Bad Start, Big Hole Lead to End of Miami's Final Four Run
. The Miami Hurricanes basketball team has a great offense with many options for scoring, which helped them make it to the Final Four.
HOUSTON (AP), -- Miami's Final Four run was made possible by its one of the best offenses in the country, which has multiple options to hit big shots.
The Hurricanes were unable to continue their incredible postseason run on the final night of the season because the unit was not able to get going.
In a frustrating half, the Hurricanes failed to finish drives and missed jumpers. They also smashed 3-pointers into the rim. This put them at a double-digit disadvantage against Connecticut. They spent the rest night desperately trying climb out of this hole, and all the way through to the end in the 72-59 national semifinals loss on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes entered their first Final Four ranking fifth in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, averaging 119.6 point per 100 possessions. They also boasted a team with four players who each scored at least 20 points three times during the season.
The Hurricanes (29-8), however, only made 9 out of 36 shots in the first 20 minutes (25%) - a poor start that prevented them from gaining any momentum or exerting much pressure on UConn. Norchad Omer, the forward, had a scoreless half.
Alex Karaban's three-pointer at the halftime horn gave UConn a 37-24 advantage at the break, setting up the Hurricanes for the remainder of the evening to be in catching-up mode.
They used turnovers and transitions to gain momentum. They never came closer than eight, briefly, points after halftime, and they never threatened to stop the Huskies' dominant five-game NCAA run.
Miami's run slowed down as they shot only 32% and had just Isaiah Wong (15) and Jordan Miller (11), who both scored double figures, in the final minutes of the game.