Quinnipiac will look to take its next step on Monday night when it takes on the fourth seeded Miami Hurricanes on their home court.
Although Quinnipiac remains tough to say for many people, it will look to continue its quest for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Monday night.
Quinnipiac comes into this game with its confidence through the roof after it won its first NCAA tournament game, in just their third attempt.
“We are amped for this game tomorrow, there really is no let up. At the least, we wanted one win. Tomorrow is just another day to make more history,” Quinnipiac redshirt senior guard Adily Martucci said.
Quinnipiac struggled all season to get off to a good start in its games, but on Saturday it started the game with a 9-0 run against Marquette. It will take another start like this for Quinnipiac to beat Miami.
The Bobcats shot over 50 percent from the field for the entire game and Quinnipiac will need another solid shooting performance if they want to upset Miami. But Quinnipiac is not focused on Miami, they are focused on themselves.
“All season long we’ve been focusing on ourselves. All that matters is us, being our best all the time. That’s the reason I think we’ve been so successful, is not worrying about our opponent and knowing our scout. Definitely focusing on being the best version of us every day,” Martucci said.
Miami comes from the Atlantic Coast Conference, where it finished seventh in the regular season but managed to upset the two seeded Florida State Seminoles in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. Miami would give third seeded Duke a tough game when it lost to Duke 57-52.
The selection committee awarded the Miami Hurricanes the fourth seed and the right to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament on their home floor.
Quinnipiac had a very neutral crowd when it beat Marquette but against Miami, they will be facing a very loud crowd; especially with Miami students coming back from spring break on Sunday. Quinnipiac is no stranger to road games in the NCAA tournament as it faced Maryland on its home court in 2013 NCAA tournament.
Quinnipiac will need to do exactly what it did on Saturday afternoon: it will need to have another good start and play rock solid defense. Quinnipiac had the experience advantage on Marquette, so Marquette’s nerves got to it early on but do not expect that from Miami who has been in the tournament before and is playing on its home court.
Although Adily Martucci is Quinnipiac’s leading scorer, she only scored two points against Marquette but she played lock down defense on Natisha Hiedeman. Miami has two very good guards so expect Martucci to take at least one of their guards out of the game. Do not be surprised if you see Adily Martucci guarding Adrienne Motley, who along with her teammate Jessica Thomas were selected to the all-ACC second team.
Motley had a tough game against Florida Gulf Coast in the first round of the NCAA tournament as she fouled out with 1:55 left in the game and with the game tied 53-53. Both Motley and Thomas struggled yesterday, shooting a combined 4-17, but Quinnipiac expects them to bounce back on Monday.
“I expect them to come out with everything. We’re just ready to defend whatever they have, whatever they are going to throw at us. We expect the best game from the guards and post,” Martucci said.
Although Miami only shot 1-14 from the three-point line, just like Quinnipiac it will not shy away from shooting the ball.
“We know what we are. Shooters keep shooting. We are not discouraged from (Saturday’s) game. That shows our balance, that if we can’t score from the outside, we can score from the inside. (Monday) we’ll keep shooting because shooters shoot,” sophomore Miami guard Laura Cornelius said.
Martucci did not have the offense output she is used to when she only scored two points against Marquette, but her lack of offense was not a problem for Quinnipiac as redshirt sophomore forward Jen Fay stepped up with 20 points and four steals.
Jen Fay showed everybody something that makes the Bobcats so good and that is the fact that teams do not know who to take away because so many different players have the ability to step up and lead their team to victory.
Quinnipiac plays a tough non-conference schedule to prepare for games in the NCAA tournament and the Play 4 Kay shootout in Las Vegas did just that for the Bobcats.
“I firmly believe that our experience going out to [Las] Vegas, seeing three games in three days. Playing a New Mexico State team that gave Stanford all it could handle, us playing and beating a Long Beach State team that we know went wire to wire with Oregon State. Our experience against Oregon State, seeing all those different style teams in three days, has completely prepared us for the season we had and the weekend that we are having,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said.
Miami may have come in seventh in the ACC in the regular season, but it proved why it is ranked sixteenth in the nation when it got all the way to the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
Miami will have an advantage over Quinnipiac when it comes to playing on its home court. Miami fans will be loud and Quinnipiac will have to hit many shots early on if it wants to silence the crowd.
Miami has two strong guards with Adrienne Motley and Jessica Thomas, two senior guards who have been to this stage before.
“They want to play fast. They have two great lead guards, they’ve got the size, they have depth, they change their defenses. We are going to have our hands full on a home court that has a great crowd, but this is why we play this game at this time of year,” Tricia Fabbri said.
The Hurricanes also have a height advantage over the Bobcats, which is what you expect when a mid-major matches up against a power five-conference team. The Bobcats will look to run the floor and force the Miami forwards to run the floor as much as possible.
“We’ve played against a lot of teams that are bigger than us this season. We are going to use our speed, we are going to try and run the floor,” Jen Fay said.
Miami knows it is in for a tough test on Monday night, it knows that it is playing a very good mid-major program in Quinnipiac.
“(Quinnipiac) doesn’t fear anyone. I was impressed by (Tricia Fabbri’s) confidence. They are confident. They don’t back down from anyone and they have a chip on their shoulder. They feel like they are an underrated mid-major. They are an underrated mid-major. They’re a major as far as I am concerned,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said.
Miami has made it quite clear that they have no intentions of disrespecting Quinnipiac in the lead up to this round of 32 game.
“They don’t have to worry about us disrespecting them because that is not going to happen. They are awfully good, and they’ve been good,” Katie Meier said.
Quinnipiac and Miami will tip off at 9 p.m. on Monday night, as both teams will be looking to secure a spot in the Sweet 16. The game will be played at the Watsco Center on the University of Miami’s campus and will be broadcasted on ESPN2.
