Indiana advanced to the round of 32 of the 2023 NCAA tournament with a 71-60 win against Kent State on Friday night in Albany. The Hoosiers will now face ACC co-regular season champion Miami (FL) on Sunday evening at MVP Arena.
Sunday’s game will tip at approximately 8:40 p.m. ET on TNT:
Indiana won its first NCAA tournament round of 64 game on Friday against MAC champion Kent State in convincing fashion. The Hoosiers led by as many as 15 points in the second half as Trayce Jackson-Davis put together a dominant effort.
The focus now shifts to Miami, Indiana’s Sunday opponent in the round of 32. The Hurricanes are 26-7 and beat Drake 63-56 on Friday in Albany.
MEET THE HURRICANES
Miami has one of the nation’s best offenses and is balanced with four players averaging double figures.
The strength of the Miami attack lies in the quartet of fourth-year junior Isaiah Wong, third-year sophomore Nijel Pack, fifth-year wing Jordan Miller and third-year sophomore Norchad Omier.
Wong is the leading scorer for the Hurricanes and averages 15.8 points in 33.2 minutes per game. He’s a 37.5 percent 3-point shooter and is connecting on 1.6 attempts from distance per game. But Wong also succeeds in getting to the line (4.7 attempts per game) and is an 83.3 percent shooter from the stripe.
He also leads the Hurricanes in assists (3.4 per game) and is third in rebounding at 4.3 per contest. Wong struggled against Drake as he finished with just 12 points on 2-for-9 shooting from the field, but he did get to the line nine times and knocked down eight of those attempts.
Pack, an Indianapolis native transferred to Miami from Kansas State in the offseason and is fourth on the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game. He’s just 6-foot but does a great job creating space and can get his shot off the dribble from just about anywhere on the floor. As his shot chart below shows, Pack is a potent 3-point shooter from just about everywhere.
Miller is in his fifth year overall and second at Miami after transferring from George Mason. The Middleburg, Virginia native plays the four for Jim Larranaga and is second on the team in scoring at 15 points per game. Miller is making an efficient 59.5 percent of his 2s and also shoots 35.6 percent on 3s. As his shooting chart shows, he’s an elite finisher in the paint.
Omier transferred from Arkansas State in the offseason and nearly averages a double-double with 13.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-7 and…