CHICAGO — The Miami Hurricanes’ improbable ride through March Madness continued, as they overcame Iowa State’s suffocating defense and deafening fan contingent to advance to their first Elite Eight in school history with a 70-56 win over the Cyclones in the most unforeseen Sweet 16 matchup of the NCAA Tournament.
Sixth-year senior Kam McGusty had the hot hand all night, leading all scorers – and surely improving his NBA Draft stock – with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Jordan Miller had 16 points and seven rebounds.
And sixth-year senior forward Sam Waardenburg battled for 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
This is a UM team that was picked to finish 12th in the preseason ACC poll. Instead, in the program’s fourth trip to the Sweet 16, the Hurricanes proved to be among the most underrated teams in the nation.
They will play top seed Kansas at 2:20 p.m. on Sunday in the Midwest Regional final for a berth in the Final Four. The first half was intense, the Hurricanes held a lead but couldn’t shake the Cyclones.
Then, Miami went on a 7-0 run early in the second half and pushed ahead 43-35 when point guard Charlie Moore, playing 10 miles from where he grew up, found McGusty for a short jumper.
Moore broke into his trademark smile, raised his arms urging the UM fans in the audience to get loud, and they did.
Sebastian the Ibis went to midcourt and led the fans in the C-A-N-E-S cheer and the Miami pep band, decked in orange and white striped rugby shirts, blasted its horns.
After the final buzzer, the Miami team ran toward the UM fans and went wild.
Neither team was expected to be here at the start of the season, as they were coming off a combined 12-39 record.
Iowa State was 2-22 last season, suffered 18 consecutive losses and the program’s first winless conference record since 1937.
Coach Steve Prohm was fired six days after the Big 12 tournament. Tenth seed Miami, which was favored by three points over No. 11 Iowa State Friday, came in with a similar storyline.
The Hurricanes were 10-17 last season, their third losing season in a row, as they were plagued with injuries to the point that they often had only six or seven healthy scholarship players.
Some critics were calling for Coach Jim Larranaga to be fired. Both teams made complete transformations. T.J. Otzelberger took over as coach at Iowa State and loaded up on transfers.
Caleb Grill followed him from UNLV. Izaiah Brockington came from Penn State, Gabe Kalscheur from Minnesota, Aljaz Kunc from Washington State and freshman Tyrese Hunter joined St. Catherine’s (Wis.) High School.
The Cyclones, who were picked last in the preseason Big 12 poll, finished 22-12, the best turnaround in Big 12 history.
Their two NCAA tournament victories last weekend matched last season’s win total and they were 15-0 in non-conference games heading into the Sweet 16.
Like Iowa State, Miami’s roster was boosted by transfers Jordan Miller and Charlie Moore, a sixth-year point guard from Chicago who finally reached the NCAA Tournament on his fourth college stop. UM was 25-10 heading into Friday’s game, including a road win at Duke and a 28-point win over North Carolina.
Last weekend, the Canes knocked off No. 7 seed USC and No. 2 seed Auburn.
Miami got here with a veteran squad whose starting lineup is older than some NBA lineups. Sixth-year guards McGusty and Moore are 24, sixth-year forward Waardenburg is 23, fourth-year junior Miller is 22.
The Hurricanes’ youngest starter is 21-year-old Isaiah Wong. The Hurricanes relied all season on a scrappy defense that generated turnovers, as did the Cyclones, who were among the national leaders in forced turnovers.
The difference is Miami thrived in the open court and became known for turning turnovers into fast-break points. Iowa State employed more of a gritty half-court offense. Larranaga said: “We played two very big teams (USC and Auburn). Now we’re playing a team that’s very similar to us. They’re very defensive-minded and they’re very stingy on defense. They force a lot of turnovers. And they share the ball offensively. They run a motion offense and make a lot of passes and do a lot of cutting. And that’s going to be a real challenge for us. Hopefully, our offense will be a real challenge for them.”
Miami got off to a 7-0 lead, quieting the large Iowa State fan contingent in the crowd of 23,500. But the Cyclones’ defense – a mirror image of Miami’s – started making the Hurricanes uncomfortable. By the seven-minute mark of the first half both teams had committed seven turnovers and halftime they had combined for 17.
UM had eight turnovers by halftime Friday after just seven turnovers total against USC and Auburn last weekend. McGusty led all scorers with 14 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting with five rebounds.
Jordan Miller had 10 points by the half. Wong and Moore were scoreless, a combined 0-for-6. Moore, playing 10 miles from where he grew up, had five first-half assists but an uncharacteristic three turnovers.
“They have a group that can really score the basketball,” Otzelberger said before the game. “They can really space you out. They’re very creative offensively in what they do and the scheme they have. Coach Larranaga is a terrific basketball coach.
“They’re a team that wants a flow and a pace offensively to score in the open court, to generate turnovers and score off those turnovers. They’re very disruptive, they’ll trap ball screens and deny the ball to your point guard. Each team has their strengths. I’m sure that both of us will try to play to those strengths. The turnover margin will certainly be one that will have a substantial impact on who wins the game. And both teams are going to try to be the one that does a better job of that, I’m sure.”
Larranaga is known as a storyteller and was asked before the game if he had told his team stories about his improbable 2006 Final Four run with George Mason University.
“Sad to say, they’re tired of hearing about the George Mason story, and have told me, `Hey, let’s do what they did so you can talk about us in the future rather than them,’’’ Larranaga said, smiling.
The Hurricanes wrote another chapter on Friday. Stay tuned.
