The Jayhawks stayed at No. 1 and Miami climbed to No. 10 to replace a tumbling Florida Atlantic in the only major change at the top of the rankings.

Kansas (3-0) rallied from 14 down to beat Kentucky in last week’s Champions Classic, led by a huge game from transfer big man Hunter Dickinson in its lone game of the week. That helped the Jayhawks pick up an additional first-place vote from last week, topping 52 of 61 ballots.

The Hurricanes (5-0) offered the only change to the top tier of the poll after beating Kansas State to win the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship. They climbed two spots to crack the top 10 for the first time since spending four weeks there early in the 2017-18 season.

Miami replaced Florida Atlantic, which opened the year at No. 10 after last year’s Final Four run but fell nine spots to No. 19 in the week’s biggest fall after a home loss to Bryant.

There’s the potential for much more change next week with Thanksgiving holiday tournaments. The loaded Maui Invitational field includes five of the top 11 teams in Kansas, No. 2 Purdue, No. 4 Marquette, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 11 Gonzaga.

THE TOP TIER

Arizona checked in at No. 3 and reigning NCAA champion Connecticut was No. 5, followed by No. 6 Houston, Tennessee, Creighton, Duke and Miami.

ON THE RISE

Colorado had the week’s biggest jump, rising seven spots to No. 18 to extend the program’s first stay in the poll since the end of the 2020-21 season.

North Carolina was next by jumping six spots to No. 14, followed by No. 17 Alabama (five spots) and No. 15 Texas (four).

In all, nine teams moved up from last week’s poll.

ON THE FADE

There were multiple big slides in the poll behind the Owls.

No. 23 USC fell seven spots after a home loss to UC Irvine, while No. 20 Arkansas tumbled six spots after losing to UNC Greensboro at home.

No. 21 Michigan State was the fourth and final team to fall from last week, sliding three spots after a loss to Duke in the Champions Classic. The Spartans rebounded with big-margin wins against Butler and Alcorn State.

STATUS QUO

Ten teams stayed in their position last week, including the Zags.

WELCOME

No. 24 Virginia and No. 25 Mississippi State were the week’s new additions, with the Bulldogs cracking the poll for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

FAREWELL (FOR NOW)

Villanova (No. 21) and Illinois (No. 23 fell out of the poll.

CONFERENCE WATCH

The Southeastern Conference led the way with six ranked teams, including No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 16 Kentucky. The Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences were next with four each.

The Pac-12 and Big East conferences each had three ranked teams, followed by the Big Ten with two. The American Athletic Conference, Sun Belt and West Coast Conference rounded out the field with one each.

Norchad Omier scored 23 for the Hurricanes (5-0), who are essentially assured of tying a school record by being in the AP Top 25 for the 17th consecutive week when the new poll comes out Monday. Miami also had a run of 17 consecutive appearances in the 2015-16 season.

Wooga Poplar and Matthew Cleveland each scored 15 for Miami.

“It was so much fun for me,” Pack said. “We all came out ready to play. It was a really good game for us.”

Cam Carter scored 28 points — 24 in the second half — and Arthur Kaluma had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Kansas State (3-2), which fell to 0-2 against ranked opponents this season. The Wildcats started the year with a loss to then-No. 21 USC in Las Vegas.

Tylor Perry and David N’Guessan had 10 apiece for Kansas State, which trailed by as many as 24 early in the second half but outscored Miami 30-16 over the final 6 1/2 minutes.

“That’s the character of our team,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said. “I’m very, very proud of them for the second half.”

The difference was 3-point shooting — Miami was 12 of 24 from beyond the arc, Kansas State just 4 of 28. Pack’s seven 3’s tied his best in a Miami uniform; he had eight on two occasions while playing for the Wildcats.

“I think everybody knows that Nijel was probably extremely well motivated because he had been a player for the Kansas State Wildcats,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said.

Pack spent his first two college seasons at Kansas State, averaging 15.3 points and 2.9 assists in 53 games there. He transferred before last season, helped the Hurricanes reach the Final Four and is now three makes shy of 100 3-pointers at Miami.

“He was always a really good player. … I thought we did a better job on him in the second half, but first half, he was pretty special,” Tang said.

Pack’s seventh 3-pointer on Sunday gave Miami a 73-51 lead with 7:17 left. That cushion got cut down considerably in the next few minutes.

Kansas State outscored Miami 19-4 over a 4-minute stretch of the second half, getting within 79-70 on a jumper by Carter with 2:48 remaining. Carter had 11 of Kansas State’s points during that spurt.

But Miami would hang on. Cleveland had a putback tip-in to give Miami an 11-point lead with 2:26 left and Omier had the next eight points for the Hurricanes — who matched their best start since the 2018-19 season. It’s the fifth time in Larrañaga’s 13-year tenure at Miami that the Hurricanes have opened a season 5-0 or better.

“I’m most pleased that we’re 5-0,” Larrañaga said. “The teams we’ve played are good.”

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: The Wildcats had won eight consecutive games against Division I teams from the state of Florida until last March, when they lost to Florida Atlantic in the Elite Eight — and now, they’ve lost to Miami as well. Their next game against a team from the Sunshine State is Jan. 6, when they open Big 12 play against UCF.

Miami: It was the first game of the season in which the Hurricanes didn’t have a run of at least 10 consecutive unanswered points. They didn’t need one — a pair of 7-0 runs in the opening minutes built a 15-4 lead, and an 8-0 run early in the second half pushed Miami’s edge to 57-33.

NEXT YEAR

The tournament announced the field for the 2024 Baha Mar event. It’ll be Virginia, Baylor, St. John’s and Tennessee.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: Host Central Arkansas on Wednesday.

Miami: Visit Kentucky on Nov. 28 in the ACC-SEC challenge.

Jack Plummer threw three touchdown passes, the last of them a 58-yarder to Kevin Coleman with 4:17 remaining, and No. 9 Louisville hung on at the last second to clinch a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game by beating Miami 38-31 on Saturday.

Coleman ended up wide open after Miami defenders Te’Cory Couch and Jaden Davis collided at full speed as the play was developing, and he went down the right sideline with the go-ahead score for the Cardinals (10-1, 7-1 ACC, No. 10 CFP). It’s the first ACC title game berth for the Cardinals, who’ll play Florida State in Charlotte on Dec. 2 for the league crown.

“This is a big win,” said Louisville coach Jeff Brohm, who returned to his alma mater after taking Purdue to the Big Ten Conference title game a year ago. “To come down to Miami and win a game with a lot riding on it, it’s a great feeling.”

Plummer finished 24 of 37 for 308 yards for the Cardinals, those catches getting made by 12 different receivers. Offensive lineman Trevonte Sylvester had a touchdown catch, as did Nate Kurinsky.

“We’re trying to find any way possible to score,” Plummer said.

Isaac Guerendo had 93 rushing yards and a score for Louisville, and Evan Conley — a quarterback who hasn’t thrown a pass since 2021 — came in to score on a keeper for the Cardinals.

There were 176 voters in the ACC preseason poll, and none picked Louisville to win the conference.

“Nobody expected us to be here,” Louisville cornerback Quincy Riley said.

Mark Fletcher rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns for Miami (6-5, 2-5 ACC). Van Dyke, back in the starting role after freshman Emory Williams got hurt in last week’s loss to Florida State, completed 24 of 39 passes for 327 yards.

The last 45 of Van Dyke’s yards came on the game’s final play, when his Hail Mary from midfield was batted around and ended up in the hands of Xavier Restrepo — who was tackled at the 5, with no time left.

Restrepo finished with eight catches for 193 yards, by far a career best. Miami also had a 4th-and-goal from the Louisville 3 with 1:29 left, but Van Dyke’s pass sailed just out of Jacolby George’s reach in the end zone.

“Close isn’t good enough,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “Credit to their offense. They did some things that were very challenging. We’ve got to find a way to get better.”

The added bonus for the Cardinals: possession of the new Schnellenberger Trophy, a bronzed pair of actual cowboy boots that Howard Schnellenberger — who coached both Miami and Louisville — wore during his career. Brohm accepted the trophy from Beverlee Schnellenberger, the wife of the coach who died in March 2021.

“He gave a lot to our university, gave a lot to Miami, gave a lot to a lot of other places,” Brohm said of Schnellenberger, whom he both coached for and played for. “Because of him, all these programs are relevant.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Louisville: The Cardinals were the second FBS team this season to miss a field goal of closer than 30 yards and an extra point in the same game; Kansas State did it against UCF on Sept. 23. Louisville kicker Brock Travelstead missed a 24-yarder, then had a PAT blocked, both in the second quarter. Nick Lopez came on in the third quarter and kicked a 40-yard field goal for a 23-21 lead.

Miami: Kam Kinchens, an All-American last season after intercepting six passes, got his fifth interception of the year on Saturday. The 11 interceptions in Kinchens’ career tie for eighth-most in Hurricanes history and are the most by a Miami player since Sean Taylor had 14 picks from 2001 through 2003.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Louisville likely needs a lot of help to get into the College Football Playoff, but the Cardinals still have hope. A rivalry game next week and then the ACC title game will give Louisville two more chances to make a serious impression.

UP NEXT

Louisville: Host Kentucky on Nov. 25 to end regular season.

Miami: Visit Boston College on Friday in ACC finale.

Cavinder posted a series of three photos on Instagram that showed her sitting on a throne-like chair wearing a TCU uniform and holding a silver basketball with the school’s logo. She captioned the post “the last rodeo #committed” and listed her location as Fort Worth, Texas, the home of the campus.

That came exactly a month after Cavinder wrote in another Instagram post “see you next season” without saying then where she planned to play in 2024-25.

Cavinder and her twin sister, Hanna, played at Miami last season and helped the Hurricanes reach the NCAA Elite Eight. Haley Cavinder had told The Associated Press last season that she planned to play one more college season; Hanna Cavinder said she was likely done playing. The twins announced in April they would not be playing this season.

Haley Cavinder has 2,065 career points after leading Miami last season with 12.2 points per game and 65 made 3-pointers.

The twins, who have 4.5 million followers on TikTok, had transferred from Fresno State in April 2022 with hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament.

TCU was 1-17 in Big 12 games last season before former Oregon associate head coach Mark Campbell was named the new head coach. The Frogs have won their first three games with all five starters being transfers brought in by Campbell, including three from the Pac-12 and another from Baylor.

Matthew Cleveland scored 23 points, Bensley Joseph and Wooga Poplar each added 18 and No. 12 Miami rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat neighboring FIU 86-80 on Monday night.

Nigel Pack scored 17 points and Norchad Omier had 11 rebounds for the Hurricanes (3-0).

“Very proud of our guys for hanging in there,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “And very impressed with FIU.”

Anyone who was watching would likely have said the same, after a game with some wild ebbs and flows. Consider:

— Miami started the game on a 28-11 run over 10 minutes.

— FIU answered with a 42-13 run over the next 14 minutes.

— Miami immediately came back with a 19-0 run over the next four minutes.

The Panthers fell to 0-25 all-time against ranked opponents — but made the nine-mile drive back to their campus knowing they nearly changed that.

“Had we won tonight, it would have been glorious,” FIU coach Jeremy Ballard said. “But we weren’t going to be cutting nets down. We weren’t going to be getting any trophies. We weren’t going to be getting any invitations to the big dance. So right now, it’s all about growth. And as a coach, we definitely prefer to grow through winning and that’s certainly going to be our aim going forward.”

Arturo Dean scored 19 for FIU (0-3), while Dashon Gittens added 14 and Javaunte Hawkins had 11 for the Panthers — a 21 1/2-point underdog according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

But it wasn’t decided until just about the very end. George Pridgett Jr. made a 3-pointer with 1:49 left to get FIU within 80-76, only to see Poplar hit a 3 on the next Miami possession to help seal the win.

“Being able to battle back when a team is hot like that and weather the storm … it’s really good to see,” Cleveland said.

It was the first official meeting between the programs since 2008, in part because FIU and Miami refused to play each other in any sport for years as part of the fallout from the football brawl between the schools in 2006. The brawl — which had one player swinging a helmet, another swinging a crutch and more than a few kicking opponents on the ground, led to 31 players being suspended.

Over time, relationships between FIU and Miami were restored. The schools met in women’s basketball in four consecutive seasons from 2015 through 2018, Miami going 4-0 and winning by an average of 26.8 points. The baseball teams have faced each other annually since 2017, except for 2020 because of the pandemic. And most famously, the Panthers’ football team topped the Hurricanes in 2019.

“This game is a big deal,” Ballard said. “We want it to be a big deal. We would love to play this game every year.”

BIG PICTURE

FIU: It was the second-closest game FIU played against a ranked opponent. The only one closer was an 85-81 loss to then-No. 25 Charleston on Feb. 13, 1997. Every other game against an AP Top 25 team had been decided by 10 or more points, and the average FIU margin of defeat is now 26 points in those matchups.

Miami: The 3-pointer saved the Hurricanes. Miami was 13 for 21 from beyond the arc, part of a night where the Hurricanes shot 58% from the field.

UP NEXT

FIU: Visit Houston Christian on Wednesday.

Miami: Face Georgia at Nassau, Bahamas on Friday.

Williams suffered the injury — one so severe that some onlookers had to turn away — in the final minutes of Miami’s 27-20 loss to No. 4 Florida State on Saturday. Williams’ arm was placed in an air cast before he was taken to a Tallahassee hospital for further assessment.

“Very proud of him for his effort,” Cristobal said. “I’m very proud of him for the way he handled everything.”

Williams’ injury means Tyler Van Dyke — who has been Miami’s starter for much of the last three years — will be back in that role Saturday when the Hurricanes (6-4, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) play their home finale against No. 9 Louisville (9-1, 6-1).

Williams completed 8 of 23 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns against the Seminoles. He became the first quarterback in nearly a full year to have multiple TD passes against Florida State; the most recent before Saturday was Anthony Richardson, who had three scoring passes for Florida against the Seminoles on Nov. 25, 2022.

The right-arm-throwing Williams got hurt with just under three minutes left, scrambling to his left and diving to barely get a first down on fourth-and-2 to extend Miami’s final drive and keep hopes of the upset alive. He could be heard immediately screaming in pain after the play.

“I thought he played his tail off and I thought he battled,” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “He really, really showed a lot of fight.”

Van Dyke already being declared the starter eliminates Miami having a second consecutive week of quarterback speculation. But Cristobal said Jacurri Brown — who appeared in eight games last year but has yet to throw a pass in a game this season — will get work this week as well and compete for time.

Van Dyke lost the starting job to Williams for the Florida State game, then came in for the remainder of the final series following the injury. He was 2 of 7 for 29 yards, throwing an interception on Miami’s final play — his 12th of the season, tied for fourth-most in the country and one more than he had in his first three seasons with the Hurricanes combined.

The Seminoles (10-0, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), like they have several times this season, rallied in the second half to win their 16th consecutive game. This one wrapped up the program’s 10th perfect mark in ACC play.

Miami (6-4, 2-4) controlled both lines of scrimmage and played turnover-free football for most of the game. It still wasn’t enough to overcome FSU, which has won three in a row in the series and 10 of the last 14.

Adding to Miami’s woes, freshman quarterback Emory Williams suffered a significant injury to his left arm in the waning minutes while running for a first down. Williams started in place of struggling junior Tyler Van Dyke.

Van Dyke came off the bench with the Hurricanes trailing by a touchdown but threw an interception on a fourth-and-10 play with 40 seconds remaining.

Heisman Trophy hopeful Jordan Travis threw for 265 yards and his 20th TD pass of the season, a 6-yard fade to Coleman that gave the ’Noles a little breathing room in the final quarter. Three plays earlier, Travis delivered a dizzying 7-yard run in which he broke several tackles and prompted a “Jor-dan Tra-vis” chant across a sold-out Doak Campbell Stadium.

Coleman, returning after sitting out last week’s game at Pitt, set up the score with a 57-yard punt return. The big special teams play — always a part of this rivalry — looked like it might be the turning point.

But Miami answered when Williams found Jacolby George down the sideline for an 85-yard score. George finished with five catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns, beating Fentrell Cypress on both scores.

Williams completed 8 of 23 passes for 175 yards. He got the nod over Van Dyke, who has now thrown 11 interceptions since the start of October. It’s by far the most in major college football. Williams started in place of an injured Van Dyke three weeks ago against Clemson and led the Hurricanes to a 28-20 victory.

He looked like he might do it again when Miami pulled ahead 13-10 in the third behind a steady ground game led by Donald Chaney. It was the fourth time this season Florida State trailed in the second half. Coach Mike Norvell’s team responded much like it did against LSU, Clemson and Duke.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Seminoles, who are fourth in the CFP rankings, are expected to stay at No. 4 in the next AP college football Top 25 poll.

