Kansas Storms Past Miami 76-50 to Reach Final Four
Miami is the team named after a natural disaster, but it was Kansas delivering a devastating storm on its opponent on the way to New Orleans and the Final Four. The Jayhawks left no doubts of their fate after 30 minutes of play after a 76-50 win Sunday in Chicago.
The first half gave fans nightmares of tournaments past. There were some bright spots, like Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack getting started early and Remy Martin keeping the Jayhawks in the game offensively. But Kansas didn’t hit a three in the first 20 minutes while only hitting three of its first nine free throws. We had seen this story before.
And yet, despite that—and Miami’s Kameron McGusty going crazy with 12 of his 18 points in the first half—the Jayhawks only trailed by six at 35-29. That had also been a theme this season; the half-time discussion by fans that Kansas is lucky to only be down [fill in the score].
And then the second half came. As did the storm. What was a six-point deficit turned into a 43-40 lead after a 14-5 Kansas run to start the half. McCormack was a beast, Ochai was aggressive in going to the basket, and Christian Braun stopped passing up shots and hit a big 3 to give KU the lead.
It only escalated from there. Miami couldn’t stop turning the ball over and Kansas refused to stop capitalizing on it. An Agbaji dunk. A McCormack offensive rebound turned and-one. Perhaps the best sequence was a block by Mitch Lightfoot that turned into a transition opportunity with Jalen Wilson grabbing an offensive rebound and kicking it to Agbaji for an open 3. Swish. That made it 54-42 and Kansas was just getting started.
Three-pointers by Martin and Braun (who was fouled) evolved into reverse layups by Dajuan Harris and Lightfoot, and finally big-time dunks by Agbaji and Lightfoot against an aggressive Canes defense. Agbaji put the exclamation point on the game with a 3 to make the lead 73-50 and erase the questions about where he had been this tournament.
But the second half also belonged to the Jayhawks’ defense, which held Miami to 15 second-half points and forced 14 turnovers for the game. The Hurricanes ended the game making just one of their last 11 field goal attempts, while Kansas closed the game hitting seven of nine.
Agbaji led Kansas with 18 points (2-2 from 3) to go along with five rebounds and four assists. McCormack (15 points, 6-7 from the field) and Braun (12) also scored in double digits, even though Big Dave only played 18 minutes. Wilson had a tough shooting night (5 points on 1-8 shooting) but grabbed 11 boards and dished out three assists. And Lightfoot and Martin continued to be sparks off the bench, each contributing nine points.
Kansas will face the Villanova Wildcats in the Final Four Saturday in New Orleans as the only one seed remaining in the field. The game tips off at 5:09 CT and will be broadcast on TBS.
