The No. 4 seed Miami Hurricanes fell to the No. 5 Connecticut Huskies 59-72 in the Final Four. Miami had a promising tournament run, but the Hurricanes were unable to finish strong. Still, there’s a lot to appreciate from this season. The 2022-23 season marks Miami’s first Final Four appearance; likely more of those to come under Jim Larranaga. Here’s a quick recap of the Hurricanes’ loss to Connecticut.
Starters Struggle on Offense
Surprisingly, all five starters shot below 50% from the field in this game. Wooga Poplar had a decent performance against Texas in the Elite Eight, but he went zero-for-seven on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes only had 24 points in the first half, which was mainly because Nijel Pack didn’t have as much aggression on the offensive side. Isaiah Wong was the leading scorer for the Hurricanes with 15 points, but he wasn’t quite as consistent as expected during the tournament.
Miami had good size in Jordan Miller and Norchad Omier for most of the year, but their depth on the bench mostly consisted of guards. The Hurricanes will always have elite talent in terms of skill and agility. However, the recruiting ground could improve by looking at more big men to find a dependable target(s) when shots aren’t falling.
Concluding Thoughts
At the end of the day, the Connecticut Huskies deserve a ton of credit for limiting Miami’s game plan and playing consistent basketball to reach the national championship. Adama Sanogo was undoubtedly the star of the game, finishing with 21 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Now, the Huskies will face the No. 5 seed San Diego State Aztecs on Monday for the championship game.
There will be a lot of changes for the Hurricanes this offseason, especially with Wong likely departing for the NBA Draft and similar decisions to make for Pack and Miller. Miami has proven that it can compete with the best of the best as a basketball program, and an ACC championship is all that’s left for the Hurricanes to truly establish themselves across the national college basketball landscape.