THE TAKEAWAY

Miami: The Hurricanes probably would have stuck with Williams for the rest of the season. The 6-foot-5 freshman from Milton wasn’t great but he showed promise. Now, though, it looks as if they will have to turn back to Van Dyke.

Florida State: The Seminoles already have locked up a spot in the ACC title game but have another in-state rivalry game in two weeks at Florida. They will want to play better on both lines to avoid more late-game restlessness.

UP NEXT

Miami hosts No. 11 Louisville next Saturday.

Florida State hosts lower-division North Alabama next Saturday.

Go back about six decades. Larrañaga is playing on the freshman squad at Archbishop Malloy High School, his team off to a 7-0 start when it hit the Christmas break. And that’s when he got called into the office of varsity coach Jack Curran, who delivered grim news.

“Larry, your coach quit,” Curran said on that December day.

Curran had Larrañaga serve as one of two player-coaches to finish the season. The team won the city championship. Larrañaga’s career was off and running — and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. The latest celebration of his coaching life comes Friday night, when No. 13 Miami (1-0) will unveil its Final Four banner from last season before taking on UCF.

“I look forward to practice every day,” said Larrañaga, who also took George Mason to the Final Four in 2006. “Practice is my favorite time of the day. And being around the players, whether it’s on the court or off the court, is very enjoyable. Winning is good. Losing is so hard on everyone.

“So, as long as we can keep competing at a high level and winning our share of games and these players continue to enjoy playing for me — I think they feel like I’m not antiquated and I haven’t lost touch yet – and as long as we win, that’s basically it.”

It’s not like Larrañaga, who turned 74 last month and is under contract at Miami through the end of the 2026-27 season, doesn’t have other ways he could be spending his time. He has a grandson who’s in eighth grade and already dunking. He has a son who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers. He could be watching all their games, enjoying the Florida lifestyle with his wife, be unburdened by any schedule.

Nope. He’s still coaching, just landed Miami’s best recruiting class in years and is the only coach to have reached the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons — even though at least one of his players doesn’t seem to realize that he’s been at this much, much longer than they’ve been alive.

“I just think he’s a great coach,” Miami forward Norchad Omier said. “He’s been doing this longer than I … I’m 22, he’s probably been coaching more than my age. … He always figures out the right way, the right words to say to each player. He has it under control.”

The victory for the Wolfpack (6-3, 3-2 ACC) is the first over the Hurricanes (6-3, 2-3 ACC) since 2008. The win was also the 78th for Dave Doeren as N.C. State’s head coach, making him the winningest coach in program history.

Devin Boykin sealed the win for N.C. State when he intercepted Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke with under 4 minutes to play. Aydan White, Brandon Cisse and Davin Vann also came up with turnovers for the Wolfpack. Offensively, MJ Morris completed 11-of-21 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown for N.C. State.

Miami’s attack was paced by Mark Fletcher Jr., who rushed 23 times for 115 yards.

When Miami entered Wolfpack territory on Saturday, it was plagued by missed opportunities and met by N.C. State’s stifling defense. The Hurricanes scored just once out of the three times it was in the red zone. Miami also missed a 45-yard field goal attempt.

In the fourth quarter, Miami turned the ball over downs at the 3, capping a fruitless 12-play drive that chewed more than 7 minutes off the clock. The Wolfpack responded with an eight-play drive that ended with Kendrick Raphael bouncing off a Miami defender on his way to scoring on a 31-yard touchdown run, which pushed the Wolfpack lead to two possessions. Miami’s next two drives ended in interceptions thrown by Van Dyke.

THE TAKEAWAY

N.C. State: The Wolfpack defense was the difference and arguably put forth one of its best efforts of Doeren’s tenure. It’s the first time in Doeren’s 11 seasons that N.C. State held an ACC opponent to less than seven points. Linebacker Payton Willis again led the Wolfpack defense, racking up 16 tackles, two pass breakups and two quarterback hits.

Miami: The Hurricanes had some success moving the ball, but couldn’t break through N.C. State’s defense when it really mattered. Miami was 4-of-17 on third and fourth down conversion attempts and came away with just three points in three trips to the redzone. It was also the second straight game that Van Dyke tossed multiple interceptions and failed to score a touchdown.

UP NEXT

Miami: The Hurricanes travel to rival No. 4 Florida State next Saturday.

N.C. State: The Wolfpack face Wake Forest next Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Fletcher’s 11-yard rush — his first touchdown since Week 1, after he missed more than four weeks with a foot injury — ended overtime and the Hurricanes rallied past Virginia 29-26 on Saturday. It was the second consecutive OT win for Miami, which got a last-play stop to beat Clemson 28-20 last week.

This time, it was the offense that delivered at the end — and it was all Fletcher in the extra session. Miami ran three plays, giving the ball to the freshman for all of them, and rushes of 9 and 5 yards preceded the gamewinner.

“Feels great to be back, and to make an impact like that,” Fletcher said.

Miami also became bowl eligible. The Hurricanes went 5-7 last season, and have now surpassed that win total.

“Progress,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said, “and a long way to go.”

Andy Borregales kicked three field goals for Miami (6-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which needed OT to beat Virginia for the second consecutive year. The Hurricanes topped the Cavaliers 14-12 in four OTs last year, a duel where Borregales and Will Bettridge — a pair of South Florida natives — each kicked four field goals.

Bettridge kicked four more on Saturday, including one to cap the first possession of overtime, but it wasn’t enough for Virginia (2-6, 1-3). Borregales forced OT last season at Virginia by making a chip shot with no time left, and had a pair of game-tying kicks — from 50 and 48 yards — in the fourth quarter Saturday.

“Thank God for Andy Borregales,” Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said. “I think without him, we would have lost the game.”

Tony Muskett threw for 239 yards and Mike Hollins — who was injured in the shooting that killed three Virginia players last year — ran for two scores for Virginia (2-6, 1-3), which outgained Miami 377-276 and didn’t commit a penalty.

“It’s a hurting football team,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “They care. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t show up every single week. You think about kind of the world they live in, especially everything that happened last year, a lot of people probably would tell them ‘Why would you?’”

Ajay Allen hurdled a Virginia defender on the way to the end zone on a third-quarter TD run for Miami, and Kam Kinchens ran back an interception for a score 7 seconds later for the Hurricanes.

Hollins — who has five TDs in his last two games, the first three coming in last weekend’s win over North Carolina — opened the scoring for Virginia, and his second TD run came late in the third to put the Cavaliers up 20-17. Bettidge made a tie-breaking field goal in both the fourth quarter and OT.

“We just respond,” said Muskett, who was 24 of 38 passing with 12 of those completions — for 152 yards — going to Malik Washington. “We’ve done it all season. If things don’t go our way, we come right back.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Virginia: It was the third time this season — all on the road — that the Cavaliers had a double-digit lead before the opponent got on the scoreboard. They’re now 0-3 in those games. Virginia led Maryland 14-0 before falling 42-14, and led Boston College 14-0 before falling 27-24.

Miami: Van Dyke has seven interceptions and five touchdown passes in his last three games. He had eight interceptions (with 34 TD passes) in his last 17 games played entering this stretch. He was 20 of 30 for 163 yards, no TDs and two interceptions Saturday. “Obviously, I did not play well at all,” Van Dyke said.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Miami was fourth in ‘also receiving votes’ last week behind Florida (which lost 43-20 to No. 1 Georgia), Liberty (moved to 8-0 with a 42-29 win over Western Kentucky on Tuesday) and Kansas State (moved to 6-2 with a 41-0 win over Houston).

ANOTHER CLOSE ONE

It marked the sixth consecutive instance of a Miami-Virginia game being decided by eight points or less. Miami was an 18.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

UP NEXT

Virginia: Host Georgia Tech on Nov. 4.

Miami: Visit N.C. State on Nov. 4.

These are key issues when almost half of a team’s roster hails from Toronto.

For these Hurricanes — Lemyah Hylton, Lashae Dwyer, Shayeann Day-Wilson and Latasha Lattimore — Thanksgiving is in October, the Raptors are the hometown NBA team and what Floridians call “freezing” is nothing more than a pleasant day outside to them.

Dwyer, Day-Wilson and Lattimore all hail from Toronto; Hylton is from the suburb of Mississauga, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Toronto. The Hurricanes have only 11 players on the roster this season — and having four from Toronto is basically a happy coincidence.

“Honestly, I have no idea how this happened,” Hylton said. “And I think a lot of people thought that we had some kind of plan or some kind of mechanism behind it, but we really didn’t. It just kind of happened and it happened for the right reason.”

Having four international players from basically the same city on a U.S. college team is rare. But having Canadians on basketball rosters in the U.S. right now is increasingly common.

And basketball is booming right now north of the border. There were a record 26 Canadians on opening night rosters in the NBA this week, the reigning men’s college player of the year — Purdue’s Zach Edey — is from Toronto, Canada’s men’s program will play in the Paris Games next summer to end a 24-year Olympic drought and a record 53 Canadians were part of last season’s NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments. Jamal Murray is the point guard for the NBA champion Denver Nuggets; he’s from Kitchener, about 90 minutes west of Toronto. All-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, he’s another Toronto guy.

Yes, hockey is still the official winter sport of Canada. But basketball — founded by a Canadian, Dr. James Naismith — is thriving, and seems to only be getting better.

“I feel like Canada is still underrated when it comes to basketball,” Lattimore said. “There’s so much talent, amazing talent in Toronto right now and Canada in general. I guess now American schools see a lot of Canadians coming over, so they’re going to see if there’s more talent. And there’s a lot more talent, a lot more exposure, a lot more AAU teams and all that is part of it.”

All four of the Canadian Hurricanes took different paths to Coral Gables. Dwyer is the only one of the four who signed with the Hurricanes coming out of high school. Day-Wilson spent the last two years at Duke, the first of those as the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year as selected by coaches and then starting 29 games last season. Lattimore is in her second season at Miami after starting college at Texas, and Hylton played last season at Arizona.

“I’m the recruiter,” said Dwyer, who finished high school ball in Tennessee and hasn’t lived in Canada for several years now — but still calls it home. “It’s cool because we can all relate. Me, Tasha and Shaye, we all grew up basically 10 minutes from each other. Just having each other around, it makes you not want to say that you miss home because we have each other.”

They’ve all been opponents in the past, all been teammates as well — and clearly prefer being teammates. And with only 11 players on the roster, odds are high that there’s going to be at least one Canadian on the floor in just about every lineup for a revamped Miami squad that lost three starters from a team that went 22-13 last season.

“We lost a lot but we didn’t lose everything,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. “I love what we’re returning and I love what we’ve added.”

Hylton is missing Tim Hortons, the go-to coffee place for many Canadians. Lattimore is craving those ketchup chips. Dwyer and Day-Wilson would love to find a poutine spot.

But for now, they’ll just focus on helping Miami — coming off the first Elite Eight run in the program’s history — get through another difficult schedule, the rigors of ACC play and, they hope, back to the NCAA tournament.

“There’s no better feeling than us ending up at the same school,” Day-Wilson said. “We get the opportunity to represent and show Canadians can hoop, too. We have each other’s back, we’ve known each other for a long time, we’ve been competitors and now we’re on the same team again. It just happened this way and it feels really good.”

It paid off.

Matthew Cleveland — who hit a deep desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to help Florida State pull off the comeback of the year and beat the Hurricanes in Coral Gables last season — is wearing a Miami uniform now. He will join returning starters Norchad Omier, Nigel Pack and Wooga Poplar for a team that opens the season No. 13 in the AP Top 25.

“It was very difficult because I love Florida State, still kind of do love Florida State because I was there for two years,” Cleveland said of his transfer decision. “But I had to do what was best for me in a business decision. I feel like the biggest thing they showed to me is their success with transfers … how much of a jump they make.”

Larrañaga and assistant coach Bill Courtney went to Tallahassee twice to court Cleveland. They didn’t actually recruit on Florida State’s campus. Instead, they met with Cleveland basically just across the street from the school.

“We did that not once but twice to make sure that Matt knew he was our highest priority in the portal,” said Larrañaga, who guided Miami to a 29-8 record and its first Final Four appearance last season. “You look at a lot of different people, but you have to prioritize who you think is the best fit — and Matt was.”

Larrañaga values players who can deliver at the end of games. Miami went 12-6 last season in games decided by seven points or less, thanks in large part to departed starters Isaiah Wong (the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year last season) and Jordan Miller.

Cleveland more than showed he can fill that void. Florida State was down by 23 at halftime last season before stunning Miami 85-84 when he connected from deep as time expired. Division I men’s teams that trailed by more than 20 at halftime last season went 1-574 — and Cleveland provided that lone win.

“He’s a great guy,” Omier said. “He’s a little funny to us. We love Matt. He’s a great addition to the team, and he’s going to be a special guy this year. We’re just lucky to have him.”

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Wong (16.2) and Miller (15.3) were Miami’s two top scorers last season, and their 22 shots a game are now available to players like Pack (13.6 ppg), Omier (13.1 ppg, 10.0 rpg) and Poplar (8.4 ppg). Poplar — who has a big-time pullup jumper — is the player Larrañaga thinks has the best chance at breaking out, with a game that he expects could have him in the NBA as early as next season.

THE RUN

Miami started 13-1 last season, then went 3-4 in its next seven games before getting red-hot once again for the stretch run. The Hurricanes were the top seed in the ACC tournament, earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament — then beat fourth-seeded Indiana, top-seeded Houston and second-seeded Texas on their way to the Final Four, where they lost to eventual national champion UConn.

ELITE, AGAIN

Miami is the only team that has made the Elite Eight in each of the last two NCAA tournaments. The Hurricanes are 7-2 over the last two seasons in NCAA tourney games; only Kansas (7-1) has as many wins in that span.

TOURNEY ODDITY

The Miami men and Miami women have each reached the last two NCAA tournaments. In 2022, the men lost to Kansas, and the women to South Carolina. In 2023, the men lost to UConn, and the women lost to LSU.

The four teams that beat the Hurricanes in those NCAA contests went on to win the national titles.

SCHEDULE

The opener is Nov. 6 against the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The Hurricanes will play Georgia and either Kansas State or Providence in the Bahamas Nov. 17 and 19 and visit Kentucky for the ACC-SEC challenge on Nov. 28, The six teams Miami is facing twice in ACC play are Florida State, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Clemson, North Carolina and Notre Dame. The Hurricanes play host to Duke in their only meeting of this regular season, and Cleveland’s return to Tallahassee would be in the regular-season finale on March 9.

No, Miami is not back.

But this might be a night the Hurricanes remember for a long time.

Ajay Allen got the go-ahead score on a 3-yard run in the second overtime, and shorthanded Miami ended the game on a fourth-down stop to stun Clemson 28-20 on Saturday night.

“It validates a lot,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “And it increases our appetite to go get more.”

Emory Williams, playing in place of injured Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, completed 24 of 33 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown for the Hurricanes (5-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). The biggest hit Williams — who wasn’t sacked — took in the game actually came after the game, when Van Dyke exuberantly wrapped his arms around him as a reward for engineering two late scoring drives to erase a 17-7 deficit and, maybe, save the season.

“Right now,” defensive lineman Rueben Bain said after Miami held Clemson to 31 rushing yards on 34 carries, “I feel like I’m on top of the world.”

Cade Klubnik connected with Jake Briningstool on a pair of touchdown passes for Clemson (4-3, 2-3). The Tigers turned the ball over three times in the first half, and paid for those blunders.

“They found a way to win,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said, “and we found a way not to win.”

After the go-ahead TD, Allen also got the 2-point conversion to put all the pressure on Clemson in the second OT. On the game’s final play, needing no more than a yard for the end zone, Klubnik faked a handoff and rolled left — only to have no chance of getting past Miami linebacker Corey Flagg, who made the tackle and the Hurricanes sprinted onto the field in celebration.

“Everybody talks about my touchdown,” Allen said. “Corey really won the game, if you want to know the truth.”

Van Dyke walked with a slight limp when he entered the stadium, and it became clear about an hour before the game that he wasn’t going to play. And Williams struggled mightily for much of the game, getting only 31 yards on his first 10 completions.

But he stepped up at the end, as did Miami’s defense, and the Hurricanes’ two-game slide is over.

“Obviously very proud of our players, very proud of our program, for showing just a ton of resiliency and toughness,” Cristobal said, noting that Miami remembered last year’s game with Clemson — a 40-10 loss where the Tigers tacked a touchdown on with 16 seconds remaining.

Williams found Colbie Young from 11 yards out with 8 minutes left in regulation to get Miami within a field goal, and Andy Borregales hit a 35-yarder to tie the game with 1:51 left.

Field goals capped each team’s first overtime series; Jonathan Weitz kicked a 31-yarder for Clemson, Borregales connected from 35 yards for Miami to tie it at 20 and send the game to a second overtime.

