Advertisement

Canes savor Final Four berth in KC after getting KO’d by KU in last year’s Elite Eight

Miami basketball coach Jim Larrañaga didn’t say much to his team when his Hurricanes trailed by eight points during Sunday’s Elite Eight game at T-Mobile Center.

Instead, he wrote it. With the Canes trailing 45-37 at halftime, Larranaga slowly scribbled 0-0 on the locker room whiteboard.

His message? Games essentially reset at halftime — a lesson learned during the Hurricanes’ 76-50 loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight last season.

In that game, Miami led KU 35-29 at halftime, but Kansas outscored the Hurricanes 47-15 in the second half.

“I told the guys at halftime, ‘Hey, this is very much like the Kansas game,” Larranaga said. “’We’re behind. They (KU) came out and took control of the game and that’s what we need to do.’”

The Hurricanes did just that. Miami outscored UT 51-36 in the second half en route to a 88-81 victory in the Midwest Region final.

This will be Miami’s first trip to the Final Four. Senior Hurricanes guard Jordan Miller finished with 27 points on 7-for-7 shooting and sank all 13 of his free throw attempts against the Longhorns.

Afterward, Larranaga wasn’t the only member of the Hurricanes who recalled last year’s loss to KU.

“That loss sat with me for a really, really long time,” Miller said. “I had to put it in the past because it was a new season, but like I said, having the opportunity to right your wrongs almost and get past something that stumped you previously is a great feeling.”

Players also spoke of having some extra motivation in this year’s Elite Eight game against Texas..

“To have gone to the Elite Eight last year, we wanted to do more than that,” said Miami forward Thomas Oosterbroek. “We felt like it just slipped out of our hand so we wanted to make sure we really got it this time.”

The Hurricanes rallied behind their defense on Sunday. The Longhorns shot 44% from the field, including just 25% from beyond the arc.

We needed to just strap down and just go back to Miami basketball and calm down ,” said Miami forward Anthony Walker. “We played together, executed our (defensive) game plan and trusted in Coach and came out with the dub.”

The Hurricanes will face UConn in the Final Four semifinals. The Huskies have won every one of their tournament games by double-digits, but Walker isn’t fazed.

After all, the he’s experienced the ups and downs of Hurricanes basketball in his four seasons with Miami. The Canes won just seven ACC conference games in his freshman year (2019-20) and eight the season after that.

“I mean to be honest, we are ready for anybody that steps in front of us,” Walker said. “It’s almost sweeter coming back and avenging our loss. … Just being able to take that one step further than what we did last year, it was great.”