No. 3 Marquette Golden Eagles defeated the No. 2 Miami Hurricanes in the 2013 Men's Basketball Tournament's Sweet 16 becoming the first team to advance to the Elite Eight after winning 71-61. Miami couldn't knock down shots early on and Marquette went into the half with a huge lead.
With four players in double figures, Marquette breezed by Miami and this game was decided early on as they didn't need any dramatic closing seconds.
James Wilson came off the bench and dropped 16 points to lead the team in scoring. He shot 3-4 from three and the great performance propelled him to finish with the game high. Vander Blue was right up there scoring 14 points, shooting 7-12 from the floor while picking up two assists and two steals. Also with 14 points and from the bench was Davante Gardner who went 5-7 from the floor.
The Marquette bench scored half as many points as Miami did in the entire game and this proved deadly for Miami, who struggled from the floor all night long. Marquette shot 54 percent from the floor, while Miami had troubles scoring throughout the game hitting on only 35 percent of their shots.
By halftime, Marquette led 29-16. It was Miami's worst performance in the first half of any March Madness game.
Miami's Shane Larkin had a decent night going 4-8 from the floor and scoring 14 points. However, his inability to remain out of foul trouble proved problematic. With more than 11 minutes remaining in the first half, Larkin already had two fouls. Blue drove right up the line and instead of attempting to block the shot, Larkin simply had to get out of the way. He wasn't aggressive and this really cost Miami early on.
Kenny Kadji and Durand Scott combined for 21 points, but went a miserable 8-25 from the floor. Rion Brown popped off the bench to score six points, but went 2-12 from the floor.
Now, Marquette will await a winner between Syracuse and Indiana as both teams hook up later on at night.
