Sunday, December 12, 1999
Miami Notebook
Mestas 'tougher than Cleaves'
OXFORD — Doug Davis, a transfer from Michigan State, practices against Miami point guard Rob Mestas every day. Last year, he practiced against MSU All-American Mateen Cleaves.
He'd rather run an offense against Cleaves.
“Doug says Rob would be the best defensive guard in the Big Ten,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said. “He says he's tougher than Mateen Cleaves. That's pretty good because Cleaves will probably be a top 10 draft pick.”
Mestas doesn't rate with the elite guards as a scorer. But his defense and ability to run an offense are as good as anyone's.
Mestas had nine assists and only three turnovers in Miami's 71-55 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday. That gives him 16 assists and five turnovers in his last two games.
Mestas played all but the final 48 seconds Saturday, keeping his average at 39.6 minutes per game.
“Rob's amazing,” Coles said. “He's playing hurt. He's got a sprained ankle, and he's had three knee operations. But he's just a tough kid.”
Crowd down
Miami drew 5,427 for Saturday's game after getting 5,014 for Xavier on Wednesday.
Not so great for the two name opponents on the non-conference schedule. Both games were on Channel 12, as part of MU's new package. Did that hold the crowd down?
“That's what everyone is asking,” MU Athletic Director Joel Maturi said. “I don't know. Students are in exams. It's something we have to look at.”
Channel 12 picked the two home games because of the name recognition and the dates worked.
Miami is not getting any rights fees to make up for the lost gate, but Maturi feels the exposure will be worth it.
Time change?
The game was held up 20 minutes while they waited for the officials to arrive from the airport. Apparently, no one from the Big East told the crew the game had been switched from 4 p.m. to 12:08 p.m..
One official, Ken Clark, didn't arrive until halftime.
The crew made one glaring bad call with five minutes to go in the game. A Miami player batted the ball toward to the left side of the crowd. The ball bounced off a Notre Dame player, ND's Sklyard Owens, who was standing out of bounds waiting to go in the game.
Mestas picked it up and fed it to Anthony Taylor for a layup.
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