The Miami Hurricanes face the Marquette Golden Eagles in the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament as only one will be able to advance to the Elite Eight. Check out these predictions as game time approaches that have the Hurricanes winning and advancing in the tournament.
While Marquette and Miami both post similar numbers and the Hurricanes struggled to defeat the Illinois Fighting Illini in the third round of play, Marquette has simply struggled to convince that they deserve to be in the Sweet 16. Yes, they have fought back and found a way to win, but in both games, it went down to the wire. Miami is not Butler nor Davidson.
Marquette has depending solely on Vander Blue late in the games. Both times he finished their opponent off with a drive that resulted in the game-winning layup. If the Golden Eagles don't step up and establish a shooting game early on, they will simply lose to Miami.
Miami faced an easy challenger in the first round, No. 15 Pacific Tigers, but they didn't flirt with elimination, they simply blew them out 73-49. Miami finished that game with seven steals, four blocks and forced 14 total turnovers in the game. Then they faced Illinois, and though this meeting was close late in the game, the Hurricanes still walked out victorious.
Miami has shot over 40 percent in both of their meetings, which will force Marquette to start off quickly if they expect to win. Miami has more weapons than Marquette if the game is on the line. We all know Blue will be getting the ball for Marquette, while Miami can hand the ball off to one of their finishers, Shane Larkin, but also have Durand Scott step up. He's not the most consistent player, but he's an option.
On paper, both teams are pretty similar scoring about the same number of points per game (69). You can take notice of how both teams rebounded in their first two games and see the winner of the boards also walked out victorious, but both of these guys come into the matchup averaging 35 rebounds per game.
It will be an evenly cut match. Miami will use their ACC Championship victory to continue fueling their run.
Final Score Prediction: Miami wins beating Marquette 73-65.
