Miami Hurricanes NIT Championship Game Preview: Stanford Cardinals

Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

Time: 9:00

TV: ESPN

Line: Stanford -1.5

Not many teams have an opportunity to win a championship in Madison Square Garden (just ask the Knicks), but the Miami Hurricanes have a chance to do just that with a win over the Stanford Cardinals on Thursday night. With a 60-57 win over Temple on Tuesday, the Canes will play for the NIT championship — would be a first for the school.

The Canes, however, will try and cut down the nets at MSG without their most important player in Tonye Jekiri. The seven-footer is out on Thursday because of a concussion that he suffered six minutes into the semifinals game on Tuesday. The championship game will be the first time Miami is without Jekiri since their exhibition game against Eckerd College in November.

Now, let’s take a look at the team that stands in the way of Miami’s championships hopes: the Stanford Cardinals.

Stanford Scouting Report

The Stanford Cardinals are a bit of a strange team, but they could score points. Kenpom.com’s adjusted offensive efficiency is 111.5 per 100 possessions, which ranks them 29th in the country. Stanford also does a good job at not turning the ball over, only giving it away to opposing teammates 11 times a game.

The main source of the points for Stanford is senior guard Chasson Randle. The senior from Illinois just set the all-time scoring record at Stanford with his 19-point performance against Old Dominion in the NIT semifinals. With the scoring record now in the bag, Randle is now eyeing a championship win in his last collegiate game.

Randle is averaging 19.4 points per game this season and has put up 96 points thus far in the NIT, aided by a 35-point performance against Rhode Island in Stanford’s second round game. Randle is a volume shooter and the Canes just have to play good on-ball defense on him and try to make it a bit tougher for him to score his points.

Aside from Randle, the Cardinals get the rest of their scoring help from Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic. Brown is a 6’6” guard/forward and he’ll likely find most of his time on Sheldon McClellan defensively. The senior guard is the leading rebounder for the Cardinals at 6.8 per game, and he’s also the deadliest player from the perimeter for Stanford. Brown shoots 44% from beyond-the-arc and hits about 2 three’s per game for the Cardinals. Miami needs to find him in the open court, and make him put it on the deck.

Nastic is the best inside presence for the Cardinals, and with the absence of Jekiri, keeping Nastic off the glass is priority number one for the Hurricanes. Nastic isn’t the most dominant player on the court, but at 6’11” he’s capable of wrecking havoc on a Miami team likely to go small.

Prediction

Miami 71 – Stanford 69

Picking the Canes to win in close games has worked out so far, so it’s only right that I predict them to win a close one for the championship on Thursday.

Yes, Miami will be playing with two of their best three players, but I do believe that playing small is the way to go for the Canes. Miami has more talented guards on their roster than Stanford, and they need to exploit that. Omar Sherman was great for the Hurricanes on Tuesday, and he — alongside Ivan Cruz Uceda — needs to have a good game again on Thursday for the Canes to hang in with Stanford.

The Canes will have to hit their outside shots in order for this prediction to come through, but with Sherman and Uceda manning the center position, the painted area won’t be clogged up and the Canes will have tremendous space to work with on the offensive end. That’s assuming they are making their outside shots.

If Miami makes their three’s, they’ll win. If not, it could be a long game.