Norchad Omier celebrates after Miami’s 88-81 win against Texas in the Midwest Region final Sunday in Kansas City, Mo. Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On the eve of Miami playing for a place in its first Final Four, the quiet conversation floating through the team hotel did not revolve around all that the Hurricanes had accomplished this season. Instead, they talked about what happened to bring last season to a close.
The sting of an Elite Eight defeat was fresh to those who were there. And they made everyone else feel it, too.
“That loss sat with me for a really long time,” Jordan Miller said. “It doesn’t go away, and the fact that we had the opportunity to come back and make amends, make it right, that’s what was pushing me.”
Miller responded with a perfect performance against second-seeded Texas in the Midwest Region final Sunday. Along with Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Isaiah Wong and March dynamo Nijel Pack, Miller rallied the Hurricanes from a 13-point second-half deficit for an 88-81 victory that clinched a long-awaited trip to the national semifinals.
“How hard we fought to come back in this game, especially on a stage like this, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Pack, one of Miami’s newcomers. “I know how much these guys wanted to win this game, especially being here last year and losing the Elite Eight, and now being able to take it to the Final Four is something special.”
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 against the Longhorns, who were the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament.
Now, the fifth-seeded Hurricanes (29-7) have a date with No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night in Houston. Two more Final Four newbies, 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 a No. 11 seed 17 years ago.
“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.”
After Miami climbed back from a 64-51 deficit with 13:22 to play, the game was tied at 79-all when Norchad Omier was fouled while going for a loose ball. He made both of the free throws 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 regional title for the Hurricanes.
Wooga Poplar scored 16 points, and Pack followed up his virtuoso performance against top-seeded Houston with 15 points, as the school that once dropped basketball entirely in the 1970s advanced to the game’s biggest stage.
“You just love when your players accomplish a goal they set out before the season,” Larrañaga said.
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 and Sir’Jabari Rice had 15 in the finale of a season that began with the firing of coach 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 because of 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, the Longhorns’ deep group of dangerous guards resorted to shots from the perimeter against Miami’s porous defense. Rice hit two 3s early, Carr made two of his own, and the Longhorns stormed 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.
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.
Wong took as many shots and scored as many points (two) as he had turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
The Longhorns’ advantage stretched to 13 in the second half, and tension built on the Miami bench.
Miami still trailed 72-64 with about eight minutes to play, but Pack and Wong joined Miller and Omier in turbocharging a 13-3 run to give the Hurricanes a 77-75 lead, their 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.
“We just all bought into staying together, keeping that hope alive,” Miller said, “and the way we just willed this one through, I think everybody played really well, and I think it really shows the poise of this squad.”
San Diego State forward Aguek Arop celebrates his team’s 57-56 win over Creighton in the South Region final Sunday in Louisville, Ky. John Bazemore/Associated PressSOUTH REGION
SAN DIEGO STATE 57, CREIGHTON 56: Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and San Diego State muscled its way into its first Final Four, grinding out a victory over Creighton in Louisville, Kentucky.
Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the fifth-seeded Aztecs (31-6), who slowed down the high-scoring, sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-13) and became the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals.
The experienced Aztecs, in their sixth season under Coach Brian Dutcher, will play the surprising East Region champion, ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic, on Saturday in Houston for a spot in the national title game.
With the game tied at 56-all on San Diego State’s final possession, Trammell drove toward the free-throw line, elevated for the shot and was fouled by Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard. Trammell missed the first free throw but converted the second.
“I’ve been dreaming this my whole life, grateful to be here and thankful to everyone who believed in me,” Trammell said.
Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman threw ensuing the inbound pass the length of the floor. San Diego State’s Aguek Arop and Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma both jumped for it and the ball deflected out of bounds. Officials reviewed the play and determined that time had expired, and the celebration was on for the Aztecs.
“I wasn’t given an explanation other than there was no time on the clock,” Creighton Coach Greg McDermott said. “They made no call on the floor, but officiating is part of the game and we’re not gonna go there.”
Scheierman had tied the game at 56-all when he stole an inbounds pass and converted a layup with 34 seconds remaining.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points and Scheierman and Arthur Kaluma had 12 apiece for the Bluejays, who went 2 of 17 from 3-point range.
The Aztecs, who got this far thanks to defense and physical play, held the Bluejays to 23 second-half points on 28% shooting. Creighton shot 40% overall.
San Diego State shot 38% but got clutch baskets from Nathan Mensah, whose jumper gave the Aztecs a 56-54 lead with 1:37 left, and Arop, who made two straight shots to put San Diego State ahead 54-50 with 3:03 remaining.
Creighton, which beat San Diego State in overtime in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament, fell just short of joining Big East rival UConn in the Final Four.
Kaluma played against his brother, San Diego State’s Adam Seiko. Their parents sat a few rows up at midcourt, sitting quietly before joining Seiko to celebrate.
Creighton’s offense started well enough as the Bluejays built a 33-28 halftime lead and extended their advantage to seven in the second half. But Creighton didn’t make a single 3-pointer after halftime.
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