The loss means Swinney has to wait at least one more week before becoming the school’s outright leader in wins. He remains tied with Frank Howard for the most in Tigers history with 165.

“We didn’t deserve to win the game,” Swinney said.

THE TAKEAWAY

Clemson: This was a deviation from the norm for so many reasons. Clemson had been 16-3 in the Swinney era in regular-season games following a bye week, 47-10 in night games since the start of the 2015 season — and had blown out Miami in each of the last four meetings between the schools by a combined score of 178-30.

Miami: The Hurricanes were 0-5 in home ACC games since the start of last season. That matched the longest home losing streak in conference games — going back to the Big East days as well — in program history. The Hurricanes also dropped five straight ACC games at home during a stretch spanning 2007 and 2008.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Clemson was second in the “also receiving votes” department of last week’s AP Top 25, though it’s hard to believe any voters would have the Tigers on their ballot this week. Miami — which fell out after last week’s loss to North Carolina — might have set itself up for a return to the poll at some point.

WHOOPS

The teams fumbled at the goal line on back-to-back plays in the first quarter. Will Shipley lost the ball on what could have been a Clemson TD, Miami recovered in the end zone, and on the Hurricanes’ first play after the touchback Brashard Smith took off an 80-yard run — but he, too, lost the ball. Jacolby George recovered and the Hurricanes took a 7-0 lead.

UP NEXT

Clemson: Visit North Carolina State on Oct. 28.

Miami: Host Virginia on Oct. 28.

“His presence is a game changer,” coach Mack Brown said.

Walker caught three of Drake Maye’s four touchdown passes and UNC took over after halftime to beat No. 25 Miami 41-31 on Saturday night, extending what has been the program’s best start in 26 years.

Walker had 132 yards on his six catches in his first start for the Tar Heels (6-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), with that start having been delayed after a long eligibility fight with the NCAA.

The Kent State transfer didn’t play the first four games when the NCAA wouldn’t grant a waiver for immediate eligibility, citing tougher restrictions on athletes regarded as two-time transfers, before unexpectedly reversing itself last week.

Walker had six catches for 43 yards in a last-minute rush of preparation to get on the field last week against Syracuse. This time, he had a full week of practice to be fully integrated into the offense, then showed his ability as a game-breaking downfield threat for the Tar Heels’ star passer.

“I was able to have a full week to prepare … (getting) some of that chemistry back we had in the spring,” Walker said.

Omarion Hampton scored two short TDs — one on the ground, one through the air — to go with 197 yards rushing for the Tar Heels, including a 60-yarder with UNC working on the clock in the fourth quarter with a two-touchdown lead. Maye threw for 273 yards and overcame early pressure from Miami’s defensive front.

The Tar Heels trailed 17-14 at the break after a penalty-filled half, but ran off 24 straight points in the third quarter to push ahead for good.

Tyler Van Dyke threw for 391 yards and four touchdowns for the Hurricanes (4-2, 0-2), with two of those scores going to Xavier Restrepo. Jacolby George and Brashard Smith also had TD catches for Miami.

But a week after a crushing last-second loss to Georgia Tech, Miami struggled badly in the third quarter, both in moving the ball and slowing down the Tar Heels. Miami managed just 32 yards in the third, which included Miami losing a fumble on a low snap and Van Dyke throwing an interception.

“That tilted the momentum,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “We found ourselves trying to catch that momentum back, and never did.”

Walker got loose on a deep route over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown grab in the first quarter. He struck again on Maye’s perfectly placed deep ball — flying over the outstretched arm of Jaden Davis — that hit Walker in stride for a 56-yard TD in the opening minutes of the third.

Walker’s third came when Maye hit him for a 34-yarder that had him cutting through the middle of the Miami defense and breaking into the clear for a 28-17 lead.

“We were 4-0 without him,” Brown said. “Obviously we have a chance to be much better with him.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Miami: The Georgia Tech loss was a disaster, from a late playcalling mistake that Cristobal took the blame for to giving up the last-second touchdown. The Hurricanes talked this week about showing the ability to bounce back, and they did that through a first half that had them making UNC’s high-powered offense working for yards even while losing a fumble at the goal line with a chance for an early touchdown. But the game got away in the third quarter, and they spent the fourth quarter largely chasing their own improbable comeback.

“We’ve got to be better, honestly,” Van Dyke said, adding: “Too many critical situations, turnovers, making mistakes — we’ve got to fix all that stuff.”

UNC: The Tar Heels are off to their best start since winning the first eight games in 1997, which was the final year of Brown’s first coaching tenure at UNC before leaving for Texas. Last week’s blowout of Syracuse was a complete-game performance, while this one showed off the potential of an offense that has finally has Walker fully integrated to go with Hampton’s ability to carry the load on the ground.

“It’s nice to have him out there,” Maye said with a grin.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

UNC made its case for top-10 consideration in Sunday’s next AP Top 25 release, while Miami seems likely to fall out after barely staying in the poll this week.

PENALTY PROBLEM

The biggest concern in this one for Brown was easy: 14 penalties for 147 yards.

“We didn’t play well enough for us to start walking around with our chest stuck out,” he said. “You can’t have that many penalties.”

UP NEXT

Miami: The Hurricanes host Clemson next Saturday.

UNC: The Tar Heels wrap a three-game league homestand by against Virginia next Saturday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the portal decision was not announced publicly. Cavinder posted on social media Friday that she plans to return to play — “see you next season” she wrote on Instagram — but did not say where.

It would also be possible for her to return to Miami, if she chose, though entering the portal suggests she may have a new destination in mind.

Cavinder and her twin sister Hanna played at Miami last season and helped the Hurricanes reach the Elite Eight. Haley Cavinder had told the AP last season that she planned to play one more college season; Hanna Cavinder said she was likely done playing. The twins announced in April they would not be playing this season.

Haley Cavinder ended last season with 2,065 career points, which was 19th-most among all active Division I players. She averaged 12.2 points per game last season, a team best for Miami — and her 65 makes from 3-point range was another team high, by a wide margin.

The twins transferred from Fresno State to Miami in April 2022 with hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament and probably exceeded even their own expectations by helping the Hurricanes fall just short of reaching the Final Four.

The twins have 4.5 million followers on TikTok, part of their enormous footprint in the social media space. When the NIL era started on July 1, 2021, and NCAA rules began allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, the Cavinders were among the first stars: Boost Mobile signed them immediately, touting the deal with a giant advertisement in New York’s Times Square, and many other deals followed.

“What started as us playing basketball 16 years ago turned into something bigger than we could ever imagine,” the twins said in April in the statement where they announced they weren’t playing this season.

The 25th-ranked Hurricanes are ready to play, too, just to move past a jaw-dropping loss.

The game was nearly a matchup of unbeaten teams before Miami (4-1, 0-1 ACC) lost to Georgia Tech after an improbable sequence of events. There was the Hurricanes losing a fumble in the final minute on a running play instead of taking a knee to kill clock, then surrendering the go-ahead touchdown with 1 second left on a long pass play.

Coach Mario Cristobal has taken the blame for not calling a kneeldown. The Hurricanes have since tried to move forward.

“That’s the only choice that we have in this program,” Cristobal said. “That’s something I think is important for us here at Miami, the ability to bounce back strong, to make that tradition again. That always used to be a very strong part of our tradition. This is a great opportunity to go forward … and play our best football going forward.”

That was the day-after focus for center Matt Lee, who was in a viral video showing his emotional disbelief on the sideline last weekend.

“You know you can’t dwell on it at all,” Lee said. “That goes for the whole team. That goes for the whole coaching staff. … And that’s what we’ve done, I think we’ve done a great job of that this week.”

The Tar Heels (5-0, 2-0) are in a much different mindset coming in after blowing out Syracuse, which extended the program’s best start in 26 years. UNC racked up 644 total yards while surrendering just 11 first downs, the fewest in a game for the Tar Heels’ defense since 2012.

“Kids will respond, they’ll all pull together,” UNC coach Mack Brown said of Miami. “Usually when there’s more criticism, they pull together harder. Miami will come in here well coached and excited about playing the game.”

RECENT HISTORY

UNC has won all four meetings since Brown’s return for a second coaching stint in Chapel Hill. Three of those wins came by three-point margins, including in 2019 with Brown’s first home game of his second tenure.

SEASON STARTS

The Tar Heels are off to their best start since winning the first eight games in 1997, which was the final season of Brown’s first tenure before going to Texas. Before the Georgia Tech game, Miami was off to its best start since going 10-0 in 2017.

TOP QBS

The game will pair two of the country’s most productive quarterbacks in UNC star Drake Maye and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke.

Van Dyke is sixth in the Bowl Subdivision ranks with a 178.8 efficiency ranking, which is best in the ACC. Maye is 26th at 158.8. Van Dyke is 12th in completion percentage at 72.6%, while Maye is 14th at 72.1%.

And Maye is third in FBS in total offense at 360.6 yards per game.

KEY MATCHUP

Miami’s defense will present a tough test for UNC’s high-powered offense.

The Hurricanes rank ninth in FBS by allowing 268.4 yards and 12th by allowing 14.6 points per game. The Tar Heels rank ninth nationally by averaging 500 yards per game to go with 36.6 points (18th).

Notably, the Tar Heels are second nationally by converting 56.6% of their third downs.

TEZ’S PREP

UNC didn’t have much time to get receiver Devontez Walker ready to play in the Syracuse win after the NCAA’s unexpected reversal of its denial of his transfer-eligibility waiver. The Tar Heels have had more time to integrate him into the offense for Miami.

Walker was projected to be the top target for Maye when he transferred from Kent State. He had been working with the scout team in practices before getting limited work in the Syracuse game, finishing with six catches for 43 yards.

“We did get a ton of reps for him in the spring and fall camp,” offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. “So I’m very familiar with the things he does well and maybe some of the things that other guys do. … I just think from my standpoint, it’s where does he fit in teh flow of the offense?”

“I made the wrong call,” Cristobal said.

Miami led Georgia Tech 20-17 and could have been in victory formation — taking a knee to essentially end the game — when a running play was called. Don Chaney fumbled the ball with 26 seconds left, and Georgia Tech took over on its own 26-yard line.

It took the Yellow Jackets four plays — an incompletion, a 30-yard gain, a spike to stop the clock and a 44-yard pass with 2 seconds left — to find the end zone and win 23-20, handing Miami (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) its first loss of the year.

“What we did at the end was the wrong decision,” Dawson said. “I called it. It is what it is. I wished we would have done something different, but we didn’t. Got to live with it. … I’m not going to sit here and go through the process with you guys. What’s said on the headsets is between us, and ultimately, I called the play. And I can live with it. It was the wrong thing to do.”

Cristobal said immediately after the game that he should have stepped in and called for a kneel-down, and did not blame anyone else Monday — saying he takes “complete ownership.”

Miami fell eight spots to No. 25 in the AP Top 25 after the loss, and Cristobal was asked how the team would recover in time to prepare for a trip to play No. 12 North Carolina this weekend.

“You do it with honesty and transparency, go and fix all the things we can do better and realize the opportunity in front of us,” Cristobal said. “Football is very much like life. We owe it to ourselves and to our players, to our entire organization like we do our very own families to look each other right in the eye and demand the best, the absolute truth from each other so we can go forward.”

Miami has asked the ACC for an explanation about why Chaney was not ruled down, and why the play wasn’t overturned on review. Cristobal said the league has not given Miami an answer yet.

Commentators and those on social media have, predictably, not been kind to Miami in recent days for the blunder of not kneeling down — and for how Georgia Tech receiver Christian Leary got behind two defenders, including All-America safety Kam Kinchens, for the winning score.

Cristobal said players have responded the right way, which is all he can ask. He also told Chaney, Kinchens and any other players who were on the field in the final 26 seconds that they were in no way responsible for the final events that led to the loss.

All the blame, he insists, goes to him.

“You go through things and sometimes you’re not prepared for things and sometimes you still have conflict, but family stays together,” defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said. “And that’s what we preach around here.”

Haynes King threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Leary with two seconds remaining after Miami turned the ball over with the game all but won, and Georgia Tech stunned the 17th-ranked Hurricanes 23-20 on Saturday night.

The Yellow Jackets went 74 yards in 24 seconds, just after the Hurricanes had the option to kneel down, likely run out the clock, win the game and remain unbeaten. Instead, Don Chaney fumbled the ball away — Miami argued he was down, referees disagreed — and the Yellow Jackets pulled off a stunner.

“We should have taken a knee,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.

Said Georgia Tech coach Brent Key: “We kind of thought they were taking a knee.”

The Hurricanes (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) didn’t, and paid a huge price. King was incomplete under pressure on first down of the last drive, then connected with Malik Rutherford for a 30-yard gain. Rutherford was inbounds and the clock ran until King spiked the ball with 10 seconds left. The scoreboard showed Georgia Tech had no time-outs remaining; the play-by-play of the game suggested the Yellow Jackets still may have had one.

Either way, then came the miracle.

King — maybe channeling his inner Doug Flutie from another deep throw that stunned Miami in 1984 — rolled right, waited and Leary got well behind two Miami defenders. The throw hit Leary in stride, he slid into the end zone as a few items of debris rained down from the stands.

“I felt it as soon as it left my fingers,” King said.

The Hurricanes had a six-lateral try on the final play of the game, but got stopped near midfield.

Tyler Van Dyke threw for 288 yards, but was intercepted three times for Miami. Xavier Restrepo caught 12 passes for 144 yards for the Hurricanes, who got a rushing score from Henry Parrish.

King and Jamal Haynes had third-quarter rushing touchdowns in a span of just over 2 minutes for the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech’s under-new-management defense — the team elevated Kevin Sherrer to defensive coordinator after a loss to Bowling Green last week — frustrated Miami for much of the night, then somehow got the takeaway it needed at the end.

Miami outgained Georgia Tech 454-250, had 23 first downs to the Yellow Jackets’ 12, and none of it mattered. Georgia Tech found a way, and Van Dyke didn’t throw blame at anyone but himself — even when asked after the game if he was surprised offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t call for a kneel-down.

“We trust our offensive coordinator,” Restrepo said. “We trust each other.”

Miami had scored all 16 quarters it had played in the first four games, and came into the night as one of three teams nationally to score at least 38 points in every game this season. But it took until the final play of the half, a 30-yard field goal by Miami’s Andy Borregales, to get any scoring from either side.

Georgia Tech went up 17-10 early in the fourth on a field goal soon after Van Dyke’s third interception. Miami scored the game’s next 10 points.

Borregales was good from 39 yards out midway through the fourth to give Miami the lead, and the Hurricanes put themselves in position to win — then somehow managed to lose.

“I should have stepped in and said, ‘Hey, just take a knee,’” Cristobal said.

THE TAKEAWAY

Georgia Tech: Haynes King came into the night averaging nearly 300 yards through the air, but Miami limited him to 151 after he completed 12 of 25 passes with two interceptions.

Miami: Bye weeks remain a giant problem for Miami to deal with. Miami is now 2-7 since 2017 when playing a regular-season game following a week off.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Miami is going to drop. The only question is if the Hurricanes will drop out entirely.

ALUMNI NIGHT

Former Hurricanes linebacker Jessie Armstead — a national champion at Miami and a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, before becoming a five-time Pro Bowler in the NFL — was at the game. Armstead is special assistant to New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen; the Giants are in town to play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

UP NEXT

Georgia Tech: Hosts Boston College on Oct. 21.

Miami: At North Carolina on Oct. 14.

In simplest terms, that’ll be the story when the 17th-ranked Hurricanes (4-0, 0-0) open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday night against the Yellow Jackets (2-3, 1-1). Georgia Tech is coming off a 38-27 loss to Bowling Green last week, one that led to Kevin Sherrer being elevated to defensive coordinator.

And that almost certainly means Miami will see looks from Georgia Tech that haven’t appeared on film yet this season. But the Hurricanes think they’re ready for any surprises.

“We’re systematic on offense,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “Yeah, we like certain things against certain things, but should we be in a situation where we do get some kind of surprise look schematically, rules take over. We’re built on rules. If something shows up that we haven’t seen, trust your rules and go execute.”

The rules are working. Miami enters the week with the ninth-best rushing offense in the nation at 222.5 yards per game — Georgia Tech ranks third-worst nationally in that department, giving up 224.2 yards per game — and the Hurricanes also have a quarterback in Tyler Van Dyke who is completing three of every four passes he throws.

Miami is coming off a bye, which gave the Hurricanes time to rest and heal. The Yellow Jackets went through a week of tumult after the Bowling Green loss; Sherrer was co-coordinator with Andrew Thacker, who now coaches the safeties.

“The thing about that game is it will affect the rest of our season,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said. “It’s our choice if it’s going to be good or bad. Is it going to affect us the right way or the wrong way?”

3 WITH 38

Miami has scored at least 38 points in all four of its games this season — after having just one such game last season. The Hurricanes are one of three teams nationally to score that many in every game to this point, joining USC and Oregon. The last season in which the Hurricanes had such a streak of scoring at least 38 was over the first five games of the 2002 campaign. Georgia Tech has allowed at least 38 points in all three of its losses this season.

KINCHENS RETURNS

Saturday marks the return of Miami All-American safety Kam Kinchens to the lineup. He was injured on a scary hit late in the Hurricanes’ Week 2 win over Texas A&M and was briefly hospitalized. “It’s a lot of excitement to be back out there with my family,” Kinchens said.

SERIES BREAK

Miami and Georgia Tech are playing for the 19th time in the last 20 seasons; the exception was the COVID-affected season of 2020. But the former Coastal Division rivals won’t face off in 2024, as part of the ACC’s new scheduling model. The series resumes at Atlanta in 2025, likely followed by a 2027 game in Miami Gardens.

MIDWAY THROUGH

This season is the sixth straight where Georgia Tech won’t have a winning record after six games. The Yellow Jackets will be 3-3 or 2-4 after Saturday; they were 3-3 in 2022 and 2021, 2-4 in 2020, 1-5 in 2019 and 3-3 in 2018. The last time they were over .500 after six games was 2017, when they were 4-2.

ALUMNI WEEKEND

The coaching matchup is one of graduates: Key is the fifth Georgia Tech alum (joining William Alexander, Bill Fulcher, Pepper Rodgers and Bill Curry) to coach the Yellow Jackets, and Cristobal is the sixth alum (joining Mark Richt, Randy Shannon, Fran Curci, Walt Kichefski and Eddie Dunn) to coach the Hurricanes.

Van Dyke didn’t recall the exact section he sat inside the big stadium in south Philly but he remembered the seats were up high. High enough that he was almost at eye level to the 2017 Super Bowl banner.

Now the starting quarterback for No. 20 Miami, Van Dyke wears No. 9 — just like former Eagles QB Nick Foles — and made a new favorite memory inside the stadium. He threw for three touchdowns and helped the Hurricanes beat Temple 41-7 on Saturday and move to 4-0 for the first time since 2017.

“I was looking up at the stadium where he had our season tickets, where we used to sit,” Van Dyke said. “It’s just very cool, and it’s a blessing to play in the stadium where you grew up watching pro football games.”

Henry Parrish Jr. rushed for 139 yards and two scores. The Hurricanes have scored at least 38 points in all four games.

Van Dyke completed 17 of 24 passes for 220 yards and guided the Hurricanes to a 24-0 lead in the first half. Parrish took it from there and led a rushing offense that outgained the Owls 242 yards to 1 through three quarters and 323-11 overall.

The Hurricanes came in as 23 1/2-point favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, and rolled to their 14th straight win over Temple (2-2), a streak largely built on the programs’ years together in the Big East.

Even with an 18-year gap from their last matchup, little has changed in the series. The few thousand fans inside a rainy Lincoln Financial Field were mostly dressed in orange — one tailgate lot was packed with Hurricanes fans — and the Owls were overmatched.

Under second-year coach Mario Cristobal, the Hurricanes fattened their record against teams such as Temple and FCS member Bethune-Cookman, but did squeeze in a win against previously ranked Texas A&M. The Hurricanes open Atlantic Coast Conference play in two weeks at Hard Rock Stadium, where they won three games before they traveled to Philly.

“The sky’s the limit in this offense and this scheme,” Cristobal said.

Temple learned the hard way.

Van Dyke, who considered leaving in the offseason either through the transfer portal or the NFL draft, stuck around and has played seemingly devoid of the pain in his right shoulder that has plagued him most of last season.

He hit Xavier Restrepo for a 7-yard touchdown on the opening drive and found Colby Young on a leaping 28-yard TD catch in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. Van Dyke had a 37-yard rush on the second scoring drive.

Van Dyke’s throw of the game was perhaps on an over-the-shoulder 39-yard sideline catch by Jacolby George that set up a field goal.

Parrish had a 13-yard rushing TD to close Miami’s last drive of the first half, and he ended its first drive of the second with a 3-yard TD and a 31-7 lead.

The Hurricanes essentially ran out the clock from there, though Van Dyke and Restrepo also connected on a 17-yard TD pass in the third quarter.

One more highlight for Van Dyke and the roughly 20 friends and family he had at the game.

“It just feels good winning here,” he said.

THE TAKEAWAY

Parrish and Miami center Matt Lee both appeared to get banged up during the game but nothing seemed too serious.

MAYBE FATHER KNEW BEST

Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner posted on social media before the game how junky weather reminded him of why stadiums should have domes.

“Doesn’t matter how a great a thrower of the football you are, crappy conditions mess up games,” Warner wrote.

Yes, conditions were foul, but Temple QB E.J. Warner wasn’t much better. He was 22 of 39 for 240 yards with a lost fumble and two interceptions. Warner was picked off in the end zone by Te’Cory Couch when the Owls trailed 7-0. Warner’s fumble at Miami’s 24 led to Parrish’s first TD. Warner’s only touchdown pass of the game made it 24-7 heading into halftime.

“There’s still no excuse at the end of the day for my play,” Warner said. “I’ve got to find ways to make plays and help this team move the ball down the field.”

TEMPLE PRESIDENT REMEMBERED

Temple held a moment of silence and had a video tribute for JoAnne A. Epps. Temple University’s acting president died Tuesday, shortly after becoming ill on stage during a memorial service. She was 72.

KLECKO HONORED

Joe Klecko was honored at halftime for his August induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Klecko played for the Owls from 1974 to 1976 and led them in tackles with more than 100 in each season. He was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987. Klecko played 12 seasons in the NFL and made his name as a member of the New York Jets Sack Exchange.

He joined the Temple captains at midfield for the coin toss.

UP NEXT

The Hurricanes have a week off before they host Georgia Tech on Oct. 7.

The Owls hit the road Thursday and play Tulsa.

Line: Miami by 23 1/2, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Series record: Miami, 13-1.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

It’s a chance for Miami to move to 4-0 before it enters Atlantic Coast Conference play. Temple has a shot at ending a six-game losing streak against ranked opponents. The Owls’ last win over an AP Top 25 team was 30-28 over Memphis on Oct. 12, 2019. In the six games against ranked teams since, they’ve been outscored 219-71.

KEY MATCHUP

Miami’s offensive line vs. Temple’s defensive front. When Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke has had time to throw this season, he’s rarely misfired. The Owls have to find a way to keep him from getting into rhythm.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Miami: WR Xavier Restrepo. The senior never topped 100 receiving yards in his Miami career before doing it in each of Miami’s last two games — 126 yards against Texas A&M on Sept. 9, then 120 against Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 14. He’s now 61 yards shy of 1,000 for his career.

Temple: QB E.J. Warner. The son of Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, E.J. has thrown for 760 yards and four touchdowns this season. Warner threw for more than 3,000 yards and 18 touchdowns last season.

FACTS & FIGURES

Temple won the first meeting between the schools, 34-0 in 1930. Miami is 13-0 against the Owls since, winning by an average score of 44-10. … This will be the 12th time in the 15 meetings between the schools that Miami entered as a ranked team. Temple has never been ranked when facing Miami and hasn’t been ranked in the AP poll since December 2016. … Miami is seeking its first 4-0 start since 2017, when it opened 10-0. … Miami has scored at least 38 points in each of its first three games this season. It hasn’t opened a season with four such games since 2002. … The schools were supposed to play on the Hurricanes’ home field in 2020, but that matchup was pushed back because of the pandemic. Temple is now scheduled to make that trip to Miami Gardens, Florida in 2029.

Shelton’s extraordinary commitment to fulfilling a heartfelt promise has captured the hearts of fans across the nation.

“All this praise and all these accolades, like ‘Oh you made an impact in my life,’ I feel like I don’t deserve it,” said Shelton. “I feel like I’m just a regular guy.”

The game on Thursday showed Shelton’s unwavering devotion as he donned a complete Miami Hurricanes football uniform, from shoulder pads to cleats, helmet, and even game gloves.

“This is just my promise to my brother,” Douthett said. “This is something that I want to take with him. This is basically how I bring my brother to the game with me. He had a big impact on my life.”

It’s a level of dedication that doesn’t go unnoticed, even if it invites playful banter from opposing fans.

“It’s funny because I get the jokes like, ‘You missed the bus,’ or ‘You’re late.’ I get that all the time,” Shelton explained. “Responds to ‘What position you play?’ I say, ‘I play section 138 row 2.’ That’s my position.”

But once those hecklers hear Shelton’s back story, they instantly have a change of heart as they quickly understand the significance of his actions.

“My brother was basically everything to me,” he said. “We were like Batman and Robin. The funny thing is, Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne and my brother’s name is Wayne. He was Batman and my middle name is Robert so I was Robin.”

Of course, not every superhero wears a cape, sometimes, they wear a full Miami Hurricanes uniform, like Shelton.

“I remember we were watching the Georgia Tech game and as he looked at the TV, he asked me as a joke, ‘Why don’t you do that? Dress like that,’ and as a joke I said, ‘You know what, when we get out of the hospital, I’ll do it for one game with you.'”

Unfortunately, his brother never got out of the hospital. Wayne Douthett passed away in October 2009 at the age of 23. Ever since then, Shelton has honored his big brother.

When asked what Wayne would say if he could witness his little brother fulfilling this heartfelt promise, Shelton responded with deep emotion.

“He has a way of showing affection and I know exactly what he would do,” he said tearfully. “He’d probably just have a little smirk on his face and say, ‘You did good, man.'”

So, if you find yourself at a Miami Hurricanes game, keep an eye out for Shelton Douthett and take a moment to appreciate the extraordinary love and dedication that he brings to every game in honor of his beloved brother.

For those inspired by Douthett’s story and wishing to contribute, a scholarship fund has been established in Wayne’s name, with donation details available here.

Tyler Van Dyke threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns while playing only the first half and Miami eased past FCS member Bethune-Cookman 48-7 on Thursday night. The Hurricanes (3-0) have scored 38 or more points in each of the season’s first three games for just the second time in the last 20 years; the other instance in that span was 2016.

“TVD operated at a very high level, and so did the receivers,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.

Van Dyke completed 19 of 23 passes and ran for a score for Miami, which got touchdowns on five of its six first-half possessions on the way to a 34-0 lead at the break. Emory Williams took over for Van Dyke to begin the third quarter and went 9 for 11 for 102 yards.

Xavier Restrepo had six catches for 120 yards for the Hurricanes, while Jacolby George and Brashard Smith had touchdown receptions.

“The guys attacked the game today really well,” Restrepo said.

Ajay Allen ran for two scores for Miami, and Don Chaney Jr. and Chris Johnson Jr. each had a rushing score. The Hurricanes outgained Bethune-Cookman 589-165.

“Miami is a really good football team and they’re going to win a lot of games,” Bethune-Cookman coach Raymond Woodie Jr. said. “They have weapons all over the place.”

Walter Simmons Jr., Bethune-Cookman’s third quarterback of the night, ensured the Wildcats (1-2) would avoid the shutout by scoring on a 6-yard keeper with 1:19 left. It was about the only thing that didn’t go right for Miami on Thursday — a couple hours before the game, five-star defensive lineman Armondo Blount of Miami Central announced he plans to play for the Hurricanes in a huge recruiting win.

“Miami’s working its way to looking like what Miami should look like,” Cristobal said, without mentioning any recruit specifically because that would violate NCAA rules.

Van Dyke started the night 13th on Miami’s career completions list with exactly 400 as a Hurricane. He’s now 10th with 419, after passing No. 12 Brock Berlin (406), No. 11 Steve Walsh (410) and No. 10 Vinny Testaverde (413).

Next up: No. 9 Craig Erickson (420), No. 8 Ryan Clement (427) and No. 7 Bernie Kosar (463).

Van Dyke also passed Walsh for No. 11 on the school’s all-time yardage list, and his 19-for-23 night lifted his career completion percentage to 64.1 — just 0.6% behind D’Eriq King for the best in Miami history.

“TVD’s playing great,” Restrepo said. “Dude hasn’t missed a throw yet.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Bethune-Cookman: Starting quarterback Luke Sprague was 3 for 3 on the Wildcats’ opening drive, before getting knocked from the game with a shoulder injury. Sprague had played off the bench in Bethune-Cookman’s first two games. … The Wildcats fell to 0-2 against FBS programs this year, after falling 56-14 to Memphis in the season opener.

Miami: The Hurricanes are 3-0 for the 27th time since the program debuted in 1927. The Hurricanes’ average record in the first 26 seasons where such a start happened: 9-2. … Former Hurricanes coach (and former Hurricanes quarterback) Mark Richt was honored during the game to recognize his looming enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Miami will surely remain in the AP Top 25 this coming week. The next five teams closest to the Hurricanes in the poll are No. 17 Mississippi, No. 18 Colorado, No. 19 Oklahoma, No. 20 North Carolina and No. 21 Duke. Should any of those teams fall, Miami may move up a spot or two.

UP NEXT

Bethune-Cookman: At Jackson State on Sept. 23.

Miami: At Temple on Sept. 23.

They don’t seem to care about any of this.

Miami coach Mario Cristobal used to work for Alabama coach Nick Saban, who famously refers to praise from the outside world as “rat poison.” Cristobal didn’t use that phrase, but sure sounded like his old boss when talking about how the Hurricanes (2-0) — who host lower-division Bethune-Cookman (1-1) on Thursday night — would be wise to not read too much into the hype.

“Let’s call it what it is: The same praise that they’re getting now is coming from the same sources that were throwing dirt on them before,” Cristobal said. “Praise and criticism, those things aren’t there at 4:30 in the morning when you’re up and working and what-not. It’s never been part of the process when things get better or things don’t go as planned.”

Miami’s 48-33 win over previously ranked Texas A&M on Saturday — the Aggies beat the Hurricanes 17-9 last season, starting a stretch where Miami lost seven of its final 10 games in Cristobal’s first season as coach at his alma mater — was obviously a very positive sign for the program.

But they don’t hang banners for 2-0 starts, or just getting back into the national rankings.

“We’ve moved on from the A&M game,” said Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who had five touchdown throws against the Aggies. “Obviously, big win for us and the program. But we have to move on from it.”

Cristobal said he’s liked the mindset coming off the Texas A&M game, especially since Miami is about to play an opponent that it beat 70-13 last season and should have little trouble with.

“The approach has been simple,” Cristobal said. “It’s been identifying those things that are hurting us, the way we are hurting ourselves, things that we can get better at, things that we’re really close at being better at as well. It’s a complete assault on improvement and betterment.”

COACHING SAGA

This briefly looked like it would be a matchup pitting Ed Reed — a Hurricanes legend, a Pro Football Hall of Fame safety and a former Miami staff member — against his school. But Reed’s time as coach of Bethune-Cookman never officially got started, after a January agreement in principle didn’t lead to an actual contract. The Wildcats wound up hiring Raymond Woodie Jr. in February.

At Miami, Reed was part of the Hurricanes’ most recent national title team in 2001. He set school records for career interceptions (21) and interception return yards (369), plus won a Big East championship in javelin in 1999.

SCOUTING BETHUNE

The question is quarterback, where Luke Sprague has been a backup behind Walter Simmons III for the first two games of Bethune-Cookman’s season but was 23 for 29 for 223 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters of work to lead the Wildcats past Savannah State last week.

TVD WATCH

Van Dyke is completing 73% of his passes so far this season, 63% for his career and is on pace to break the Miami single-season and career marks in those categories. He’s up to exactly 400 completions at Miami, 13 away from matching Vinny Testaverde for No. 10 on the school career list.

PLAYING TIME

Miami has used 73 players so far this season. “The best opportunity about this week is that guys are continuing to earn, or not earn, opportunities to play,” Cristobal said. “Everybody wants to play and we’re playing a lot of guys. We’re playing a lot of guys. Playing time around here is going to be earned. You’ve got to be trusted.”

RED ZONE

Miami enters the week as one of 34 teams at the FBS level to score on every trip it has made into the red zone — the opposing 20-yard line — this season. The Hurricanes are 8 for 8 (five touchdowns, three field goals) in that situation in 2023.

Cristobal, in his weekly appearance Monday morning on the school’s flagship radio partner WQAM, said all test results have been encouraging. Kinchens was released from a hospital on Sunday. His family posted on social media a photo of him from the hospital bed, thanking people for their support and saying he was “doing better.”

“Ran all the tests and all the evaluations and he’s in good shape,” Cristobal said Monday. “He’s fine. He’s going to be well. He’s going to be really good. He doesn’t have anything that’s too serious. He just has some football stuff. We’re going to be in great shape.”

