CORAL GABLES, Fla. — If video of coach Jim Larranaga’s Muhammad Ali shuffle in the locker room after Miami’s 63-59 third-round win over Illinois hadn’t gone viral, maybe Rion Brown’s name might have come up more in college basketball conversations this week.
Brown’s 21 points off the bench helped thrust a resurgent Miami basketball program into the second week of the NCAA tournament, with the Hurricanes staring down a Sweet 16 matchup against Marquette on Thursday in Washington, D.C. They’re two wins away from the first Final Four in program history.
The 6-foot-6 junior from Hinesville (Liberty County High School) made five 3-pointers against Illinois, and his two foul shots with seven seconds left iced the tense victory. He started cold, missing his first pair of 3-pointers. But after that?
“The basket got real big for me,” Brown said.
Brown’s emergence Sunday offset down games for Miami’s starting wings Durand Scott and Trey McKinney-Jones, who scored a combined nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in 62 total minutes.
Kenny Kadji, Miami’s charismatic center, said his team’s frontcourt got “exposed” by Illinois, making Brown’s breakthrough even more significant.
“It was huge for us,” said Kadji, who referenced Brown’s big games against Georgia Tech and Boston College (he scored 22 points in both games, his career high) in conference play. “He made everything.”
Late-season success isn’t new to Brown, who averages 6.5 points per game.
He’s 11-for-20 from 3-point range in eight games this month, and he’s scoring four more points a game than his regular-season average.
In 2012, he scored 14 a game in the postseason after averaging slightly better than six points during the regular season.
As a freshman, Brown’s postseason output increased by three points a game.
“When a guy steps up and contributes that way, it tells you this is a team and it takes a total team effort,” Larranaga said. “He’s got a shooter’s mentality.”
With all the smiling and laughing about his team’s weekend and the comedic, overjoyed viral videos that have come with it, there’s a serious side to Brown, too. He wears a jet-black beaded necklace with a cross at the bottom of its curvature.
Underneath his shirt lies two dog tags on a separate necklace, inscribed with the meaning behind the cross. The words are from I Corinthians 1:18: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
“I guess it’s a good-luck charm,” he said.
If it is, it worked for Brown and Miami on Sunday. Now the Hurricanes travel to Larranaga’s old stomping grounds — the D.C. area, where he coached his upstart George Mason team to the first Final Four appearance by a double-digit seed.
They’ll face another physical, defensive-minded team in Marquette, which does most of its offensive damage inside.
In addition, Miami will be without big man Reggie Johnson, who had surgery Tuesday to repair a minor meniscus issue, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. Johnson did not accompany the team to Washington on Tuesday night, though he could play in the Final Four if Miami wins the East Regional this weekend, the person said.
The preparation for that game will be serious, of course — Marquette’s rebounding wows Larranaga, who said all five of his players on the floor must rebound each possession.
But no one can keep the Hurricanes from enjoying the ride, whether they’re dancing, shuffling, shooting the lights out or simply trusting in a higher power.
Now that he’s back in his usual postseason form, Brown’s having fun, and so are his teammates.
“The most fun is playing well and winning,” Larranaga said.
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