‘What the heck just happened?’ Hurricanes advance to first Elite Eight in school history
.JPG "Miami’s Kameron McGusty shoots during the first half of a college basketball game in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament Friday, March 25, 2022, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)")
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Miami Hurricanes make it to the Elite Eight
The Miami Hurricanes’ improbable ride through March Madness continued Friday night, as they advanced to their first Elite Eight in school history with a 70-56 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in the most unforeseen Sweet 16 matchup of the NCAA Tournament.
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‘What the heck just happened?’ Hurricanes advance to first Elite Eight in school history
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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 along with six rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Jordan Miller went 6-of-6 for 16 points and seven rebounds. And sixth-year senior forward Sam Waardenburg battled for 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Charlie Moore recorded nine of UM’s 21 assists.
The Hurricanes led for all but 16 seconds of the game.
This is a Miami 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.
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“What the heck just happened?” a still incredulous UM coach Jim Larranaga said as he opened his post-game press conference. He had just been doused with cold water in the locker room, and was enjoying every minute of the celebration.
“Iowa State is one heck of a basketball team,” the coach continued. “They played so hard and so well and the game was in the balance until these guys just stepped up and made one big play after another at both ends of the court.”
A few seats away, McGusty said: “To reach the first Elite Eight in program history, it’s amazing. It still feels unreal. This is a crazy feeling. At the beginning of our season if you would have told us we’re going to the Elite Eight, everybody would laugh at us and look at us crazy. It’s just amazing. I love these guys. We’re created a bond that can never be broken and I’m just proud we were able to pull it off.”
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 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.
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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 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 (Wisc.) High School.
The Cyclones, who were picked last in the preseason Big 12 poll, finished 22-13, 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 Miller and Moore, who finally reached the NCAA Tournament on his fourth college stop.
UM is 26-10, including a regular season road win at then-No. 2 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, Duke and Carolina are all in the Elite Eight. Asked what that says about the ACC, which had been dismissed by fans and media all season, Larranaga quipped: “Probably that we had a down year. Normally we would have four or five. All during the season I tried to explain that our league is really, really good.”
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 before the game: “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 sections 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.
By the end of the game, the Cyclones had turned the ball over 18 times, Miami 14.
“Miami deserves a lot of credit,” Otzelberger said after the game. “They’re very well coached, very, very well prepared, veteran team. We knew coming in the turnover battle was going to have a significant impact on the win, and they did a better job than we did in terms of disruption and creating live-ball turnovers.
“They made some timely shots when we made our runs, so a lot of credit to them.”
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.
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This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 12:29 AM.