The two seed Texas Longhorns thought they had everything wrapped up against the Miami Hurricanes. They didn’t expect the never say die Canes and an Anti-Texas Arkansas crowd to roar back to life at the end of the game and erase a 17 point. However the Longhorns lead and talent proved to much for Miami and two clutch free throws by AJ Abrams with 9.5 seconds left put the horns up for good and gave them the 75-72 win.
“We won so I’m really not sweating it anymore,” said Damion James. “We’ll just go back to practice and shoot free throws and hope to get better.”
Abrams, James, and All-world guard DJ Augustin proved to be a winning combination for the Longhorns once again. Abrams scored 26 points while Augustin led the game in assists and steals. James scored 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Even though the Longhorns built up a big lead and had the game in hand, the Hurricanes staged a dramatic comeback on the skills of their own star Jack McClinton. McClinton is no stranger to heroics; he hit a clutch shot at the buzzer earlier in the season to give Miami its first victory over Duke in 45 years. In the end McClinton scored 18 points and the Hurricanes came up short.
“Let’s give Miami a lot of credit for a lot of heart, a lot of grit, a lot of determination, the way they fought,” Texas head coach Rick Barnes said. “I knew that would happen because you all know my relationship with Frank and I know what he’s all about and his team.”
Miami head coach Frank Hath was an assistant for Barnes’ Longhorns for three years before taking over the Canes in 2004. The Hurricanes have been steadily improving under him but were unable to overcome the consistent Longhorns who will head to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in seven years.
“Thankful we won the game,” Abrams said. “We did not finish like we wanted to in the last couple of minutes.”