Isaiah Wong 'appreciates' opportunity at Miami
Isaiah Wong couldn’t be more excited to have led Miami to the Final Four.
On their history making run, Wong has been nothing short of spectacular throughout, and now he has his sights set on a title. Speaking with the media before things get going in Houston, Wong elaborated on how much he “appreciates” the opportunity to play for the Hurricanes, and how much the program means to him.
“It means a lot,” started Wong. “I feel like, in God’s plan, he just told me to stick along, so it was just appreciation that I stuck along and stay focused on my main goal. I appreciate just being here. Miami just welcomed me, and they welcome me here to this day.
“I feel like we’ve got a lot of achievements and a lot of history over my last two years here.”
Wong has been instrumental in getting Miami to Houston, leading the team with 16.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game this season. That helped him earn ACC Player of the Year honors, and he was one of three Hurricanes players named to the Midwest Region All-Tournament team, joining Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier.
Wong dropped 14 points against Texas in the Elite Eight to help send Miami to the Final Four. That game wasn’t easy for Miami, though, as the Hurricanes came back from 13 points down to punch their ticket.
It’s not the first time this tournament they had to come all the way back — they did so against Drake in the first round — and Wong said the ACC schedule played a huge role in getting Miami ready for those come-from-behind games.
“I would just say I thank the ACC for preparing us for these types of games, just coming in, every game we played in the ACC is always a close game,” Wong said. “It’s always a shot to win. I feel like coming into March we’d been in those types of situations, and we played good. We weren’t afraid or scared of any situation.
“We just stuck together and played together throughout the game. I would just say I appreciate the ACC for the competition.”
With a matchup against No. 4 seed UConn in its sights, Miami will have its hands full to start the Final Four. The Huskies are the No. 1 team in KenPom and are riding plenty of momentum into the national semifinals, including a huge 82-54 victory over Gonzaga in the Elite Eight.
While the Huskies will be tough, it’ll be hard for anyone to bet against Isaiah Wong and the Hurricanes in Houston. It’s going to be a wonderful game to watch, and a matchup worthy of the Final Four.
On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.