Kinchens appeared to take a big hit to his upper body during Miami’s 48-33 win over then-No. 23 Texas A&M on Saturday. Medical staff worked on him for several minutes before carting him off the field.

Cristobal didn’t reveal specifics of how long the team expect Kinchens to be sidelined. No. 22 Miami returned to the AP Top 25 this week after defeating the previously ranked Aggies, and plays host to Bethune-Cookman on Thursday night.

A picture taken at Jackson Memorial Hospital showed Kamren Kinchens smiling and holding up the “U” in his bed with his mother standing by his side.

The 20-year-old All-America safety thanked everyone for their prayers in a message posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Kinchens appeared to be in good spirits a day after a scary hit during a home game pitting the Hurricanes against Texas A&M.

On Monday, Hurricane’s coach Mario Cristobal provided an update on Kinchens’ condition.

“They’re all progressing well, you know, they’ll all be evaluated daily and assessed by our medical staff, team doctors and whatnot, but they’re all progressing really well and we’ll know a little bit more later in the week,” Cristobal said.

Cristobal referred to all of his injured players, including Kinchens.

The incident happened during the fourth quarter as Kinchens was attempting to tackle Aggies receiver Ainias Smith.

The team’s medical staff quickly rushed to the field.

As Kinchens’ teammates embraced, fans crossed their fingers and players took a knee until he was loaded onto a stretcher and taken off the field.

He was airlifted to JMH where he received further treatment and a full evaluation.

An outpouring of support followed — from loved ones and the college sports community, including Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal, who also rushed to be by his side.

The Hurricanes went on to win the game 48-33.

Speaking with reporters after the game, Kinchens’ teammates expressed their love for their fellow ‘Cane.

“I just pray he’s OK. I mean, I’m going to hop on FaceTime whenever he does get OK and just let him know that we love him, we’ve been praying for him and that we’re here for him,” said Hurricanes wide receiver Xavier Restrepo.

UM officials confirmed Kinchens was released from the hospital Sunday morning.

The Hurricanes are already getting what they worked for.

Tyler Van Dyke threw a career-high five touchdown passes Saturday, Brashard Smith returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score and Miami overcame a slow start to defeat No. 23 Texas A&M 48-33.

Smith caught a kick near Miami’s end zone and burst forward, untouched, for the Hurricanes’ longest score of the young year. He celebrated only briefly on the sideline, then scampered back onto the field for kickoff coverage.

The play gave the Hurricanes an eight-point lead in the third quarter, and they built on that. It was a stark turnaround after Texas A&M jumped out to a 10-point first-quarter lead.

“Players are stepping up,” said receiver Xavier Restrepo, who had six catches for 126 yards. “Last year, it felt like the coaches had more energy than the players. This year, we all sat down the first day of spring training camp and were like, ‘This is our team, not the coaches’ team.’”

Van Dyke had two touchdown passes of 3 yards, as well as 52-, 11- and 64-yard scores. He finished with 374 yards passing to bring his season total to 575 — an impressive start after he struggled last year.

“I feel accuracy-wise, I’m the best I’ve ever been,” said Van Dyke, who was 21 of 30 with no interceptions. “Seeing the defense, I’m the best I’ve ever been. I’m seeing really well right now, and the confidence is a big thing there.”

Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman had 336 yards passing, including a 9-yard TD pass on fourth down to Noah Thomas that brought the Aggies within eight points with five minutes. On the next drive, Miami’s Jacolby George caught a 64-yard touchdown pass — his third score of the day.

Weigman threw his first collegiate interception when safety Kamren Kinchens caught a pass intended for Ainias Smith in the third.

Kinchens was later carted off the field and taken to the hospital after a scary hit. Miami coach Mario Cristobal said he thinks Kinchens will be OK.

The Hurricanes lost to Texas A&M 17-9 a year ago in a down 5-7 season.

In Cristobal’s second year, Miami (2-0) now has new offensive and defensive coordinators and a revamped offensive line after that unit was among their biggest weaknesses last season. The result has been a 250-yard rushing performance in a commanding 38-3 win over Miami (Ohio) in its opener and an impressive comeback win in the first real test of 2023.

“I felt like I could’ve went to sleep and woke up and still run my route with the O-line,” Restrepo said.

Miami ran into a massive wall in the Aggies defensive line, which features multiple five-star recruits. Texas A&M (1-1) limited Miami to 77 yards rushing and 3.2 yards per rush. The Hurricanes made up for it in the passing game, as their receivers broke free for 241 yards after the catch.

The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Colbie Young hauled in six passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.

The Aggies, led by sixth-year head coach Jimbo Fisher and new offensive coordinator and play-caller Bobby Petrino totaled 433 yards, but gave up 451.

“We made plays in all three phases,” Fisher said. “But we gave plays up in all three phases.”

Special teams jumpstarted the Aggies’ offense early.

Texas A&M’s first drive of the game started at Miami’s 15 after a blocked punt, and Weigman strutted into the endzone from the 1 to cap a three-play, 57-second drive that gave the Aggies a 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the Aggies recovered a muffed punt by George, which led to a 9-yard rushing touchdown by Amari Daniels, making it 17-7.

George made up for it when he caught the go-ahead touchdown that made it 21-17 just before halftime.

Aggies receiver Evan Stewart had 11 catches for 142 yards.

Lightning in the area delayed the start of the game by about 30 minutes.

A RARE VISIT

Texas A&M is the second SEC opponent to ever face the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium, and first since the Florida Gators visited in 2013. Miami won that game 21-16.

THE TAKEAWAY

Texas A&M: After a strong first quarter, the Aggies came undone with a missed field goal, interception and fumble in the latter three quarters — all momentum-killing plays on the road.

Miami: With a dominant win in their season opener and a statement win over a ranked opponent, Miami is showing that it is vastly improved from last year’s team.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Texas A&M is at risk of tumbling out of the AP Top 25 after the loss.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M: Hosts Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

Miami: Hosts Bethune-Cookman on Thursday.

Kinchens was attempting to tackle Aggies receiver Ainias Smith on the play. He remained down on the ground, and his teammates immediately motioned toward the Miami sideline for the medical staff to come onto the field.

Medical personnel tended to Kinchens as players from both teams took a knee in a game that Miami led 48-33 with 1:33 left.

After working on Kinchens for several minutes, the medical staff loaded him onto a stretcher and carted him off the field. He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Miami coach Mario Cristobal said early reports were that things are “relatively normal” with Kinchens. Cristobal said he was headed to the hospital following his postgame news conference but thinks Kinchens will be OK.

“It’s as hard as it gets. You’ve got parents in the stands,” Cristobal said. “Very hopeful. I don’t like to get ahead of myself, but I’d like to think that everything is trending in the right direction.”

The crowd, which was electric as Miami mounted a comeback after falling into an early 10-point hole, fell silent. A few of his teammates gathered in a circle in a prayer.

Kinchens had a big game up to that point with an interception of Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman in the third quarter.

They’ll quickly turned their attention to Texas A&M, which caused their first loss of the 2022 season and jumpstarted a three-game losing streak.

“Already on it,’’ said safety Kamren Kinchens after the opener, snapping his fingers to represent how swiftly the Hurricanes moved on. “Real good team. We’re going to take in this win and enjoy it, but we know who we got next and we know what our mental state has got to be.’’

The No. 23 Aggies will enter Saturday’s matchup with the Hurricanes coming off a 52-10 rout of New Mexico and hungry to capitalize off that momentum after a disappointing 2022 season.

New Aggies starting quarterback Conner Weigman became the first Aggie to pass for five touchdowns in regulation since Johnny Manziel in 2013. He finished 18 of 23 with 236 yards passing before heading to the sideline in the fourth quarter.

The Aggies last scored 52 points in a 2021 win over Prairie View A&M. The last time they scored that many points against an FBS opponent was in a 74-72 win over LSU in 2018, a game that went to seven overtimes.

“They’re really good,” said Miami’s second-year coach Mario Cristobal. “Not only in the past game but they’ve shown even last year how good they can be. They score a lot of points and make a lot of explosive plays. That’s probably what stuck out most about last game — the score kept changing in a hurry because of the explosive plays that they made.”

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said Weigman had time to make good throws because of protection up front.

“Offensive line did a really nice job,” Fisher said. “We had time to throw the ball. We had clean pockets. We could drive the ball down the field and give us space to be able to do the things you want to do. You can draw it up all you want, but if you don’t have time and space, it doesn’t work.”

The Hurricanes showed early improvements from where they were a year ago, when starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke battled injuries and their defense uncharacteristically struggled.

The key for Miami will be not repeating some of the red zone struggles from last year’s game.

“It’s such a big part of fall camp,” Cristobal said. “It’s such a big part of your game plan. Last year we really struggled in the red zone, and they were, I believe, a top-seven red-zone defense in the country. They just do a good job of forcing you to just earn every inch down there.”

AGGRESSIVE D-LINE

The Aggies boast one of the biggest and most talented defensive fronts in the country and will pose a challenge for Miami’s runners, who recorded 250 yards on the ground last week.

Cristobal has paid close attention to Texas A&M’s defense.

“A lot,” Cristobal responded when asked what stands out to him about the Aggies defensive line. “They’re disruptive because they’re explosive players that are really thick and powerful. But they’re also athletic where they can counter. They can get themselves out of tough positions.”

INSTANT IMPACT

Boston College graduate transfer Josh DeBerry made an immediate impact with a sack and an interception in his Aggies’ debut.

DeBerry said going against the deep receiving corps in fall camp helped him prepare for the season.

“I’m truly blessed that ended up here and with the receiving corps that I’ve had to go against,” he said. “I’m just glad I don’t have to go against them anymore. I’m glad I get to root for them on Saturdays now.”

Fisher said DeBerry’s maturity and versatility on film made the Aggies confident in his ability to contribute right away to their stout defensive unit.

“With portal guys, especially when they only have one year, can they make an immediate impact?” Fisher said. “And how much impact can they have quickly? Also, is he a guy that all right, if he doesn’t become the starter, is he content with ‘OK, I’m still playing and getting playing time.’ … That guy was very mature, the production he had on film, we thought he was an excellent player.”

Coming off a shoulder injury that hindered him last season, Van Dyke connected on his first five passes. The Hurricanes’ fourth-year quarterback finished 17 of 22 with 201 yards and an interception. He said he bruised his thumb about a week ago, but it didn’t affect him much.

“Overall, I felt pretty accurate,” Van Dyke said. “The line did a good job protecting for me. I only took one hit, so happy with the performance. Happy with the win. Definitely need to clean the interception up a little bit, but gotta move on and prepare for next week.”

Brett Gabbert, who is the brother of Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert, completed 12 of 21 passes with 127 yards for the RedHawks.

Van Dyke found receiver Colbie Young for a 44-yard score on the Hurricanes’ first offensive possession, but three of the team’s four scoring drives ended in field goals.

Freshman Mark Fletcher Jr. scored on a 26-yard run on Miami’s first drive of the second half, set up by a 20-yard pass over the middle from Van Dyke to Xavier Restrepo. A successful two-point conversation made it 24-3.

Henry Parrish Jr. led the Hurricanes with 90 yards rushing and added a 12-yard rushing score in the fourth quarter.

“It’s the way it should be. When Miami was really good, you remember those running back rooms, what they were like,” said Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal.

The RedHawks could not generate much offense against a Miami defense showing early improvements from a unit that finished in the bottom half of the ACC last year in yards allowed per play.

Four of the first five drives for Miami-Ohio resulted in punts, and Gabbert was sacked twice.

Graham Nicholson nailed a 48-yard field goal for the RedHawks just before halftime to make it 16-3 at the break.

Gage Larvadain led Miami-Ohio with 80 receiving yards, including 71 yards after the catch.

“As the game went on, our defense played too many snaps,” said Miami-Ohio coach Chuck Martin. “That’s not their fault. That’s mostly our offense’s fault. Left them on the field too long. As we got worn down, they ran the ball better in the second half.”

The Hurricanes moved the ball with ease thanks to their potent rushing attack. Behind a revamped offensive line, the Hurricanes outgained the Redhawks 152 to -4 in the first half, and 242 of their 485 total yards were on the ground.

Emory Williams replaced Van Dyke with a 28-point lead and played the final 9:15. Aveon Smith replaced Gabbert.

Donald Chaney Jr.’s 20-yard TD run with less than five minutes remaining capped the scoring, and Miami snapped a five-game home losing streak.

“Coach Cristobal has really been on us about making sure Hard Rock is the hardest place in college football,” said Miami’s All-American safety Kamren Kinchens, “so day in and day out that’s what we do. Make sure we’re working as hard as we can so when we get here, we earned it.”

Lightning in the area delayed the start of the game by about 25 minutes.

THE REAL MIAMI?

The RedHawks (established 1809) are Miami University, and the Hurricanes (established 1925) are the University of Miami. The battle between the two Miami’s has been dubbed the “Confusion Bowl,” and there has been subtle jabbing about which team is the “real” Miami.

“The real Miami is where?” a reporter asked Gabbert during a news conference earlier this week.

“Oxford, Ohio,” Gabbert replied. “We’ll show them September 1.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Miami-Ohio: The RedHawks were outsized, lost the battle at the line of scrimmage and did not take advantage of holding the Hurricanes to field goals early.

Miami: The Hurricanes’ offense was balanced with the experience of Van Dyke, plus new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson. The running back-by-committee approach resulted in three different rushers amassing more than 40 yards on the ground.

UP NEXT

Miami (OH): At UMass on Sept. 9.

Miami: Hosts No. 23 Texas A&M on Sept. 9.

Line: Miami by 17 1/2, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Series record: Miami leads 3-0.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

There should be some sort of Miami trophy or something, but all that’s at stake is just a 1-0 record. It’s imperative that the Hurricanes get off to a good start, both to help move past last season’s 5-7 debacle and tune up for a Week 2 showdown with Texas A&M.

Miami (Ohio) is facing a Power 5 opponent to open a season for the 14th time in the last 22 seasons. The RedHawks have lost each of their last 12 such games; the last win over a Power 5 in Week 1 was at North Carolina in the 2002 campaign.

KEY MATCHUP

Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke against an experienced defense. The RedHawks bring back nine starters from a defense that was very good for much of last season despite the team’s 6-7 record. Van Dyke struggled with shoulder issues in 2022 and banged up a thumb in training camp this year, but has said he’s already clicking in the Hurricanes’ new offense.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Miami (Ohio): QB Brett Gabbert. The name should sound familiar; he is Blaine Gabbert’s brother. He’s thrown for 6,259 yards and 45 touchdowns so far in college.

Miami: S Kam Kinchens. A returning All-American, Kinchens emerged as both the best player and best leader on Miami’s defense last season. There is a slew of talent around him on that side of the ball; the question is how quickly the Hurricanes can make the pieces fit.

FACTS & FIGURES

Miami defensive coordinator Lance Guidry was a defensive assistant at Miami (Ohio) in 2009 and 2010. … The last meeting between the teams was a 54-3 win for the Hurricanes in 1987 on their way to the school’s second national championship and a 12-0 record. … In an effort to clear up some confusion, the RedHawks (established 1809) are Miami University, and the Hurricanes (established 1925) are the University of Miami. … Neither school plays home games in “Miami.” The Hurricanes’ home field is in Miami Gardens; the RedHawks’ home field is in Oxford, Ohio. … Former University of Miami President Donna Shalala got one of her college degrees in 1962 from the Western College for Women — which is now part of, yes, Miami University.

For Van Dyke, Miami’s starting quarterback who was being talked about as a Heisman Trophy contender at this time last year, it’s the lump on his shoulder that is a constant souvenir from a very frustrating 2022 season. For Kinchens, the safety who tied for the national lead in interceptions during the regular season, it’s a banner bearing his name over the practice field — Miami’s tribute to All-Americans.

“I don’t look at it,” Kinchens said. “Nothing I did in my sophomore year is going to help us win in my junior year.”

Miami is looking forward, not backward, and there’s good reason for that. The Hurricanes sputtered in Year 1 of the rebuild being engineered by coach Mario Cristobal, the former Miami star offensive lineman who won national titles there as a player and is trying to get his alma mater back into the national spotlight. They were 5-7, not even making a bowl game, and are essentially starting anew again in a loaded Atlantic Coast Conference with new coordinators; Shannon Dawson on offense, Lance Guidry on defense.

“Whenever you start up at a program again and it has a rebuilding aspect, you have to sometimes go through a season like that and not make any excuse or sugar-coat it, but you go directly at the things that need to be addressed, and it starts with people,” Cristobal said. “People in the locker room, people on the coaching staff, people in a support staff role. … In other words, the steps that you cannot skip, those things have been in full force since the end of last season.”

