Marcus Allen, fighting cancer, helps lead Miami's NCAA Tournament celebration after win

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Marcus Allen's stat line from Miami's NCAA Tournament win over Missouri: zero points, zero rebounds, one sticker.

And the Hurricanes couldn't have enjoyed anything more.

Allen — who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in December and ruled out for the rest of the season — has been around his team as much as possible since beginning treatment and got the postgame honor of putting Miami's name on the next line of the bracket after the Hurricanes beat Missouri on Friday night.

Allen started his college career at Missouri.

“Whenever Marcus is around, even before he was diagnosed with cancer, he is kind of the heartbeat of the team ... the guy everybody kind of gravitated towards,” Miami coach Jai Lucas said going into the tournament. “Same thing when he is around and him being on this trip with us and being able to be back and forth in between treatments and practicing.”

Allen, when able, has been on the scouting team to get Miami ready for games. Going into the Missouri game, he played the role of Tigers star — and his former teammate — Mark Mitchell during Hurricanes' practices.

Lucas said Allen has one chemotherapy treatment remaining. The Hurricanes have worn shirts in Allen's honor for much of the season, a GoFundMe for his family — mostly fueled by Miami fans — raised nearly $90,000 and former Miami star Jack McClinton did a 3-point shootout at halftime of the team's home regular-season finale as a fundraiser as well.

“When everything happened with Marcus, the biggest thing with Marcus is he wanted to still be treated like Marcus,” Lucas said. “So, we had to make sure we did that around the program. And for us as a team, it is just giving us the appreciation value that nothing is promised, and you can’t take anything for granted, and you have to go out and attack every day.”

The Hurricanes (26-8) play second-seeded Purdue (28-8) in St. Louis on Sunday for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Miami won seven games last season; Lucas has improved that total by 19 wins so far in his first year at the school, with a team that returned zero players from the 2024-25 club.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness