KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jordan Miller and Isaiah Wong rallied Miami from a 13-point second-half deficit, Norchad Omier made two big free throws and an even more important steal down the stretch, and the fifth-seeded Hurricanes stunned No. 2 seed Texas 88-81 on Sunday to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history.
Miller finished with 27 points, going 7 of 7 from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to beat the Longhorns, who had been the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament.
Now, after falling short in the Elite Eight a year ago, the fifth-seeded Hurricanes (29-7) are headed to NRG Stadium in Houston for a date with No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night. Two more first-time Final Four participants, fifth-seeded San Diego State and No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic, will play in the other national semifinal.
It’s the first time since seeding began in 1979 that no team seeded better than No. 4 made the Final Four, so perhaps it is fitting that Miami coach Jim Larrañaga is involved. He took George Mason there as an 11 seed in 2006.
“No one wanted to go home,” said Miller, coincidentally a George Mason transfer, who joined Duke’s Christian Laettner as the only players since 1960 to go 20 for 20 combined from the field and foul line in an NCAA tourney game. “We came together. We stuck together. We showed really good perseverance and the will — the will to just want to get there.”
Miami and Texas were tied 79-all when Omier, known for his bruising style of play, was fouled by the Longhorns’ Brock Cunningham while going for a loose ball. He made both of the foul shots to give the Hurricanes the lead, then stole the ball from Texas star Marcus Carr at the other end, and Wong made to more free throws with 34 seconds remaining.
Miller kept drilling foul shots down the stretch to ice the Midwest Region title for the Hurricanes.
Wooga Poplar scored 16 points, and Nijel Pack followed up his virtuoso performance against top-seeded Houston with 15, as the same school that once dropped hoops entirely in the 1970s advanced to the game’s biggest stage.
Carr led the Longhorns (29-9) with 17 points, though he was bothered by a hamstring injury late in the game. Timmy Allen added 16 points and Sir’Jabari Rice had 15 in the finale of a season that began with the firing of Chris Beard over domestic violence charges that were later dropped and ended with interim coach Rodney Terry consoling a heartbroken team.
“These guys more than any group I’ve worked with in 32 years of coaching have really embodied, in terms of staying the course, being a team,” Terry said, choking up so hard on the postgame dais that he could barely speak. “They were so unselfish as a team, and they gave us everything they had. They really did.”
The Longhorns revealed about 90 minutes before tipoff that Dylan Disu, the Big 12 tourney MVP and early star of the NCAA Tournament, would miss the game with a foot injury. He hurt it in the second round against Penn State and only played about 90 seconds in the Sweet 16 against Xavier before watching the rest of that game in a walking boot.
Without their 6-foot-9 star in the paint, the Longhorns’ deep group of dangerous guards resorted to potshots from the perimeter against Miami’s porous defense. Rice hit two 3s early, Carr added two of his own, and the Longhorns — who tied a school tourney record with 13 3s in the first round against Colgate — hit seven in storming to a 45-37 halftime lead.
On the other end, Texas tried to keep Pack and Wong from producing a sequel to their 3-point barrage against Houston.
Chicago Tribune Sports
Weekdays
A daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.
Pack, who dropped seven 3s in the regional semifinal, didn’t even attempt one until there were 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half, and his best shot — a looping rainbow over the backboard as he fell out of bounds — didn’t even count.
Wong took as many shots and scored as many points (two) as he had turnovers in the game’s first 20 minutes.
The Longhorns’ advantage stretched to 13 in the second half, and tension built on the Miami bench. At one point, Harlond Beverly and Larrañaga got into a verbal spat and the 73-year-old coach yanked the backup guard from the game.
Fortunately for the ‘Canes, Pack and Wong were poised, Poplar and Miller seemingly possessed.
Still trailing 72-64 with about eight minutes to play, the backcourt dynamo joined Miller and Omier in turbocharging a 13-3 run to give Miami a 77-75 lead, its first since the opening minutes. When Rice answered at the other end for Texas, Miller calmly made two go-ahead free throws to begin his late-game parade to the line.
Carr made a nifty turnaround jumper to tie the game again for Texas, but the Miami momentum never slowed. Omier made his free throws with a minute left, swiped the ball from Carr, and Miller and Co. finished it off with free throws.
“Last year we got to the Elite Eight here and it comes to a crushing end,” Larrañaga said. “Today, last night, all the guys just kept talking, ‘We’ve got to go past the Elite Eight and get to the Final Four.’”