Van Dyke’s shoulder is tip-top again, which is a far cry from how it was down the stretch last season. He would get shots to numb his throwing (right) shoulder as close to game time as possible after being hurt, temporarily hiding the pain, as if that was going to make him forget that he was playing injured.

And the shots worked. For about an hour, anyway. Problem is, college football games last for three or four hours.

It was a painful part of a painful year. That right shoulder is healed now, and on it sits much of the hope for Miami in 2023. Van Dyke, who considered leaving either through the transfer portal or the NFL draft, is back for one more run with the Hurricanes.

“It’s just that this is where I want to be,” Van Dyke said. “Miami’s the spot.”

PROTECTING TVD

The starting offensive line tasked with protecting Van Dyke might be an entirely new unit. UCF transfer center Matt Lee already is a clear leader, and freshmen Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola are also highly touted. “We just have to hang our hats on being the toughest, meanest guys on the field every single snap, every single game,” Lee said.

FRESHMAN TO WATCH

Rueben Bain Jr. has been wowing the Hurricanes from the moment the local product from Miami Central got on campus. The super-talented defensive lineman could be an impact player from Week 1, and it’s safe to say he’s going to get excellent position coaching. Miami Dolphins legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor is coaching the Hurricanes’ defensive line.

FOR KICKS

The Hurricanes lost punter Lou Hedley to graduation; another Australian is set to take his place in Dylan Joyce. The kicking game will be handled again by Andres Borregales, who was 17 of 20 on field goals last season on his way to a second consecutive All-ACC honorable mention selection.

THE RANKING

Even after last season’s debacles, Miami was picked fifth in the ACC preseason poll. Had the conference’s divisional format still been in play, the Hurricanes would be second among the now-former Coastal teams behind only North Carolina. Here’s the bad news: The four teams picked ahead of Miami — Clemson, Florida State, the Tar Heels and N.C. State — all await the Hurricanes in a five-week stretch midway through the year.

SCHEDULE

The rare Miami-Miami game (Miami of Ohio visits) awaits as the opener on Sept. 1, followed by former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M coming in for Week 2. Miami has six of its first eight games at home, then finishes with three of four on the road — including the annual matchup with Florida State on Nov. 11.

Hannah and Haley Cavinder thought the focus of the story was going to be on how they leveraged new rules from the NCAA into a money-making opportunity.

It turned out to be far from that.

Being part of the powerhouse basketball team, they went all the way to the program’s first Elite Eight this past season.

“I would have never envisioned myself in this moment, so I’m just trying to take it all in, said Haley.

The twins have had major success both on and off the court. They gained huge social media following their TikTok account, which sits at 4.5 million followers.

They’ve also been cashing in on that fame ever since the NCAA changed the rules on how student-athletes can earn money from their name, image or likeness.

Forbes reported last year that, between the dozens of endorsements, the twins have earned nearly $2 million in deals.

But that attention hasn’t all been good.

A recent sports profile was slammed for how it portrayed these young women.

Hanna Cavinder tweeted a statement responding to the article writing in part: “The subsequent article not only demeaned our athletic and business accomplishments, it furthered the narrative that hard-working, creative and driven women can only do well if they are deemed attractive.”

Fox News contributor George ‘Tyrus’ Murdoch discussed the article in question in a recent segment.

“‘Hot girls?’ What was that about? Why can you just be proud of the fact that they made it to a Division I school, number one, not an easy task,” he said. “Most people don’t get to do that, but with the new rules in NCAA, they are able to capitalize off their collegiate experience, their hard work — they are dying to train — their sacrifice.”

Back in April, the twins announced plans to leave UM to take the next step in their careers. They’ve locked down deals with big brands like the WWE, Victoria’s Secret and Boost Mobile.

The Atlantic Coast Conference’s player of the year this season announced Monday that he intends to forgo his remaining eligibility and leave Miami for the NBA draft. Wong led Miami by averaging 16.3 points per game this season, leading the Hurricanes to a 29-8 record and a spot in the national semifinals.

“I stayed true to who I am while giving everything I’ve got for this team and for a city that has become a second home and an extension of my family,” said Wong, a 6-foot-4 guard from New Jersey. “I would do it all over again. With that said, I’m turning the page to the next chapter of my career to pursue my dreams of playing in the NBA.”

Wong has tested NBA waters before but opted to return to the Hurricanes after exploring his draft prospects. This time, he’s moving on — meaning he will be at least the second Miami starter from the Final Four team not to be back next season. Jordan Miller, whose college eligibility is exhausted, is the other.

Miller was second to Wong in scoring per game for the Hurricanes this season at 15.3 per contest.

“Coaching Isaiah Wong has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. My staff and I are so happy for Isaiah for all he has accomplished,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “We are excited for him as he continues to pursue his dream of playing in the NBA and look forward to supporting him in any way we can to make that a reality.”

Wong finishes his Miami career with 1,866 points, fourth-best in school history. He’s a three-time All-ACC player and helped Miami to both the Elite Eight last season and the school’s first Final Four trip this season.

The Hurricanes lost in the national semifinals to eventual champion Connecticut.

“His passion for winning set the tone for our locker room chemistry and he helped Miami basketball reach heights it never has before,” Larrañaga said. “Isaiah is unquestionably one of the greatest athletes in the history of our school and we cannot wait to see what he accomplishes as a professional.”

The Cavinder twins — two of the most prominent athletes in the name, image and likeness era of college athletics — announced Tuesday that they will not return to the Hurricanes next season, ending their Miami tenure after one year with the program.

The Cavinders — who are 22 and were listed as seniors on the Miami roster — both played four seasons in college, but they could have played next season, too, because of the NCAA ruling that restored a year of eligibility to all athletes who went through a pandemic-affected season.

They transferred from Fresno State to Miami in April 2022 with hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament and probably exceeded even their own expectations by helping the Hurricanes fall just short of reaching the Final Four.

“We would like to thank our teammates and coaches for bringing us in as family and being part of a historic season,” the twins said in a statement. “With that being said, Hanna and I have decided to not take our fifth year and start a new chapter in our lives. The U will always be home and we are forever proud to be Hurricanes.”

Haley Cavinder ended this season with 2,065 career points, which was 19th-most among all active Division I players. She averaged 12.2 points per game this season, a team best for Miami — and her 65 makes from 3-point range was another team high, by a wide margin.

Hanna Cavinder averaged 3.8 points this season for Miami. The Hurricanes lost a regional final to eventual national champion LSU, ending the year with a 22-13 record.

The decision was a bit of a surprise, at least from the standpoint of one of the twins. Haley Cavinder said before the NCAA Tournament that she planned to return to the Hurricanes next season for what would have been her final year of collegiate eligibility. Hanna Cavinder said at that time she was leaning toward no longer playing after this season.

And that begged the question: Would one Cavinder twin play without the other? Barring a change of heart, their announcement Tuesday provided the answer.

“I love basketball,” Hanna Cavinder told The Associated Press last month when she discussed leaning toward not playing. “I ride or die basketball. I’ve given basketball so much of my life. And sometimes I’m like, ‘I just want to breathe.’ I really just want to breathe. I want to live. I don’t want to be on a plan. I don’t want to be on a schedule. But at the end of the day, I’m so competitive in life that I don’t know if I’m going to regret it or not.”

The twins have 4.5 million followers on TikTok, part of their enormous footprint in the social media space. When the NIL era started on July 1, 2021, and NCAA rules began allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, the Cavinders were among the first stars: Boost Mobile signed them immediately, touting the deal with a giant advertisement in New York’s Times Square, and many other deals followed.

“What started as us playing basketball 16 years ago turned into something bigger than we could ever imagine,” the twins said Tuesday.

Their decision to come to Miami was scrutinized, and a probe by the NCAA led to coach Katie Meier missing the first three games of this season through a university-imposed suspension that was handed down in anticipation of sanctions surrounding how the twins and their family met with a Hurricanes booster before signing.

The NCAA probe never accused the Cavinders of wrongdoing. Miami eventually was placed on one year of probation after the school and the NCAA agreed that coaches arranged impermissible contact between the booster and the Cavinders.

Saturday night’s 72-59 loss against the UConn Huskies at NRG Park in Houston wasn’t the storybook ending that the Miami Hurricanes were hoping for, but fans on Sunday cheered for the players on the Coral Gables campus, as they celebrated the team’s 2023 run.

7News cameras captured fans cheering outside the Watsco Center shortly after the players arrived.

UM men’s basketball head coach Jim Larrañaga made the “U” sign moments after he stepped off the bus.

“For us, to beat Drake, Indiana and Houston, a No. 1 seed, Texas, a No. 2 seed, to accomplish what we did — getting to the Final Four for the first time in the school’s history — is something to be very proud of,” said Larrañaga. “I’ve told our players, I’ve told our fans: this is a lifelong memory. You will never forget this.”

UM hosted a watch party for the game at the Watsco Center on Saturday.

Jordan Hawkins overcame his stomach bug and scored 13 for the Huskies, who came into this most unexpected Final Four as the only team with any experience on college basketball’s final weekend and with the best seeding of the four teams in Houston — at No. 4.

Against fifth-seeded Miami, they were the best team on the court from beginning to end. Starting with three straight 3s — one jumper from Hawkins and two set shots from Sanogo — UConn took a quick 9-0 lead and never trailed.

On Monday in the title game, the Huskies will face San Diego State, which became the first team to hit a buzzer-beater while trailing in a Final Four game for a 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic.

That was an all-timer. This one — more of the same from the Huskies (30-8). The double-digit victory over Miami was UConn’s closest win in five tournament games.

Some thought Miami (29-8), with four players who have scored 20 points at least three times this season, might be the team to challenge the Huskies. Not to be.

Isaiah Wong led the ’Canes with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Harassed constantly by Sanogo, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan and the rest of Connecticut’s long-armed, rangy perimeter players, Miami, which came in with the nation’s fifth-best offense, shot 25% in the first half and 33.3% for the game.

UConn had its own sort of buzzer-beater. It was a 3 from Alex Karaban that sent the Huskies and coach Dan Hurley jogging into the locker room with a 13-point halftime lead.

The Huskies built it to 20 before the first TV timeout of the second half. By then, Jim Nantz, calling his last Final Four, could start saving his voice for Monday.

Miami did get it under double digits a few times, but this never got interesting. Not helping: Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack missed about 5 minutes after managers had trouble locating a substitute for a malfunctioning shoe. Pack finished with eight in this one, and Jordan Miller, who hit all 20 shots he took from the floor and the line in Miami’s Elite Eight win, went 4 for 10 for 11 points. Only one Miami player made more than half his shots.

UConn had five blocks, including two from Sanogo, and 19 assists, led by eight from Tristen Newton — both signs of the sort of all-around effort the Huskies have been putting in since the start of February, after a six-loss-in-eight-games stretch halted their momentum.

That cold stretch is a big reason they were seeded only fourth for March. Now it’s April and the number UConn is thinking about is “5” — as in a fifth title that will come if it can keep this up for one more game.

Students, staff, alumni and other South Floridians filled up the Watsco Center on the Coral Gables campus, Saturday night.

“I’m really excited; that’s all I can say,” said student Jayda Changar.

Attendees are there to watch the Canes make history, as the men’s basketball team competes in the NCAA Final Four for the first time, ever.

“I feel pumped. I’m so excited; I’m all merched out, like, I’ve got the sign, all of that. It just feels really exciting,” said student Jene Turner.

Students at the watch party said it’s about time.

“I can’t believe we made it to the Final Four,” said student Tyreke Walker. “I’ve been watching since last year when we made it to the Sweet 16, it was pretty cool. We made it to the Elite 8; now I’m excited that we made it to the Final Four.”

However Saturday’s game ends, these fans said, it’s just nice to see the Canes make it this far.

“Hopefully we win, because they’d be at the championship game, but even if we lose, the team fought pretty good, they put up a good fight,” said Walker.

“Whatever happens, they got there, and that means the world,” said a fan.

“We need to win. This is important for all of us,” said another fan. “We didn’t come this far just to stop here.”

But in the end, the Huskies prevailed, defeating the Hurricanes 72-59 and advancing to the title game against the San Diego State University Aztecs. San Diego State’s team pulled off a buzzer-beating 72-71 win against the Florida Atlantic University Owls.

UConn.

When the Huskies tip off against Miami in Saturday’s second semifinal, they will be two wins away from their fifth national title since 1999. No other school has won more over that span.

When the name “UConn” came up with a “4” seed next to its name three weekends ago on Selection Sunday, nobody raised too much of a stink. Four wins later — after no opponent came within 15 points of the Huskies — it’s becoming apparent this is a team that might have been overlooked. Or underestimated.

“A lot of things happened,” coach Dan Hurley said in explaining how UConn’s profile went from world beater to middle of the pack in midseason.

Most of that had to do with a string of six losses in eight games starting on New Year’s Eve. It was a dry spell that coincided, according to the coach, with a stretch where “we didn’t guard anybody for two weeks.” It also included two games against a then-top 25 Xavier team before it lost its star, Zach Freemantle, and a feud Hurley launched against Big East referees that he said distracted him from coaching his team.

“We left that behind,” Hurley said. “In November, December, February, March, we’ve been as good as anybody.”

UConn (29-8) ended the regular season listed eighth in the NCAA NET Rankings, a key guide for the selection committee that rates teams based on the strength of their schedules and other factors. That would’ve put UConn at a 2 seed. Meanwhile, Miami (29-7) was 35th in those rankings, which would’ve corresponded with a 7 seed, not the 5 the Hurricanes received.

The combined seedings of the four Final Four teams is 23 — the second highest since seeding began in 1979.

“How your season starts is not really reflective of how you might be in February and March,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “And it’s an impossible task for the committee to seed 1 through 68 and for everything to fall into place.”

But things have slotted in nicely for the ‘Canes.

Their run to the Final Four has been sparked by one player, Isaiah Wong, whose agent put out word that Wong was considering the transfer portal if he couldn’t get a better NIL deal, and a few others, Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier, who came from elsewhere to help Larrañaga fill in a few pieces from a team that made the Elite Eight last year. Many viewed an NIL deal worth a reported $800,000 as an obvious reason Pack left Kansas State and chose the Hurricanes.

Larrañaga thinks it was more than that.

“I hope, and I really do assume, and I’m pretty sure I know, that Nijel saw the opportunity he had with Charlie graduating,” Larrañaga said of the departure of 12-points-per-game guard Charlie Moore.

All that sort of shuffling across the country has been cited as a major reason the tournament has felt so jumbled this season, and left us with a Final Four nobody saw coming.

Well, maybe not no one.

In a sign the Huskies aren’t fooling anyone anymore, UConn is a prohibitive 10-13 favorite to win it all, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Some might argue UConn has been as good as anyone over the past quarter century. With players such as Rip Hamilton, Kemba Walker and Emeka Okafor leading the way, the Huskies won titles in 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014.

But shortly after 2014, the program disintegrated in the wake of recruiting violations and the ugly departure of of coach Kevin Ollie. Hurley got the job in 2018 and saw UConn was ranked 170th on the KenPom analytics rankings.

“And you start looking at who was 165 and who was 172, and UConn shouldn’t be in this neighborhood,” Hurley said.

The Final Four feels like more familiar territory for this program.

ILLNESS

UConn’s second-leading scorer, Jordan Hawkins, came down with a non-COVID illness and missed Friday’s practice. Hurley said he was optimistic that the sophomore, who averages 16 points a game, had been isolated from the team in quick enough fashion to not get anyone else sick.

“Hopefully it just doesn’t continue to spread, and hopefully Jordan’s good to go, or at least give us something,” Hurley said.

DANCING

Some people would call it a win-lose. Larrañaga is getting buzz for his post-victory locker-room dancing celebrations that looks like a cross between the gopher in “Caddyshack” and Elaine from “Seinfeld.”

There’s a reason, Larrañaga said, that they call this “The Big Dance,” and he’s not going to slow down now.

“If I can entertain my players, bring a smile to their face or have them laugh, that’s great because I got thick skin,” he said. “I don’t worry about stuff like that.”

A devotee of Franklin Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Jim Larrañaga chose Habit 2 to describe Miami’s first trip to the Final Four.

“You’ve got to have a vision of where you’re going,” Larrañaga said. “It’s like putting in your GPS, your destination, and I think we put in Houston as our destination. That was going to be our road map.”

Larrañaga has been down this road before.

With Larrañaga at the helm, George Mason had one of the greatest mid-major runs in NCAA Tournament history, pulling off one upset after another — and a nation of underdog fans with them — all the way to the 2006 Final Four.

“He was a teacher, he was a mentor, a wizard,” said Tony Skinn, a guard on the 2006 George Mason team who was named head coach of his alma mater on Thursday. “When you have a chance to play for a guy like that, you get the results we ended up getting. It’s not surprising he’s in this position. It’s a new group, but same Jedi master.”

