March Madness Upsets 2013: Marquette Beats Miami and Will Face Syracuse in Big East Elite Eight Matchup
The Marquette Golden Eagles upset the No. 2 seed Miami Hurricanes 71-61 on Thursday night, setting up an all-Big East Elite Eight match-up with the Syracuse Orange in the East region.
Marquette received huge contributions from its bench, getting a game-high 16 points from reserve forward Jamil Wilson and 14 points from Davante Gardner. Wilson and Gardner were a combined 10-of-16 from the field, and Wilson drained 75 percent of his 3-pointers in the victory. Wilson also snagged eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
The Hurricanes were hurt by a stunning inability to make shots from anywhere on the court. Miami's second and third-leading scorers, Durand Scott and Kenny Kadji, were a combined 8-of-25 from the field. As a team Miami hit just 35 percent of their shots.
The Hurricanes' leader and top scorer, Shane Larkin, was in foul trouble for much of the first half and struggled to make a real impact on the outcome, despite solid statistics. Larkin finished with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting, was 2-of-5 from 3-point range, and had four rebounds and four assists.
After the game, Miami head coach Jim Larranaga talked about the frustration he and his team felt while their shots missed and they failed to get stops on defense.
"You ever have days where you're just out of sync or things just don't run along smoothly?" Larranaga said. "Almost like our trip over here. Our hotel is a mile and a half, it took us 45 minutes to get here. We had to go on nine different streets, weaving our way in and out of traffic and everything. And that's the way it seemed on the court. We were trying to find our way and never could. Never could get in rhythm offensively, and defensively. I don't think we communicated like we have been doing all season long."
Marquette guard Vander Blue, who hit some huge shots in the second round of the tournament to stave off an upset bid by Davidson, was thrilled to prove Marquette's many doubters wrong. He said, "We're so used to people not giving us credit. ... That fuels our fire."
Marquette's famous basketball alum, Dwyane Wade, tweeted after the Golden Eagles' big win, "after 3 tries in the sweet 16 we finally figured it out. Congrts."
