Year one in Miami under Jai Lucas officially comes to an end, finishing 26-9 

Miami’s NCAA Tournament run ended today as the Canes fell short to Purdue 79-69 in a hard-fought game by both teams, with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.  

From the opening tip Miami started the game off hot, and it was mostly a back & forth battle in the first 20 minutes of play with Miami going into the half up 40-38. Purdue would establish their presence in the second half and force Miami into some tough situations on offense, eventually pulling away.  

Unfortunately, it was the simple mistakes that Miami has seen throughout the season that haunted them today. The Hurricanes shot just 26% from 3PT (5-19) and left a lot of points off the board from open opportunities, especially in the first half. Meanwhile, Purdue shot an efficient 53% from 3PT (8-14), while also capitalizing on Miami’s foul troubles, going 21-22 from the FT stripe.  

Even with the late deficit, Miami never stopped fighting and kept on cutting Purdue’s lead and forcing them into bad shots as well on defense, but the opportunities on offense were limited and the Boilermakers were overall too tough to overcome in the final stretch. Despite the loss, Miami showed their usual flash of high energy but struggled to match Purdue’s physicality inside. 

On the bright side, Miami got a big game out of their star freshman in Shelton Henderson, who led Miami scorers with 18 points on 9-11 shooting, and played every single minute of the game. 

Now looking towards the future after today, both the University of Miami and their fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming years. After going 7-24 in the 2024-25 season, Coach Jai Lucas completed the quickest one-year turnaround we have seen in NCAA history and put this Miami team back on the map.  

If year one under Jai Lucas proved anything, it’s something that the football team preached just a few months ago. The U isn’t “back,” instead, The U is here.  

(Photo Credit: Jeff Roberson, AP)