The Miami Hurricanes are set to take on the Virginia Cavaliers on Tuesday night in a matchup of top contenders in the ACC. Miami comes into this game with a record of 13-1 (2-0) and ranked eighth in the nation while Virginia comes in with a record of 12-3 (1-2) and ranked 13th in the nation.
Miami has been extremely impressive all season except for a minor bump in the road with a home loss against Northeastern earlier in the year. Aside from that loss Miami has won every other game including impressive wins over Utah, Butler and in-state rival Florida. The Hurricanes have started off ACC play with two nice wins against good teams but a road test at Virginia will be their toughest game yet.
Miami is led by senior guard Sheldon McClellan who leads the team with his 16.3 points per game. McClellan is shooting career highs from the field (55 percent) three point range (41 percent) and the free throw line (88 percent). McClellan has surpassed 20 points in each of his two ACC contests so far this season and has done so very efficiently as he is 12-22 from the field in those two contests.
Another player to watch for Miami is sophomore guard Ja'Quan Newton who is second on the team with his 12.1 points per game. Newton does not start for the Hurricanes but he is averaging more than 20 minutes per game and provides a huge scoring lift off the bench. Newton has scored in double figures in each of his last five games and is coming off a 13 point and 4 assist performance against Florida State.
While Miami is coming in red hot, Virginia is coming in ice cold. Virginia had won 11 games in a row before losing each of their last two games against teams expected to be at the bottom of the ACC. Virginia does have big wins over Cal, West Virginia and Villanova but this is a big game for them as they don't want to fall too far behind in the loaded ACC.
Virginia is led by preseason first team All-ACC member Malcolm Brogdon. The senior guard is leading the team with his 16.8 points per game and has also added 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists so far this season. In Virginia's last two losses Brogdon has shot 40 percent or less from the field so the Cavaliers need their leader and best player to step up and be more efficient if they are going to protect home court against Miami.
Virginia may have lost their last two games but don't blame point guard London Perrantes as he has been terrific in his last two contests. The junior guard scored 22 and 13 respectively in those two games and has had a nice season overall as he is averaging 11.5 points and a team leading 4.4 assists per game so far this season. Perrantes is also a dead-eye shooter from deep as he is making 57 percent of his attempts from beyond through 13 games.
Last season Virginia defeated Miami in double-overtime in the only meeting between these two programs. Overall these two teams have split the last six meetings and they have mostly been extremely close as three went to overtime and two of the other games were decided by less than five points.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 P.M. Eastern time on ESPNU and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Miami radio broadcast go here and for the Virginia radio broadcast go here.
