Miami becomes 32nd ACC team to reach Final Four, expanding tournament record

The Miami Hurricanes have been one of the deepest and most athletic teams in college basketball this season. The ‘Canes showed that for much of the year, bringing home the Co-ACC Championship in the regular season and punching their tickets to the Final Four for the first time in school history. Not only did the ‘Canes make school history, but they’re also proud representatives of the ACC at the Final Four. This year marks the 32nd time an ACC team has made an appearance in the Final Four–the most of any conference in college basketball since the tournament was expanded in 1985.

Miami has had numerous players contribute on their magical run

Miami has been propelled to the Final Four by one of the most underrated players in college basketball, Jordan Miller. The 6-foot-7 shooting guard was perfect from the field, putting on a masterful performance in his team’s Elite Eight matchup vs. Texas on Sunday evening. He poured in 27 points in a spectacular performance, draining seven of his seven field goals and drilling 13 of his 13 free throws. He became the first player to score 27 points while shooting 100% from the field and connecting on 100% of his free throws in an NCAA Tournament game since Christian Laettner did it for Duke in their 1992 Elite Eight game against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Miller transferred to Miami from George Mason–the same place that Hurricanes’ head coach Jim Larranaga led to a Final Four back in 2006. Speaking of Larranaga, he became just the third head coach to take multiple teams to their first Final Four in school history.

The Hurricanes were able to battle back from a 13-point second half deficit on Sunday evening to prevail against Texas, thanks to critical plays from Miller, Isaiah Wong, and Norchad Omier down the stretch.

Miami has had four players average double figures this season: Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller, Nijel Pack, and Norchad Omier.

The Hurricanes put together one of their most impressive offensive performances of the season–when they torched the nets against the top-seeded Houston Cougars in their Sweet 16 matchup. They got double digit scoring efforts from five of their players–scoring 89 points against a stifling Houston defense. It marked the first time all season long that any team scored more than 80 against the Cougars. As a matter of fact, Houston was allowing just over 56 points per game coming into that game–ranking them among the top defenses in college basketball.

No. 5 seed Miami will take on No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night at 8:49 PM EST. The game will be nationally televised on CBS.