in the closet, because it will come out at another time,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “You don’t sweep it under the rug. It has to be cleaned up, and it has to be destroyed—sometimes in a short period of time. It takes a combination, but the best place for it to occur was out on the court, which it did.

“I think we’ve put Clemson to rest. How we go forward will be based on the foundation of heart that we showed and guts in the last 22 minutes.”

Jon Scheyer led Duke with 22 points, while Kyle Singler shook off a terrible shooting day to come up with a key overtime basket that kept the Blue Devils in control once Miami (15-8, 4-6) stumbled in the extra period. Duke also got 18 points from senior Greg Paulus, who started at the point for the first time in nearly two months.

Duke trailed by 13 at halftime after shooting 6-for-31 (19 percent), then fell behind 38-22 barely 3 minutes into the second half before rallying with a 24-4 run.

“We came out today and showed some character and fight in the second half,” Paulus said. “I don’t think you can forget about (Clemson), and winning this one game isn’t going to make you forget about that.”

Jack McClinton scored a season-high 34 points for Miami, including a 3-pointer over McClure and Singler to force overtime with 14.8 seconds left. Duke had a chance for the win in regulation, but Scheyer missed a 3 in the final seconds.

Once in OT, Henderson scored over Dwayne Collins inside for a 70-68 lead, then Singler—who finished 5-for-23 from the field—drove in for a score two possessions later to push the margin to four. Henderson added a tough stepback jumper over Collins to make it 74-68 with 51.9 seconds to play.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, missed their first five shots before McClinton hit a 3 with 31.1 seconds left that cut the lead to three. Miami got no closer, with Paulus making two free throws with 10.2 seconds left to seal the win.

McClinton scored Miami’s last 11 points of regulation and all seven in overtime.

“It’s difficult to leave here not winning,” McClinton said. “That’s the good thing about basketball—you live to play another game.”

Duke shot just 33 percent for the game, including 12-for-39 from 3-point range against the Hurricanes’ determined zone defense. The 39 3-point attempts were a school record.

Behind McClure, a 6-foot-6 senior averaging 2.1 points and 3.5 rebounds, the Blue Devils took a 14-2 edge on the offensive boards after halftime. They were outrebounded 25-14 in the first half.

“I was just trying to get our team into a fighting mentality,” McClure said. “I’m trying to play every play, every possession, every game like it’s my last. Hopefully that can rub off on the rest of my team.”

The Hurricanes were coming off a notable performance of their own, a 79-52 win against No. 7 Wake Forest that ended a three-game losing streak. They nearly followed up with another impressive victory, but ended up with their third overtime loss in the past five games.

“I knew we had to be prepared for Duke to come out and give us their ‘A’ effort, not just because of the Clemson thing, but I think that’s what they do,” Miami coach Frank Haith said. “When you play here, the first 5 minutes are always critical because … they’ve got a great crowd, and their fans are into it, and they feed off their crowd.”

Miami’s DeQuan Jones was ejected for a flagrant foul for hitting Paulus with an elbow on a layup midway through the second half.

Jack McClinton scored a season-high 32 in Miami's win over #7 Wake Forest. He'll need a similar performance if the Hurricanes expect to upset #4 Duke at Cameron Indoor.

Sin duda la victoria del miércoles sobre Wake Forest fue milagrosa. Después de perder tres partidos seguidos los Huracanes dominaron completamente a uno de los mejores equipos del país y realmente demostraron sus habilidades.

Esta noche contra los Blue Devils de Duke ( 19-3, 6-2), el numero cuatro del ranking nacional, en el Cameron Indoor, Miami (15-7, 4-5) tendrá que demostrar de nuevo que sus cuatro derrotas en seis partidos fueron simplemente una anomalía durante una larga y dura temporada.

Quedan siete partidos en el calendario antes del torneo del ACC a mediados de marzo y el conjunto de Frank Haith sabe que si consiguen terminan la liga .500 o mejor, la meta para los equipos de la división, disputarán el torneo nacional.

El tramo de partidos contra Wake Forest, Duke y North Carolina se anticipaba que seria la más dura del año cuando se publicó el calendario antes de la temporada, pero el hecho que los Huracanes consiguieron por lo menos una victoria es sumamente importante. Si logran otra contra los Blue Devils, quizás el mejor equipo defensivo del país, puede que hayan definitivamente salvado su temporada al no ser que se imploden al final.

Lo más importante para Jack McClinton y compañía será no pensar demasiado en la victoria sobre Wake sino en concentrarse en repetir el nivel de ejecución que les sirvió tan bien.

En estos momentos la confianza de los de Haith es más alto que nunca mientras que el de Duke nunca a estado tan bajo.

La semana pasada los Blue Devils fueron el mejor equipo del país antes de perder contra Wake Forest 70-68. El miércoles perdieron su segundo partido en tres encuentros 74-47 contra Clemson, el numero 10 del país, en posiblemente el peor partido en la larga historia de la universidad. Los Tigres, quienes ganaron a Miami por 19 en diciembre, dominaron al conjunto del leyendario Mike Krzyzewski, entrenador del equipo nacional estadounidense, con su presión por toda la cancha y les fusilaron completamente.

Lo que es evidente para los Huracanes es que no hay mejor tiempo para jugar contra Duke.

Si esperan sorprender al país por segunda vez en una semana necesitarán otro tremendo juego de McClinton. El veterano fue imparable contra los Demon Deacons, conectando con seis triples para 32 puntos, su mayor cantidad del año. 

As seen in El Nuevo Herald.

