KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) 鈥 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 had 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.
鈥淭hat loss sat with me for a really long time,鈥 the Hurricanes' Jordan Miller said. 鈥淚t doesn't go away, and the fact that we had the opportunity to come back and make amends, make it right, that鈥檚 what was pushing me.鈥
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 that
鈥淗ow hard we fought to come back in this game, especially on a stage like this, it鈥檚 an amazing feeling,鈥 said Pack, one of Miami鈥檚 newcomers. 鈥淚 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.鈥
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 had been the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament.
Now, the No. 5 seed Hurricanes (29-7) have a date on Saturday night in Houston. Two more Final Four newbies, and , will play in the other national semifinal.
It's the first time since seeding began in 1979 that , so perhaps it is fitting that Miami coach Jim Larra帽aga is involved. He took George Mason there as an 11 seed 17 years ago to the day.
Miami was a 10 seed last year when it lost 76-50 to eventual national champion Kansas in a regional final.
鈥淣o one wanted to go home,鈥 said Miller, coincidentally a George Mason transfer, who joined Duke鈥檚 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. 鈥淲e came together. We stuck together. We showed really good perseverance and the will 鈥 the will to just want to get there.鈥
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 by the Longhorns' Brock Cunningham while going for a loose ball. He made both of the foul shots 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 to keep them ahead for good.
Miller kept drilling foul shots down the stretch to ice the Midwest Region title for the Hurricanes.
Wooga Poplar scored 16 points, and Pack followed up his virtuoso performance against top-seeded Houston with 15, as the same school that once dropped hoops entirely in the 1970s advanced to the game鈥檚 biggest stage.
鈥淵ou just love when your players accomplish a goal they set out before the season,鈥 Larra帽aga 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鈥橨abari Rice had 15 in the finale of a season that began with the firing of Chris Beard over domestic violence charges that were later dropped and ended with interim coach Rodney Terry consoling a heartbroken team.
鈥淭hese guys more than any group I鈥檝e worked with in 32 years of coaching have really embodied, in terms of staying the course, being a team,鈥 Terry said, choking up so hard on the postgame dais that he could barely speak. 鈥淭hey were so unselfish as a team, and they gave us everything they had. They really did.鈥
The Longhorns revealed about 90 minutes before tipoff that Dylan Disu, the Big 12 tourney MVP and early star of the NCAA Tournament, would . 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鈥 deep group of dangerous guards resorted to potshots from the perimeter against Miami鈥檚 porous defense. Rice hit two 3s early, Carr 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 .
Pack, who dropped seven 3s in the regional semifinal, didn鈥檛 even attempt one until there were 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half, and his best shot 鈥 a looping rainbow as he fell out of bounds 鈥 didn鈥檛 even count because it went over the backboard.
Wong took as many shots and scored as many points (two) as he had turnovers in the game鈥檚 first 20 minutes.
The Longhorns鈥 advantage stretched to 13 in the second half, and tension built on the Miami bench. At one point, Harlond Beverly and Larra帽aga got into a verbal spat and the 73-year-old coach yanked the backup guard from the game.
Fortunately for the 鈥機anes, Pack and Wong were poised, Poplar and Miller seemingly possessed.
Still trailing 72-64 with about eight minutes to play, 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.
Carr made a nifty turnaround jumper to tie the game again for Texas, but the Miami momentum never slowed. Omier made two free throws with a minute left, swiped the ball from Carr at the other end, and Miller and Co. finished it off.
鈥淲e just all bought into staying together, keeping that hope alive,鈥 Miller said, 鈥渁nd 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.鈥
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