UM men’s basketball team raises Final Four banner, then handles UCF for 2-0 start

The University of Miami’s football team has won five national championships and its baseball team an additional four, but Miami might’ve finally marked itself “a basketball school” on Friday night when the Hurricanes raised their first and only Final Four banner.

“It was a magical season, and it took a total team effort,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “The players and coaches. Players have to win the game. Coaches can’t make shots for them or defend or rebound, but the coaches have to prepare them.”

Before the Hurricanes started their game against the Knights of UCF, the space patterned banner was lifted to the rafters at the Watsco Center, giving a physical presence to lifetime memories created by the team in March and April. As the banner rose above them, the sold-out student section cheered with as much joy as all of Miami did when the Hurricanes punched a ticket to Houston in late March.

“You can’t win without tremendous support from your fans. You saw, it was a great crowd tonight. The student turnout was sensational. We got to keep that up,” Larrañaga said after giving a pregame speech to the fans.

As much fun as it was to cherish the memory, the current ‘Canes had to pull out their white jerseys and orange stripes for a real, competitive game against a UCF team which only lost to Miami by two last year. Despite a potential distraction, Coach L’s squad overwhelmed UCF with an 88-72 win.

“It was a terrific win, I think Central Florida’s going to have a heck of a year,” Larrañaga said. “Our guys did a good job from start to finish.”

The Hurricanes’ run to the Final Four included an Elite Eight win against No. 2 Texas, a Sweet 16 win versus No. 12 Houston, and victories over No. 4 Indiana and No. 12 Drake. Each of the wins followed Miami’s formula of strong offensive play, guided by small-ball shooting and rough rebounding from Norchad Omier. With wins against NJIT and UCF, these factors have appeared for Miami in its early season games.

“Our major concern was we couldn’t defend. First team was scoring in the nineties and the second unit was scoring in the eighties,” Larrañaga said, referencing his team’s preseason practices. “We’ve had great success in scoring the ball in practice. Now, we’re seeing we are able to do it also in games.”

Miami still dreams of its first national title, and the decorated banner and glitzy ring marked for the Final Four may have been a reminder. UM’s championship goal relies on contributions from returners like preseason All-ACC members Omier and Nijel Pack. Amongst others, junior Wooga Poplar and guard Bensley Joseph are expected to lead with Florida State transfer Matthew Cleveland. All these names contributed heavily to Friday’s win.

Omier finished with a double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds), Poplar hit all five of his 3-pointers, Pack and Cleveland combined for 23 points and Joseph earned a team high five steals.

“The approach was just to create a lot of havoc on the defensive end,” Joseph said. “We just wanted to focus on that and create turnovers on their side.”

UM hopes to be the last team remaining in the desert of Arizona at the 2024 Final Four but will worry about the FIU Panthers for now. Miami and FIU will face off at 7 p.m. Monday night.