Larrañaga’s first Final Four run started with some Selection Sunday sweat.

The Patriots shared the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title with UNC Wilmington, but lost to Hofstra in the conference tournament semifinals. An at-large bid was their only hope to get into the NCAA Tournament.

“It was like, yeah, we’re going to watch it, but I didn’t think we’d get in,” said Folarin Campbell, a guard on the 2006 team. “We were sitting at Coach L’s house and I can remember everyone just jumping up and down, cheering. It was a great feeling.”

The good vibes kept flowing.

A No. 11 seed, George Mason pulled off its first upset by knocking off Michigan State, a Final Four team the year before.

The Patriots took down North Carolina two days later, creating a campus-wide euphoria back in Fairfax, Virginia. The jubilation exploded the next week after wins over Wichita State and UConn sent the Patriots to the Final Four for the first time.

“That school is pretty big, so you don’t always see everybody in the same space,” Skinn said. “When we came back, you would have thought they enrolled an extra 100,000 people while we were gone.”

George Mason lost to eventual national champion Florida in the Final Four but the madness-inducing run still endears — just like it will for the Hurricanes.

Miami has long been considered a football school. The men’s basketball program? It was once disbanded due to lack of interest on campus.

Leonard Hamilton brought the program back to life in the late 1990s. Now Larrañaga has carried the Hurricanes into uncharted waters.

The 73-year-old has led Miami to the Sweet 16 four times, including its first trip to the Elite Eight a year ago. The Hurricanes took another big first step with an Elite Eight win over Texas last weekend.

Students jumped into campus lakes and ponds. More than 100 people were waiting when the Hurricanes landed around 3 a.m. And the team had a huge sendoff before flying to Houston to face UConn in the national semifinals on Saturday.

“That was one of the greatest moments of my life,” said Miami forward Anthony Walker, wearing a black Final Four cowboy hat. “The energy has been electric and I guarantee you there will be a lot of Miami fans in that building.”

The two deep March runs 17 years apart had similar trajectories. The teams are similar as well.

An ACC school, Miami attracts higher-level recruits, yet the Hurricanes are undersized, gritty, play hard no matter the score — just like the Patriots were. Tenacity helped Miami rally from a 16-point deficit to beat Texas, just like the 2006 George Mason team did against North Carolina.

Larrañaga is the thread binding the two teams in history.

He’s a motivator and storyteller who also listens. He’s big on motivational quotes and Eastern philosophy, even if his players don’t always understand what he’s talking about. He takes joy in his players’ personal successes and even dances with them after big wins — maybe even a little better now than when he was dealing with hip pain 17 years ago.

“He just knows how to motivate guys,” Campbell said.

Things kick off with Florida Atlantic University as they face San Diego State in the NCAA Final Four game on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. That game is followed by the Miami Hurricanes versus Connecticut game on Saturday at 8:49 p.m.

Those who can’t make it to NRG Stadium in Houston will still have a chance to experience all the action.

UM announced it will host a watch party for students, faculty and alumni at the Watsco Center, home to the University of Miami men’s and women’s basketball teams. In attendance will be members of the women’s basketball team who recently made school history with their first Elite Eight appearance.

Tickets are required for entry at the Watsco Center and include access to the Hospitality Suite with food and beverage options for everyone. Also included in their ticket are two drink passes to redeem for wine or beer. Not only will fans enjoy the game on the big screen, but they will also rally with the Frost Band of the Hour and the University of Miami Spirit Squads. 

A portion of the general admission ticket purchased will support student scholarships.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and tip-off is scheduled for 8:49 p.m.

Students will get a free ticket and should check their student emails for more information. The general public can purchase tickets here.

FAU will also have a watch party for their game at the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and free food will be available.

An Instagram post that announced the watch party stated, “On Saturday night, the Owls accomplished what was previously thought to be unthinkable in their 35 years of existence.”

Admission is free.

And this year? Well, to put it kindly, who the heck are these guys?

The NCAA Tournament, the annual event that has told and sold and made marketing gold out of the story of underdogs and busted brackets has, for 2023, produced an extreme rendition of what happens when all that cherished unpredictability plays itself out to the end.

In one Final Four meeting Saturday, it will be San Diego State against Florida Atlantic. In the other, it will be Miami vs. UConn.

“I expect the prognosticators to pick us fifth at the Final Four,” Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May said in a nod to the reality that nobody really expected the Owls, or any of these teams, to be here.

Of the four programs descending on Houston this week, only one has ever sniffed a Final Four before. It’s the first time in 53 years that has happened.

With its four national titles and some famous names from the past, including Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker and Rip Hamilton, the name “Connecticut” certainly should ring a bell, even if it might not tread all the way into true blueblood territory.

Miami? That was a program that was literally shut down for 14 years in the 1970s and 1980s due to lack of interest. The school was too busy building a football program that would become (in)famous for winning with a certain panache.

May’s Florida Atlantic program? It’s a relative new kid on the block, a member of Division I since 1993 that is based in the retirement community of Boca Raton, a locale better known for its 4:30 dinner specials than its 7 p.m. tipoffs.

San Diego State? In their defense, maybe this shouldn’t be the Aztecs’ first Final Four. In 2020, they were 30-2 and generally slotted in as a No. 1 seed, albeit still an underdog to a stacked Kansas team that was the odds-on favorite. Then COVID hit and wiped that season off the boards.

“There are a lot of really good teams in college basketball, and the difference between winning and losing is paper thin,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said.

Will anyone, outside of the truest of diehards, bother to watch?

As of Thursday, a pair of seats in the nosebleed section for Saturday’s doubleheader — the most-anticipated day on the college hoops calendar — were going for around $100 each on the secondary market. A year ago, shortly after the Duke-Carolina matchup was set, the average price for those same seats nearly doubled to $800 a ticket.

There has been a lot of debate and even some handwringing about how one of America’s greatest sporting events produced a 4 seed, two 5s and a 9 — for a seed total of 23, which is the second-highest in history — that between them boast not a single McDonald’s All-American nor one consensus top-30 recruit.

The transfer portal, which allows players to come and go from school to school without having to sit out a year, might be the best explanation. Miami coach Jim Larranaga called it basketball’s form of “speed dating,” a get-rich-quick scheme that, with the right timing, chemistry and luck, can make a roster very good (or very bad) very quickly.

Some other possibilities: an NCAA selection committee that some say is divorced from reality; the ever-shifting landscape caused by name-image-likeness (NIL) deals that give players more leverage (and money); and, for sure, an abundance of flawed teams — including Alabama, Houston and Kansas — that were overvalued and placed at the top of the heap this year.

But before jumping to grand conclusions about matchups like these becoming the “new normal” at the Final Four, former Duke star and current TV analyst Jay Bilas reminds us that we are a scant 365 days removed from a completely different sort of get-together.

“I love the one about the narratives that you don’t need those McDonalds guys to win,” Bilas said. “OK, so don’t recruit the best players, and see how that goes for you. I just don’t understand how all this gets this way.”

A year ago, the tournament felt perfect. The country got its dose of Cinderella — namely, when 15 seed Saint Peter’s made a first-of-its-kind run into the Elite Eight. Then, a sense of perfectly timed normalcy took over.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski got to close out his career at the Final Four, and the end came against none other than archrival North Carolina. Joining those power programs in New Orleans last year were Kansas and Villanova, two more of the country’s great programs with seven national titles between them. The total seed value of those four teams: 13, with most of that accounted for by the Tar Heels, who got in as an 8 after knocking out Saint Pete’s.

So, will 2023 be remembered as the year when chaos took over for good, or just a minor blip in the proceedings while all those Jayhawks and Blue Devils reload?

“The tournament is about a lot of different things to a lot of different people,” Bilas said. “Some people love it for the brackets, some people love it for the basketball. But no matter who’s in the Final Four, the bandwagon is always wide open, and you can jump on it whenever you want.”

On Wednesday, the Hurricanes were given a send-off by fans as they continue to look for a magic run during the NCAA tournament.

Hurricanes Coach Jim Larrañaga gave the team a pep talk before their 40-minute practice.

The team advanced after beating Texas and overcoming a 13-point deficit in the Elite Eight.

After beating Texas, the Hurricanes will now face the University of Connecticut Saturday night for a shot to play in Monday night’s championship game.

“We really don’t care because just about every team we’ve played, other than Drake, we’ve been the underdog, and that’s hard for me to understand when we’re ACC regular season champs, and I think the ACC is the best conference in America,” Larrañaga said.

“I feel like being an underdog, we play underdog this whole year, I feel, and it’s just another game as an underdog, and it just feels like the last game, Texas and Houston,” said Isaiah Wong, Hurricanes guard.

Larrañaga told 7News that once the team arrives in Houston, at around 4 p.m., they will have meetings, film study and then they will have a big steak dinner with the team.

On Thursday, the team will get to work, practicing and getting ready to play UConn in Saturday’s second game in the Final Four.

The sting of an Elite Eight defeat was fresh to those who were there. And they made everyone else feel it, too.

“That loss sat with me for a really long time,” the Hurricanes’ Jordan Miller said. “It doesn’t go away, and the fact that we had the opportunity to come back and make amends, make it right, that’s what was pushing me.”

Miller responded with a perfect performance against second-seeded Texas in the Midwest Region final Sunday. Along with Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Isaiah Wong and March dynamo Nijel Pack, Miller rallied the Hurricanes from a 13-point second-half deficit for an 88-81 victory that clinched that long-awaited trip to the national semifinals.

“How hard we fought to come back in this game, especially on a stage like this, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Pack, one of Miami’s newcomers. “I know how much these guys wanted to win this game, especially being here last year and losing the Elite Eight, and now being able to take it to the Final Four is something special.”

Miller finished with 27 points, going 7 of 7 from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half against the Longhorns, who had been the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament.

Now, the No. 5 seed Hurricanes (29-7) have a date with No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night in Houston. Two more Final Four newbies, fifth-seeded San Diego State and No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic, will play in the other national semifinal.

It’s the first time since seeding began in 1979 that no team seeded better than No. 4 made the Final Four, so perhaps it is fitting that Miami coach Jim Larrañaga is involved. He took George Mason there as an 11 seed 17 years ago to the day.

Miami was a 10 seed last year when it lost 76-50 to eventual national champion Kansas in a regional final.

“No one wanted to go home,” said Miller, coincidentally a George Mason transfer, who joined Duke’s Christian Laettner as the only players since 1960 to go 20 for 20 combined from the field and foul line in an NCAA tourney game. “We came together. We stuck together. We showed really good perseverance and the will — the will to just want to get there.”

After Miami climbed back from a 64-51 deficit with 13:22 to play, the game was tied at 79-all when Norchad Omier was fouled by the Longhorns’ Brock Cunningham while going for a loose ball. He made both of the foul shots to give the Hurricanes the lead, then stole the ball from Texas star Marcus Carr at the other end, and Wong made to more free throws with 34 seconds remaining to keep them ahead for good.

Miller kept drilling foul shots down the stretch to ice the Midwest Region title for the Hurricanes.

Wooga Poplar scored 16 points, and Pack followed up his virtuoso performance against top-seeded Houston with 15, as the same school that once dropped hoops entirely in the 1970s advanced to the game’s biggest stage.

“You just love when your players accomplish a goal they set out before the season,” Larrañaga said.

Carr led the Longhorns (29-9) with 17 points, though he was bothered by a hamstring injury late in the game. Timmy Allen added 16 and Sir’Jabari Rice had 15 in the finale of a season that began with the firing of Chris Beard over domestic violence charges that were later dropped and ended with interim coach Rodney Terry consoling a heartbroken team.

“These guys more than any group I’ve worked with in 32 years of coaching have really embodied, in terms of staying the course, being a team,” Terry said, choking up so hard on the postgame dais that he could barely speak. “They were so unselfish as a team, and they gave us everything they had. They really did.”

The Longhorns revealed about 90 minutes before tipoff that Dylan Disu, the Big 12 tourney MVP and early star of the NCAA Tournament, would miss the game with a foot injury. He hurt it in the second round against Penn State and only played about 90 seconds in the Sweet 16 against Xavier before watching the rest of that game in a walking boot.

Without their 6-foot-9 star, the Longhorns’ deep group of dangerous guards resorted to potshots from the perimeter against Miami’s porous defense. Rice hit two 3s early, Carr two of his own, and the Longhorns stormed to a 45-37 halftime lead.

On the other end, Texas tried to keep Pack and Wong from producing a sequel to their 3-point barrage against Houston.

Pack, who dropped seven 3s in the regional semifinal, didn’t even attempt one until there were 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half, and his best shot — a looping rainbow as he fell out of bounds — didn’t even count because it went over the backboard.

Wong took as many shots and scored as many points (two) as he had turnovers in the game’s first 20 minutes.

The Longhorns’ advantage stretched to 13 in the second half, and tension built on the Miami bench. At one point, Harlond Beverly and Larrañaga got into a verbal spat and the 73-year-old coach yanked the backup guard from the game.

Fortunately for the ’Canes, Pack and Wong were poised, Poplar and Miller seemingly possessed.

Still trailing 72-64 with about eight minutes to play, Pack and Wong joined Miller and Omier in turbocharging a 13-3 run to give the Hurricanes a 77-75 lead, their first since the opening minutes. When Rice answered at the other end for Texas, Miller calmly made two go-ahead free throws to begin his late-game parade to the line.

Carr made a nifty turnaround jumper to tie the game again for Texas, but the Miami momentum never slowed. Omier made two free throws with a minute left, swiped the ball from Carr at the other end, and Miller and Co. finished it off.

“We just all bought into staying together, keeping that hope alive,” Miller said, “and the way we just willed this one through, I think everybody played really well, and I think it really shows the poise of this squad.”

How did Miami become so good in basketball?

“I’ve heard of all the great football players that have been here,” Pack said, “but the basketball program has been coming up the last few years and people respect both now.”

The Hurricanes have doubled down on their basketball success with the men’s and women’s teams reaching the Elite Eight — and both knocking off No. 1 seeds along the way.

They will play Sunday for the opportunity to go to their first Final Fours. Jim Larrañaga’s men (28-7) will face second-seeded Texas in the afternoon in Kansas City and Katie Meier’s women (22-12) will meet three-seed LSU in the evening in Greenville, South Carolina.

“The two programs have a lot in common,” Meier said. “We’re very competitive, like a big brother-little sister or big sister-little brother, depending on who won that week. We get that way with each other and I love it. …

“Whether you’re laying on the training table next to somebody, one player next to the other player saying, ‘Why did you miss that shot?’ — they’re right there competing with each other in a very loving way. I think it’s elevated both of our programs.”

Miami’s mutual success comes as it has established itself as a model of the new era in college sports.

Like other programs, transfers have played a major role, but Miami also — very publicly — has gone full-steam ahead into name, image and likeness with mega booster John Ruiz providing lucrative deals to Pack and twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder.

The ninth-seeded women have never before advanced so far in the tournament, and it’s been a thrilling ride. They erased a 17-point halftime deficit to beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, beat No. 1 Indiana on Destiny Harden’s tie-breaking basket with 3.3 seconds left and eliminated No. 4 Villanova on Friday after squandering a 21-point lead in the second half.

The fifth-seeded men’s run to their second straight regional final has been no less exciting. They rallied from an eight-point deficit with under 5 minutes left to beat No. 12 Drake before posting a 16-point win over No. 4 Indiana. On Friday, they toppled No. 1 Houston by 14 points.

A version of the football-basketball question was the first to be asked at Larrañaga’s postgame news conference Friday. He detoured into paying homage to the school’s academic reputation and lauding the work of the women’s team.

Men’s player Wooga Poplar said he gets the question frequently when he’s on campus but was surprised it came up when he was talking to local fans in Kansas City.

“I just tell them football does football and we do basketball,” Poplar said, “and we’re both pretty good.”

Pack said he and his teammates have followed the women closely during this especially mad Miami March.

“It was really fun watching their game, seeing them beat Villanova, when they were expected to lose,” Pack said. “Making the Elite Eight for the first time in their program history is something that people didn’t think about at the beginning of the year.”

At the start of the year, Miami’s programs were in the spotlight mostly for their plunge into the NIL arena. Pack made headlines last spring when he left Kansas State and landed a deal with Ruiz; Ruiz says it pays $800,000 over two years and provides Pack with a car.

About the same time, the Cavinder twins, who built their bank accounts at Fresno State thanks to more than 4 million TikTok followers, transferred to Miami.

Their recruitment was instantly scrutinized and led to Meier missing the first three games of this season through a university-imposed suspension that was handed down in anticipation of NCAA sanctions. Last month, Miami was placed one year of probation after the school and the NCAA agreed that coaches arranged impermissible contact between Ruiz and the Cavinders.

But the talk now has shifted to what’s happening on the basketball courts.

