For decades now, since the University of Miami men’s basketball program was resurrected after lying dormant for 14 years, the Hurricanes have been toiling, often in front of sparse crowds, to gain respect and prove that Hurricanes can do more than play football.
Friday, on the biggest day in Hurricanes hoops history, the men’s and women’s teams proved it, and then some, as both pulled off upsets to reach the Elite Eight.
Coach Katie Meier and her gritty women’s team upset Villanova in the afternoon to make its first Elite Eight in program history.
Five hours later, Jim Larranaga and his high-octane Hurricanes blew past the top-seeded Cougars, 89-75, to earn an Elite Eight berth for the second year in a row and eliminate the last No. 1 seed that was left standing.
Miami will play the winner of the late game between No. 2 seed Texas and No. 3 Xavier.
In the final moments of the game, UM fans at the T-Mobile Center began chanting “It’s great! To be! A Miami Hurricane!” Never was that more true for the green and orange faithful.
Larranaga celebrated in the locker room with one of his trademark dances, to Marvin Gaye’s “Night Shift,” delighting his players.
Miami guard Nijel Pack, who transferred from Kansas State before this season, led the Canes with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 7-of-10 shooting on 3-pointers.
Asked about Pack’s performance, Larranaga said: “A joke. He was ridiculous.”
Isaiah Wong scored 20, Jordan Miller had 13, and Wooga Poplar added 11.
Norchad Omier, the power forward with boundless energy, had 12 points and 13 rebounds. “Omier was an hombre, a load” in the words of Houston coach Kelvin Samson. “We have played many 7-footers and didn’t have problems with them. We did with him.”
Sampson added: “Obviously they were a better team tonight. We could just never get a foothold. The Pack kid, some of those shots he took are ones you’d hope he’d take. Problem is he made them.”
All the talk leading up to the UM vs Houston matchup Friday night was about the Cougars’ suffocating defense.
Houston ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents just 56.5 points per game. But the Cougars had not seen a high-octane offense quite like Miami’s, a collection of cohesive lightning-quick guards who are lethal in transition.
The Hurricanes had scored 42 points by halftime and held a six-point lead at the break. And they turned the ball over just six times all night and matched Houston with 32 rebounds.
Turns out Miami can play defense, too. Although their defensive numbers were unimpressive on the season stat sheets, the Hurricanes clamped down in March and swarmed the Cougars.
Miami collapsed on screens, trapped, and by halftime had forced Houston into six turnovers while losing the ball just once themselves in 32 first-half possessions.
“I don’t know if they didn’t think Miami was physical, but I’m pretty physical,” Omier said, smiling. “I love physicality, so do my teammates so they had to worry about us just like we had to worry about them.”
Just like they did against Indiana in the previous round, the Hurricanes used their speed, athleticism and tenacity to overwhelm the Cougars.
Larranaga and his staff stressed to the players that they were going to have to pack the paint to have a chance at beating Houston. To get them ready, the coaches made a makeshift three-second lane with tape in the hotel video room and packed everyone in it.
“To beat Houston we have to have everyone in there,” Larranaga said. Everyone walked out and the players packed 12 of them into an elevator, and it got stuck. Firemen came and it took them a half hour to get them out.
“I told them today at the shootaround, our defense was too stretched out, you gotta be packed in like you were in the elevator,” he said. They listened.
It was clear from the opening 10 minutes that this was going to be a close game, as the underdog Hurricanes traded leads with Houston seven times and went on a 7-0 run to take a 31-29 lead. Miami dominated in the paint from the get-go and made a trio of early dunks that ejected the UM fans out of their seats.
The Cougars entered the game with a 33-3 record and were in the Sweet 16 for the fourth year in a row. Miami was 27-7 and making its second consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16 and fourth in 12 years under Larranaga.
