UConn’s experience in April proves to be the difference; Miami’s Final 4 experience was missing, and it got the Canes “out of character the whole night”.
In front of 73,860 fans at NRG Stadium in Houston, the Miami Hurricanes were set to make their first-ever Final Four appearance against the UConn Huskies, their sixth Final Four appearance.
Thanks to dominating play from start to finish, Connecticut was too much for Miami, advancing to their fifth Men’s National Championship Game with a 72-59 win over Miami. UConn will now face San Diego State on Monday night.
Despite a successful season where the Canes had 29 wins, Miami chose the worst-possible game to score a season-low 59 points. Miami’s 32.3 field goal percentage (20-of-62) was also the second-lowest total of the season.
Maybe the big stage got to the Canes? Saturday’s game was only the second time Miami has ever played a game in April. In the lone previous April contest, the Hurricanes dropped a 66-64 decision in overtime to Stanford in the NIT Title Game (2015).
Head Coach Jim Larrañaga is a genius, but late in March, things start to fall apart for his squads. Larrañaga is now 16-11 in the NCAA Tournament with an 11-6 NCAA Tournament record at Miami. Furthermore, teams under Larrañaga are now 0-2 in Men’s Final Four games.
This is not the case for the Huskies, though. UConn now holds the highest winning percentage in Men’s Final Four history at 90% (minimum three games). The Huskies are 9-1 in Final Four games, which is the seventh-most wins in Men’s Final Four history.
Despite UConn’s success this deep into the college basketball season, Head Coach Dan Hurley is new to the national stage, yet he felt comfortable and it led to a huge blowout win.
“We were just all over our identity today”, Hurley said about the Huskies’ performance. “We were hurting them [Miami] on the inside. Hurting them from the perimeter. The effort that these guys gave defensively was unbelievable”.
On paper and visually, UConn was on their A-game, just like they have been all season; the Huskies are blowing teams out by an average of 20.6 points per game. UConn took advantage of Miami’s terrible shooting numbers in the first half (25.0% from the field and 30% from downtown) by shooting 50% from the field and 46.2% from downtown. Even though Miami improved in the second half (42.3% from the field and 40% from downtown), UConn still had their foot on the gas and did not let down, shooting 48.3% from the field.
UConn’s 37 points in the first half were too much for the Canes, who only put up 24 in that frame. It mattered a lot because both teams put up 35 points in the second half.
UConn had more turnovers than Miami, 15-9, but it did not matter because Miami did not have a lead for a single second during the entirety of Saturday’s game. UConn had better rebounding numbers, paint points, second chance points, and points off of turnovers.
Miami Head Coach Jim Larrañaga had this to say regarding his team’s season ending loss:
“Quite honestly, we were never in sync offensively. We struggled. Guys were playing hard. Trying their best. But it wasn’t the script we were looking for. And some of that credit goes to Connecticut and the defense they played. And some of it probably just goes beyond the venue”.
Going back to the fact that the big stage got to the Canes, Larrañaga said that:
“Being in the Final Four for the first time in school history, the guys being a little bit anxious, and we really never were able to just relax and play our game. We were pretty much out of character the whole night”.