With that in mind, Shannon wanted to re-establish the roots University of Miami has succeeded upon in the past, roots that enabled them to win a National Championship in 2001 and nearly again the following year in 2002. In Shannon’s recruiting class of 2007, he showed early signs of the ability to close deals with players, landing highly touted defensive prospect Allen Bailey from McIntosh County Academy (GA) as well as the second-rated offensive guard, Harland Gunn from Omaha Central High School (NE). Those players amongst others helped the Hurricanes bring in the No. 9 rated class of 2007 with 20 members total, six of whom were rated in ESPNU’s Top 150 Recruits.

In Shannon’s first full recruiting class in 2008, he showed a few of the aspects as to why he was able to take over his now current role. The Hurricanes had an impressive class, so impressive that it earned them the overall No. 1 recruiting class. The group included 32 total members, 12 Top 150 recruits. Five of those were named All-Americans the previous year: Sean Spence, Brandon Harris, Ramon Buchanan, Aldarius Johnson and Taylor Cook.

Shannon nabbed five out of the top seven linebackers, as well as the No. 1 rated defensive tackle, Marcus Fortson of Miami Northwestern High School (FL). Fortson, along with seven of his Northwestern teammates signed with the Hurricanes. What most college coaches dream of when heading into a recruiting frenzy is a national champion high school football team just a few miles away from campus. Northwestern finished the 2007 season as the top-rated high school team in the country. Amongst those eight Northwestern recruits was quarterback Jacory Harris. Harris is the likely candidate to start at quarterback for the Hurricanes in 2009 after a stellar freshman season.

Following up the impressive class of 2008 brings us to this past Wednesday. The Hurricanes brought in the No. 7 rated recruiting class, and the top-rated in the ACC. The class includes 19 members, six in the Top 150. Featured in the group is safety Aravious “Ray Ray” Armstrong from Seminole High School (Fla.). Armstrong has been noted to be comparable to former Hurricanes’ safety Kenny Phillips of the New York Giants.

Along with the All-American Armstrong, three more All-Americans joined Shannon’s squad, Prince Kent of Norcross High School (Ga.), Dyron Dye also from Seminole High School and Jamal Reid of Lafayette High School (Fla.).

In the past two years since Shannon has been recruiting full classes, out of the 50 commits, 34 come from the state of Florida, many of which are from the South Florida region. Shannon has continuously stressed the point of commitment. He strives to find the guys who want that four-year job that serves to be a cornerstone of a team leader. Although talented senior leaders are rare these days, as multiple players with high talent declare for the NFL Draft after their junior season, Shannon is firm on his belief to be dedicated to the program and bring in yet another National Championship to Miami.

Después de la derrota contra Maryland, Frank Haith explicó lo que su equipo tenía que hacer para volver a ganar tras tres derrotas seguidas. Contra Wake Forest ejecutaron el plan de su entrenador perfectamente eligiendo tranquilamente sus tiros y dominando el reloj.

Jack McClinton marcó 32 puntos, incluyendo seis triples, Adrian Thomas anotó otros 14 y los Huracanes (15-7, 4-5) destrozaron a los Demon Deacons (17-3, 4-3), el numero siete del país, 79-52.

“Por donde estábamos antes del partido sólo queríamos ganar,” declaró Haith después de la increíble victoria. “Los jugadores estaban listos, entrenaron con mucho énfasis y consiguieron una gran victoria.”

El triunfo fue el primero del año contra un equipo del Top 10 nacional, algo sumamente importante considerando que los siguientes dos partidos que disputarán serán contra el número cuatro del ranking Duke, el sábado, y el tres North Carolina, la semana que viene.

“Lo estamos tomando partido por partido,” admitió el técnico. “Necesitábamos la victoria y la conseguimos. No nos queremos adelantar. Ahora es hora de prepararnos mentalmente para el siguiente encuentro.”

Los problemas que habían plagado a los Huracanes durante los últimos tres partidos no aparecieron y con el conjunto de Haith concen

trándose en no lanzar triples rápidos, parecían un equipo distinto. Al bajar el ritmo del partido y el reloj, Miami pudo controlar a los visitantes tranquilamente al frustrarlos en todo momento.

Con diez minutos jugados en el periodo inicial, los Huracanes sólo habían marcado cuatro canastas, pero no importó porque cosechaban una más que los Demon Deacons. McClinton y Thomas continuaron tirando para los locales y terminaron la primera mitad con cinco triples combinados.

Con su estrategia funcionando y la confianza devuelta, los Huracanes entraron al vestuario por delante 29-26 gracias a la jugada del partido de DeQuan Jones, justo al final del tiempo. Tras forzar un pase malo por parte de los visitantes, el novato agarró el balón, corrió contra dos defensas con McClinton a su lado, les engañó y la clavó, explotando el júbilo de los hinchas del BankUnited Center.

Ganando por tres, el equipo que salió en el segundo tiempo no fue el de los Huracanes normales, sino unos distintos, confiados y muy intimidantes.

McClinton abrió el tiempo con dos triples y los seis puntos de contribución de McGowan completaron un parcial de 16-6 que les adelantó en el marcador por 13.

“Solo queríamos continuar encestando bien,” declaró Haith sobre el comienzo del segundo periodo. “Tiramos bien pero la clave fue la defensa. Continuamos mencionando a los jugadores la importancia de la defensa y fue evidente en el segundo tiempo.”

Pero no hubo quien los parara ofensivamente y ganaban 54-34 con 10:50 para jugar.

Con todo a su a favor McClinton continuó tirando y sentenció el partido con 5:39 por jugar con su quinto triple.

As seen in El Nuevo Herald.