Pack, who had 26 points and seven 3-pointers against Houston, is averaging 19.7 points per game in the tournament. ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong, who reportedly has a six-figure NIL deal, had 20 points against Houston and is averaging 17.3 in the tournament.

Haley Cavinder has led the women’s balanced offense with 12.5 points per game for the season. Jasmyne Roberts, an 8.4-point scorer for the season, went off for 26 against Villanova and is averaging 18 in the tournament.

Hanna Cavinder said she’s savoring everything the men and women are achieving.

“I think it’s cool to see us both doing this together in a sense, and bringing Miami more of like a basketball-school realm,” she said. “It’s just super exciting to be a part of. I know it’s probably something that might not be done again.”

Much to his players’ delight, the 73-year-old Miami coach busted moves straight out of the disco era in the locker room Friday night to celebrate an 89-75 Sweet 16 victory that left the tournament without a No. 1 seed among its final eight teams for the first time since seeding began in 1979.

Larrañaga is known to dance in the locker room after his biggest wins, and this one in the Big Dance surely qualified.

“We were all hyped up,” Jordan Miller said. “We love when Coach L dances. That’s probably the best celebration we could look forward to.”

Nijel Pack and Miami (28-7) hit shots from near and far against the stingiest defense in the country as the Hurricanes became only the fifth team this season to score at least 70 points against Houston (33-4).

“We just wanted it really bad,” Miller said. “We came into this game as the underdogs. We had a lead throughout the whole game. I wouldn’t say a comfortable lead, but a lead, and we just didn’t want to let up.”

The fifth-seeded Hurricanes made their second straight Elite Eight and will play second-seeded Texas or No. 3 seed Xavier in the Midwest Region final. Larrañaga is seeking his first Final Four with Miami and second overall — he took George Mason there as an 11 seed in 2006.

About 30 minutes before Houston’s loss, top overall seed Alabama fell to San Diego State in Louisville, Kentucky. Fellow No. 1 seeds Purdue and Kansas lost during the tournament’s first weekend.

The Cougars simply couldn’t stop a multifaceted Miami offense led by Pack’s 3-point shooting. He had season highs of seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts and 26 points.

Isaiah Wong’s mid-range game helped get the ‘Canes out to a fast start, and he finished with 20 points. Miller hurt the Cougars with his penetration and had 13 points, and Norchad Omier was his usual rugged self under the basket while recording his 16th double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

“We emphasized moving the ball and finding the open man, and the guys did such a fantastic job from start to finish,” Larrañaga said. “We only ended up with six turnovers. So that’s the name of the game. And we tied them in rebounding. A great performance by our guys.”

It was Pack who hit big shot after big shot, some from near the logo. He was comfortable inside T-Mobile Arena, where he played five games during his two seasons at nearby Kansas State.

“It’s a blessing to be back in this arena for sure,” Pack said. “My teammates found me early and kept me going. They instilled confidence in me from the jump ball. They kept feeding me and telling me to shoot the ball, and I shot it with a lot of confidence, and they were able to go in.”

Houston was in the Sweet 16 for a fourth straight time, had won 15 of its last 16 games and had the season-long goal of playing in next week’s Final Four in its home city.

“Unfortunately, one off-night and you go home in this tournament,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We just never could get a foothold. We kept climbing, and we’d get ahead of them, and then we just couldn’t put stops together.”

Miami used a 16-5 run spanning the halves to go up by double digits, with Omier’s three-point play and Miller’s short bank-in with the left hand making it 47-36 and prompting Sampson to call timeout less than two minutes into the second half.

Houston battled back to make it a two-point game, but then Pack made three 3s and Miller and Wooga Poplar hit one each to fuel a 16-2 run that put the Canes ahead 70-53. The lead grew to as much as 17 points, and Houston never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Walker led the Cougars with 16 points. Jamal Shead added 15 and All-American Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark had 14 apiece for the Cougars, who shot just 37% overall and 29% from distance.

“It was an amazing run,” Sasser said. “Came up short, but the time that we got to spend throughout these months, I couldn’t have asked for nothing better.”

Houston — which came into the game as a 7.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook — found itself behind at half for the second straight game after the Hurricanes played their sharpest half of the tournament.

Miami turned the ball over just once the first 20 minutes, converted Miami’s six turnovers into 15 points and shot 6 of 14 from distance against the second-best 3-point defense in the country.

Pack made four of them, and all were timely. His first three gave Miami leads and his fourth broke a 31-all tie.

“The Pack kid, some of the shots he made were shots you hope he takes,” Sampson said. “The problem was he made them. Some of those were Howitzers.”

BIG DAY FOR THE U

The Hurricanes reached the regional final just a few hours after Miami’s ninth-seeded women’s team hung on to beat Villanova and advance to the Elite Eight for the first time. Miami and UConn are the only schools with teams remaining in both tournaments.

Oh, about that dance Larrañaga did. He said it was to the Commodores’ 1985 song “Nightshift.”

Miller gave his coach’s moves a grade of A.

“Not an A-plus — it was a little stiff,” Miller said. “But he’s still very mobile for his age.”

The ninth-seeded Hurricanes (22-12) hung on down the stretch after Villanova made its push back in the game behind the latest big-scoring effort from All-American Maddy Siegrist.

When it was over, longtime coach Katie Meier turned and started jumping to hug her staff, while players and cheerleaders sprinted to midcourt to celebrate. Meier soon made her way to the sideline near a vocal set of Hurricanes fans and gave two thumbs-up amid the cheering, while Roberts stayed locked in a firm and emotional embrace with teammate Ja’Leah Williams.

Miami had reached the Sweet 16 only once before, in 1992. Now the Hurricanes will play Sunday for the Greenville Region 2 title against the LSU-Utah winner for a trip to the Final Four.

Siegrist, the nation’s scoring leader, had 31 points and 13 rebounds for fourth-seeded Villanova (30-7).

It’s about faith.

This season, Meier’s faith was tested. And rewarded.

For the first time in more than 30 years of college basketball — counting her time as a Duke player, then an assistant coach at UNC Asheville and Tulane, then eventually head coach at Charlotte and Miami — Meier is in the Sweet 16. Miami (21-12), the No. 9 seed in the Greenville 2 Region, takes on No. 4 Villanova (30-6) on Friday.

“We talk about faith a lot,” Meier — Katie to most, Kate to friends and family — said after her Hurricanes kept their season alive by upsetting top-seeded Indiana in the second round. “Not religiously. I’m talking about faith, which is just confidence with a lot of patience, and we needed it. Your confidence can kind of come and go, but faith has some patience to it.”

Such is the story of Miami’s season.

It started ominously; Meier was suspended by the university for the first three games of the season in anticipation of NCAA sanctions related to her helping to arrange impermissible contact between transfers Haley and Hanna Cavinder and a booster. The meeting occurred before the Cavinders signed with the Hurricanes, and the final agreed-upon penalty — mainly a year of probation — marked the first time the NCAA had levied sanctions related to an investigation into name, image and likeness deals.

Those who know Meier best were furious that she was sanctioned. Faith, indeed, was tested. It was tested again when Miami found itself on the NCAA bubble going into the tournament. Tested yet again when down by 17 at the half of the first-round game against Oklahoma State. Tested yet again when Indiana, on its home floor, has the ball for the last possession and a chance to tie or win the game.

And Miami’s still standing.

“There’s one word that just sticks out to me: Perseverance,” said Mike Lutzenkirchen, Meier’s brother-in-law. “Kate is such a deep thinker. She’s so intellectually smart when it comes to English, writing, and philosophy. I think that win validates her perseverance and how she doesn’t coach these girls she gets blessed to have on our team — but she gets to raise them through four or five years of their critical age of life. It’s the perseverance of succeeding through life’s challenges.”

Oh, and there have been many.

Meier never met her father; Gerry Meier, who played for Ray Meyer at DePaul, died in a plane crash four months before she was born. Meier became part of what she has often called “a Brady Bunch family,” one that was formed when her mother married a widowed man and each brought four kids into the mix.

Another tragedy hit her family nine years ago. Meier wears a pin with “43″ on it to every game — a nod to the jersey number of her nephew Philip Lutzenkirchen, Mike’s son and a star tight end at Auburn who died in June 2014 in a car crash in which he was not wearing a seat belt. The family quickly started the Lutzie 43 Foundation in his memory, trying to inspire people to make better decisions as drivers and friends.

The Brady Bunch days formed her. Family, Meier learned, isn’t always what you’re born into, but who you love. Her players become family every year.

“She’s such a role model, someone you can lean on, no matter what,” Miami forward Karla Erjavec said. “You can come in, you can cry in her office, you can laugh in her office, she’s always going to be her authentic self.”

Meier didn’t need a Sweet 16 to prove anything. She’s a past Associated Press national coach of the year, a past USA Basketball coach of the year, a member of the Miami Sports Hall of Fame and the Hall of Honor at Duke, her alma mater. Her legacy is secure.

But getting her to this stage also means plenty to her team, especially after the challenge of this season.

“Learning about who she is, the competitor she is, you can see why Miami was so attractive to us,” Hanna Cavinder said.

Meier’s first NCAA Tournament game was when she played for Duke in 1987. She had what was then only the fourth triple-double in the history of the women’s tournament and Duke rolled past Manhattan. In the second round two nights later, Duke lost.

Thus started the pattern: The Sweet 16, somehow, always escaped Meier’s reach.

As an assistant coach, Meier also was part of teams that made the second round in 1997 and 2000. As a head coach, Meier had another second-round chance in 2011. And 2012. And 2015. And 2017. And 2019. And 2022. Never got the breakthrough.

Until now.

“We’re here,” Miami forward Lola Pendande said. “We’re really here.”

Down 17 to Oklahoma State in Round 1, Miami pulled off a comeback so good it tied the fifth-biggest in NCAA women’s tournament history. It happened after a halftime where there were plenty of tears, none of them related to what was happening on the scoreboard.

“I’m an emotional coach, if you haven’t noticed, but I got teary-eyed to remind them when life gets hard and doesn’t look good, just remember this moment,” Meier said.

That moment won’t be forgotten. Nor will beating Indiana, on Destiny Harden’s shot in the final seconds. Clemson also happened to win Monday night, prevailing at home in a Women’s NIT game. Amanda Butler, one of Meier’s former assistants and still someone close to the Miami coach, is coach at Clemson. Butler’s mother called her to celebrate after that win.

“I’m proud of you,” she said, “but I was watching Kate’s game.”

Meier allows herself a postgame treat only after wins: Pizza. There was pizza on Saturday. There was pizza on Monday. Pizza on Friday would probably represent the best couple slices she’s ever had.

Faith would be rewarded, again.

“For her to finally get through to the Sweet 16, with all the challenges she had, and it happens this year,” Mike Lutzenkirchen said. “A lot of faith went into this.”

Miami is only one of four schools in the nation to make it to the Sweet 16 in both men’s and women’s basketball this year, alongside Tennessee, UCLA and Yukon. The women’s team, in particular, has reason to celebrate, as they haven’t made it to the Sweet 16 since 1992. On Friday, they’ll face off against the No. 4 seed Villanova Wildcats in Greenville, South Carolina.

Meanwhile, the men’s team will be taking on the No. 1 seed Houston in a bid to replicate their Elite Eight success from last year. Despite being underdogs in their respective match-ups, the players are all eager to prove themselves and take their teams one step closer to the ultimate goal of a national championship.

“We put a lot of hours to get here, but you know, the job is not finished,” said Jordan Miller of the men’s team. “I don’t think anyone ever goes into the tournament with the dream to get to just of the Sweet 16. Obviously, we want to win a national championship, but we gotta take it one game at a time and all the guys are amped up to play. There’s another one seed, you know, it feels like we can prove some more stuff.”

With both games happening on Friday, UM fans are sure to be glued to their screens, cheering on the Miami Hurricanes as they take on some of the best in the nation. And who knows? With a little luck and a lot of hard work, the men’s and women’s teams might just make history and bring home a national championship for the school.

The Cavinder twins were still working.

Haley and Hanna Cavinder made their way around the 3-point arc, one shooting, then the other, over and over with a couple male practice players rebounding. The guys didn’t have to do much, since most every shot went through the net with a soft swish.

“What nobody knows about the twins,” Miami coach Katie Meier said, “is that they’re gym rats.”

Sweet 16 bound gym rats, that is, after ninth-seeded Miami upset No. 1 seed Indiana in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday. The Hurricanes face No. 4 seed Villanova on Friday.

The twins are major influencers with 4.4 million followers on TikTok alone, two of the bigger stars of the NIL era in college athletics, a pair of 22-year-olds who didn’t set out to get famous through short videos. They’re as serious about basketball as they are just about anything else, though that isn’t always noticed by those in the comment section.

“I’m not going to sit here and say that it hasn’t frustrated me. It has,” said Haley Cavinder, the older twin by two minutes. “I feel like coming in, you have to prove that. But that comes with it. I think people will paint you how they want to paint you. And if I’m known as an influencer and being successful, then that’s fine with me.”

Haley Cavinder leads the Hurricanes in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game. Hanna Cavinder plays off the bench, averaging 4.0 points and is fourth on the team in 3-pointers made.

They came to Miami after playing three seasons at Fresno State, making the decision to transfer last spring with the goal of making the NCAA Tournament. When the NIL era started on July 1, 2021, and NCAA rules began allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, the Cavinders were among the first stars: Boost Mobile signed them immediately, touting the deal with a giant advertisement in New York’s Times Square, and many other deals followed.

Put bluntly, they were millionaires before coming to Miami. Success had already found them, and would have kept finding them no matter where they played. And they freely acknowledge that Miami had obvious advantages when they were transferring: phenomenal weather, family ties to the area and they immediately loved the campus.

“I’m not going to sit here and lie. Haley and I were perfectly fine at Fresno with NIL,” Hanna Cavinder said. “Perfectly fine. I didn’t transfer for NIL. We didn’t need to. I’m just going to put that out there and I’m trying to say that in the most humble way possible. Does the marketplace in Miami help? Yes. I’m not going to sit here and deny that either. I’m not stupid. But at the end of the day, I came here for basketball, came here to play on Saturday and be in March Madness. That was our goal. That’s why we trained so hard in the gym.”

The year at Miami has not always been easy.

Their recruitment was instantly scrutinized and led to Meier missing the first three games of this season through a university-imposed suspension that was handed down in anticipation of NCAA sanctions. Last month, Miami was placed one year of probation after the school and the NCAA agreed that coaches arranged impermissible contact between a booster and the Cavinders.

The twins did nothing wrong. Their eligibility was not jeopardized. But they were in the headlines anyway.

“I was in archaeology class and got a nice notification (on Twitter),” Haley Cavinder said. “I try not to react based off of emotion. We both knew we never did anything wrong. In that instance, when that happened, I was like, ‘Here we go.’”

Added Hanna Cavinder: “If you really know what happened and you actually read different articles and understand the basketball world, nothing was done that was wrong. It’s right there in front of you. But it’s the people that don’t really understand and just see the story and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re in trouble.’”

After the NCAA ruling, the Cavinders responded — fittingly — on TikTok with a 15-second statement that asked “dear NCAA, scared that female athletes have value?”

It got 2.2 million views and more than 100,000 likes. That’s an average day for the twins: Their TikToks alone have been liked more than 130 million times.

“The thing is, NIL, it’s a controversial topic to begin with,” Haley Cavinder said. “It’s new. A lot of people don’t understand it. A lot of older people don’t understand it. So with that, there’s already opinions. Hanna and I are trailblazers of it and that’s what comes with it.”

Their rise to fame started during the pandemic, out of boredom. Their TikTok videos, mostly dancing, went viral. They became stars, the timing was right with NIL about to happen, and they’ve reaped the benefits.

What makes Meier and teammates appreciate them is the work. They might have photo shoots or interviews or other responsibilities outside of class, but basketball never gets cheated. Haley has the better stats on the court; “nobody will outwork her,” Hanna said. And Hanna has the better mindset when it comes to taking advantage of the 24 hours in a day; “it’s like she’s my manager. My twinager,” Haley said.

They have been inseparable. That may soon end in the basketball sense. Haley Cavinder will play at Miami next season and take advantage of an extra year of eligibility; Hanna Cavinder isn’t sure if she will continue playing.

“There’s nobody closer to me than Haley in the world,” Hanna Cavinder said. “I love basketball. I ride or die basketball. I’ve given basketball so much of my life. And sometimes I’m like, I just want to breathe. I have to go back and weigh out my pros and cons.”

No matter what happens with basketball, the TikToks will continue. Their work together will continue. Their shared entrepreneurship will continue.

“I’m going to do what’s best for me,” Haley Cavinder said, “and I want what’s best for her.”

And with that, they were off. The Sweet 16 awaits. The Cavinder twins have more work to do.