The final No.1 seed remaining in the 2023 NCAA Tournament is officially gone. On Saturday night, the No. 5 Miami (FL) Hurricanes dismantled the final-standing No. 1 seed, the Houston Cougars 89-75.
Miami’s upset of Houston came just minutes after No. 5 San Diego State upset the country’s No. 1 overall seed, the Alabama Crimson Tide 71-64.
From the start, it was clear that Miami was the better team and wasn’t going to be discouraged by the highly touted Cougars.
They would have as big as a 17-12 lead in the first 10 minutes of the half. Miami, however, would make one of their few extended runs in the game, turning the 17-12 deficit into a 23-22 lead with 9:04 remaining. That would be the final time that the Cougars led in the game, leading to the matchup’s turning point.
After Houston took the lead, the Hurricanes would immediately go on a 7-0 run to get back on top, 29-23. While Houston would be able to tie it up, Miami would never allow the Cougars to retake the lead and eventually was able to make it a 42-36 game at halftime.
The early part of the second half was mostly a back-and-forth affair, with Houston staying close to the Hurricanes. However, an 11-point run by the Hurricanes over just two minutes midway through the second half would take a once 59-53 lead to 70-53. Houston would never recover from Miami’s quick and big run, failing to cut the deficit to less than 11-points over the final eight and a half minutes.
The Hurricanes led for 34:35 of the game while Houston led for just 2:20 and didn’t lead in the game after the 9:02 mark of the first half. Miami’s 89-points were by far the most surrendered by Houston this season, surpassing the previous high of 77-points set by USF in January. For the season, Houston allowed just 56.6 points per game.
Additionally, Miami guard Nijel Pack led all scorers in the game with 26 points thanks to his strong shooting from deep, making seven-of-ten shots including three in the second half.