In a high-stakes “win or go home” game Wednesday night at the University of Dayton Arena, Miami (Ohio) delivered a dramatic performance, defeating Southern Methodist University (SMU) 89-79 in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. With this win, the RedHawks ended a 27-year-long tournament drought with a historic win.
Miami (32-1), an 11 seed, had entered the postseason unbeaten in the regular season. Miami had control of the game from the start; the Redhawks led the game 81% of the time, and held a lead up to as large as 14 points.
A key role that helped Miami’s dramatic win was its 3-point shooting. They put up 16 three-pointers. Shooting 39% while SMU shot for 24% outside of the arc. Miami had four turnovers, while adding 20 assists to keep the offense rolling. Junior guard Eian Elmer led the way offensively with 23 points, while teammate Peter Suder contributed defensively with seven rebounds and a team-high six assists. Miami generated 20 points in the paint, which helped them maintain steady scoring throughout.
All things considered, SMU (20-14) found success inside. The Mustangs scored 46 points in the paint and shot a solid 48% from the field. Jaden Toombs led SMU with a double-double, putting up 20 points and 11 rebounds. Teammate Boopie Miller also added to the team’s success with five assists.
With the win on Wednesday night over SMU, Miami advanced to face number six seed Tennessee on March 20 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Prior to the game, the statistics favored Tennessee to win. When asked if he thought Miami could pull off the upset against Tennessee, senior Gavyn Hanshew said, “When I was looking at the statistics before the game, it all indicated the game was gonna be controlled by Tennessee.” The RedHawks’ run came to an end; they fell short to the Volunteers 78-56.
Even though many Miami fans are not satisfied with the way their season ended, they think that their tournament run was not successful. Junior Anna Burns disagrees, “Yes, I would call it a success, because they haven’t been in it for so long, getting back into the tournament proved a point. If their goal was to just get there, then I was a success because they reached their goal. The outcome does not always matter; it is how you get there, and they worked hard like everyone else.” Even though the RedHawks lost to Tennessee, their First Four Victory will remain a historic milestone for the program.
