Cardinal and Hurricanes meet for NIT title

Apr 2, 2015 - 2:22 PM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - The Stanford Cardinal aim for their second NIT championship in the last four years, their third overall, as they battle the Miami-Florida Hurricanes in the final game of the 78th annual tournament at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

Stanford, which is appearing in this event for the eighth time in program history and is a second seed in the 2015 edition, won it all as recently as 2012 with a 75-51 thrashing of Minnesota. The team also took the trophy back to the Golden State in 1991 after dispensing with Oklahoma, 78-72.

The run this time around for the Cardinal has included victories over UC Davis, Rhode Island and Vanderbilt in the earlier rounds before landing in New York earlier this week. On Tuesday night, the team dispensed with a feisty Old Dominion squad, 67-60, after building a massive 25-4 lead in the first half and then having to battle from a deficit late in the second.

Also a two seed in the tourney, the Hurricanes are shooting for their first NIT title. Behind the leadership of head coach Jim Larranaga, a native of the Bronx, Miami's trip north was paved with wins against North Carolina Central, Alabama, and Richmond both at home and on the road. Two nights ago the team came from behind to take down the Temple Owls in a 60-57 decision.

With this year's run in the tournament, Miami has a mark of 11-11 in the event and is playing in the title game for the first time in 12 appearances.

As far as the all-time series between the programs is concerned, they've split the two previous encounters. Miami posted a 71-58 victory in 1986 during the Palm Beach Hurricane Classic, but then bowed to the Cardinal on the road, 93-59, three years later.

The Cardinal appeared to be well on the way to an overwhelming victory against Old Dominion two nights ago, streaking out to a 21-point lead as the Monarchs opened the meeting a mere 1-of-16 shooting from the floor, but Stanford eased up and let ODU back in contention before the break. In fact, the Monarchs actually took a lead in the second half before free-throw shooting down the stretch pushed Stanford on to victory.

Chasson Randle finished with 24 points as he became the all-time leading scorer for the Cardinal, moving past Todd Lichti late in the first half. Also scoring in double figures for the Cardinal were Stefan Nastic and Anthony Brown with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

Randle, who now has 2,350 points in his career, has already played a total of five games at Madison Square Garden over the years, averaging 16.0 ppg while shooting an impressive 12-of-26 behind the 3-point line. During this year's tournament, Randle is putting up 23.3 ppg thanks to 79.5 percent shooting at the free-throw line. As a unit, Stanford has made more than 21 free throws per contest, leading the group to a scoring average of 74.0 ppg.

Brown (16.8 ppg), Marcus Allen (12.0 ppg) and Nastic (10.5 ppg) are also playing critical roles on offense during the four games in the tournament, while the defense has held opponents to just 38.5 percent shooting from the field.

Sheldon McClellan registered a double-double consisting of 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Miami Hurricanes slipped by Temple in the semifinals on Tuesday night. McClellan, the only player to finish in double figures for the Hurricanes, shot 5-of-12 from the floor and knocked down a pair of attempts behind the 3-point line for a squad that was 6-of-21 out on the perimeter on the evening.

Miami, which shot only 39.0 percent from the field overall in the contest, held the Owls to 30.2 percent shooting from the floor and 2-of-19 behind the 3-point line.

McClellan is still the key figure on offense for the Hurricanes with his 14.4 ppg, but he could again be the only double-digit scoring source for the program if Angel Rodriguez (11.9 ppg) remains on the sidelines with a sprained right wrist. Rodriguez, who is listed as doubtful, has also been the leading passer for Miami with 126 assists in his 32 appearances this season.

Unfortunately, Rodriguez is not the only casualty for the program as Tonye Jekiri is expected to miss the game due to a concussion suffered against Temple. Jekiri (8.6 ppg) paced the team on the glass in 2014-15 with 9.9 rpg and was also first with 51 blocked shots, which means his absence will leave a huge hole in the paint at both ends of the floor.