Jim Larranaga leads Miami to back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances with win over Indiana

Jim Larranaga and his Miami Hurricanes squad have reached the Sweet Sixteen in back-to-back seasons now, as they defeated Indiana on Sunday night in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament 85-69. The Hurricanes were dominant all game, and following the win, Larranaga said that their performance in the first round may have fueled their fire.

“It’s great, our guys were disappointed about the way they played Friday. So we were really ready to show that this is Miami basketball, we’re very hard to guard,” Larranaga said.

Miami defeated 12-seed Drake by seven points in the round of 64, having to come back against the Bulldogs after being down five points at halftime. But the Hurricanes looked like a different team on Sunday.

Miami had an impressive showing especially on offense, shooting 48.6% from the field and 39.1% from three-point range. They were in control for a majority of the game, but did have some struggles following the halftime break.

“There’s always adversity, and in the last game, we were struggling like craze but we found a way,” Larranaga said. “Tonight we played beautiful right from the start. First three, four minutes of the second half that looked like – I didn’t even call a timeout I knew that we would work through that. We got ahead by double digits, we won by 16 points, that’s pretty darn good.”

Isaiah Wong led the Hurricanes’ offensive attack, as the team’s leading scorer came up big when it mattered most scoring 27 points and drilling four three-pointers. And for just as effective as he was on offense, center Norchad Omier was on the defensive end. Omier was tasked with guarding All-American big man Trayce Jackson-Davis, slowing him down just enough for the Hurricanes to secure a win and cleaning the glass all night until it was spotless.

Omier ended the night with a season-high 17 rebounds, earning himself a place on Miami’s top 10 list of single-season rebounding.

The Hurricanes will now be looking to do what they did last season and make it past the Sweet 16 yet again, but it won’t be easy, as they will face the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars. The Cougars entered the tournament as the favorite to win the national championship at +500 odds. But the Hurricanes are now the last remaining ACC team in the tournament, a battle-tested group looking to make another appearance to the Elite 8.

“I told the team beforehand the ACC needs to be well represented today, and we did,” Larranaga said.