The Final Four will have a distinctly South Florida flair this year, as a day after Florida Atlantic punched its ticket to Houston by beating Kansas State in a thriller, the Miami Hurricanes did the same in a rather stunning comeback win over 2-seed Texas.
Texas took control of the game late in the first half, extending their lead to eight at the break, and quickly pushed that out to 13 early in the second half. The Longhorns were lighting it up from the three-point line, while Miami couldn’t buy one from distance, but as the second half wore on, Texas’ hot shooting started to dry up and the Hurricanes started to absolutely dominate getting downhill, steadily chipping away at the lead.
Jordan Miller was the unquestioned star for the Hurricanes on Sunday evening, scoring 27 points on perfect shooting — 7-of-7 from the field and 13-of-13 from the free throw line — as he took over offensively, with Texas having no answers for him when he attacked, with or without the ball.
Miami would take their first lead of the second half with 5:26 to play on a lob to Norchad Omier, who converted the and-1 opportunity to put Miami up 73-72.
From there, the two teams would trade blows, with Marcus Carr doing his best to keep the Longhorns close as he led Texas with 17 points on the evening.
Unfortunately for Texas, their offense would go cold at the wrong time, scoring just two points in the final 1:31 of the game as Miami pulled away at the free throw line where they made eight consecutive free throws (and 9 of 10) in the final minute of the game to earn their first trip to the Final Four in school history with an 88-81 win.
For Jim Larranaga, it’s his second stunning run to the Final Four, as he punches his ticket with the Hurricanes 17 years to the day after his George Mason squad likewise won their Elite Eight game in 2006 on their legendary Final Four run. Miami will meet UConn in the late game of Saturday’s national semifinal doubleheader, tipping off at 8:49 p.m. ET, pending how long FAU-San Diego State goes in the early game, which tips at 6:09 p.m. ET in Houston, with both games on CBS.
