GREENVILLE, S.C. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team won a thrilling 68-66 NCAA Tournament first-round matchup Friday evening against seventh-seeded USC.
The No. 10-seeded Hurricanes took a 13-point first-half lead on the Trojans, ranked No. 21/22, and withstood a 17-point turnaround that saw USC take a four-point second-half edge. With the score even and just three seconds to go, sixth-year redshirt senior guard Charlie Moore calmly sank a pair of free throws to give Miami (24-10, 14-6 ACC) its first postseason victory since 2016.
Third-year sophomore guard Isaiah Wong scored a game-high 22 points, including each of the first 13, for the Hurricanes at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
“We played a great first half, got up by 11 [at the break]. We forced turnovers. We played exactly like we hoped we’d play,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “And then in the second half, Southern Cal made some adjustments. They actually changed their starting lineup to start the second half. They got off to a great start and they ended up taking the lead, but our guys never give up and they kept plugging away. We had some guys off the bench who stepped in and gave us quality minutes. We shot 1-for-14 from three, but still won the game because we took care of the basketball. We only had three turnovers in a 40-minute game; that really helps.”
The Hurricanes held USC (26-8, 14-6 P12) scoreless for the first 3:14, as the Trojans missed their first four shots, en route to a 2-of-10 start from the floor. Miami began 1-of-9 at the other end.
Wong scored all of the Hurricanes’ 13 points through eight-plus minutes, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-4 at the line while his teammates began 0-of-8 on field goals. The Trojans, however went on an 8-3 run to take a 14-13 edge, their first lead, with exactly nine minutes on the clock.
The Hurricanes answered with a 16-2 burst, sparked by 10 straight points, in 5:42 to turn a one-point deficit into a 13-point lead, 29-16, with 3:03 on the clock. USC went 7:02 without a field goal until making a jump-shot with 1:59 to go in the frame. Miami eventually took an 11-point cushion, 31-20, into the locker room, with USC tying the lowest first-half point total by any Hurricane foe this year.
Despite shooting 0-of-8 from 3-point range through 20 minutes, its first half of the year without a long-range make, Miami held USC to a 29.7 percent clip (8-of-27) from the floor and forced 12 turnovers, while committing just one.
The Trojans scored 17 points in the first 5:18 coming out of the break, including using a 12-0 run in just 3:16 to take a 37-33 edge with 14:42 remaining, as Miami went scoreless for 4:43. A personal 5-0 run from Wong then put the Hurricanes back ahead, 38-37, with 13:53 to play.
After conceding the lead soon thereafter, Miami used a 7-0 run in 2:03 to take a 47-42 advantage with 9:05 left. The Trojans then countered with a 7-1 burst to go up, 49-48, with 7:12 to go. After the sides exchanged baskets, Moore hit the Hurricanes’ first and only 3-pointer with 5:47 on the clock to give his team a 53-51 edge.
USC responded with three points in a row, going in front, 54-53, with 4:51 remaining, but then the Hurricanes began to retake control. They went on a 12-4 run, capped with six straight points in 68 seconds to build a seven-point edge, 65-58, with 44 ticks left after a pair of free throws by freshman guard Bensley Joseph.
The Trojans once again responded, as senior guard Drew Peterson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, sandwiched around a Miami turnover to trim the deficit to one, 65-64, with 25.3 seconds left. Following a free throw by sixth-year redshirt senior forward Sam Waardenburg to double the lead a second later, Peterson leveled the score at 66 with 14.2 seconds left, capping a personal 8-1 run in just 20 seconds.
At the other end, Moore drove to the rim, got fouled with three ticks to play and hit both his free throws. Peterson’s last-second half-court shot missed the mark, sending the Hurricanes into celebration.
“All is well that ends well. I’m just so happy,” Larrañaga said. “When you get guys like Charlie Moore and Jordan Miller who transfer in, you just hope that it’s a good experience for them. The other guys who have been here for a long time, they know what our program has been about.”
Wong, who fouled out with 2:07 to go, scored his game-best point total on a 7-of-12 clip from the field and an 8-of-9 mark at the stripe, good for the fifth-most made free throws in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
Moore finished with 16 points, shooting 5-of-11 from the floor and 5-of-6 at the line, setting season highs in both makes and attempts in the latter category. He added a team-best five assists and four steals to co-lead all players and committed just two turnovers.
McGusty had 12 points and a team-high five boards, while Waardenburg set a career high with four blocks, all in the first half, to match the program’s NCAA Tournament single-game record. Fourth-year junior guard Jordan Miller matched Moore with four steals, as both tied for the top mark by a Hurricane in NCAA Tournament play.
Peterson paced USC with 17 points, while freshman guard Reese Dixon-Waters had 16 on 5-of-6 shooting off the bench. Junior forward Isaiah Mobley, the Trojans’ leading scorer, logged just 11 points, as Miami held him to 3-of-11 shooting, including a 0-of-6 mark in the first half, but he did notch a game-best eight assists to tie the NCAA Tournament record by a Miami foe. Redshirt senior forward Chevez Goodwin added 10 points in his home state of South Carolina.
Both teams made 24 field goals, with Miami doing so on 56 tries (42.9 percent) and USC doing so on 50 attempts (48.0 percent). The Hurricanes also shot just 1-of-14 (7.1 percent) beyond the arc while allowing a 9-of-20 clip (45.0 percent), but they were plus-15 in turnovers, forcing 18 and conceding three, the latter their lowest mark in over eight years.
That led to a 22-4 edge in points off giveaways, with many of those coming off Miami’s 12 steals to tie its program record in the NCAA Tournament. Miami also had a 3-0 edge on the offensive glass in the second half USC logged a 6-0 mark in the first.
In addition, the Hurricanes shot 19-of-25 (76.0 percent) on free throws to place top for in makes and attempts in program history in NCAA Tournament action, while USC was only 9-of-15 (60.0 percent).
Up next for Miami is a matchup with second-seeded Auburn, ranked No. 8/7, Sunday in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. The game time and TV designation are to-be-determined.
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