OPINION: Miami Turns Toughness Into Tournament Win, Sets Up Sunday Noon Showdown with Purdue

The Miami Hurricanes basketball team, 80-66 winners over Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night, was assembled from scratch, but Jai Lucas knew what he wanted from each piece.

Positional size. A team that could rule the court with physicality. A team built for March Madness when frayed nerves don’t always result in the highest shooting percentages.

Miami started out its game against Missouri two of nine from the field, it’s best player, All-ACC power forward Malik Reneau, so antsy that he was firing up brick after brick. And the Canes still led by three.

That’s Miami basketball. Win the glass, control the paint, play relentless defense and everything else takes care of itself. Miami is a top 20 team in offensive and defensive rebound percentage and rebound margin. It all came in handy Friday night against a tough Missouri team.

“We talked about the glass and our identity showing,” Lucas said.

And it did.

“We’ve been emphasizing offensive rebounding since we got here,” Reneau said.

Miami had a 16-7 edge in that department and had 19 second-chance points, the difference in the game.

It’s a style of play that travels, even into a hostile environment like the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, where Missouri had a bizarre home game of sorts for a 10^th seed. Lucas wasted about a half-second worrying about that.  He likes his team and likes the way it is built even better.

At the 4:32 mark of the first half, Miami was shooting just 9-28 (32%) and still led by seven because Missouri was shooting just 30% and Miami held a 24-13 rebounding edge including an 11-3 margin on the offensive boards. The lead eventually reached 10 points.

But Missouri settled down and put together a 9-0 run the final four minutes of the first half to trail by just one at intermission. Lucas called two timeouts to try to stop the bleeding, but the Hurricanes were mysteriously out of sorts. Halftime didn’t come quick enough, but composure ruled the day.

It was a look in the mirror moment for the team’s two best players, Reneau and point guard Tre Donaldson. They were the foundation pieces for this team. But Reneau was just 2-10 from the field in the half, missing several point-blank shots. Donaldson was just 1-4 after getting into foul trouble.

Those two guys obviously needed to pick things up if the Hurricanes were going to advance.

Another issue for Miami was free throw shooting. The Hurricanes began the game four of 12 from the line, leaving a ton of points out there.

But the Hurricanes just hung in there in a game that turned into a prize fight for most of the second half.

A Donaldson three put Miami up by five early in the second half. Missouri clawed back. Then a Noam Dovrat three put Miami back up by six with 10:10 left to play. And Missouri tied the game 35 seconds later and then took the lead at the 9:15 mark for the first time since the Tigers led 2-0. Donaldson answered with another three. And Missouri’s Mark Mitchell did the same.

The Canes just couldn’t get away. Until they did.

Reneau got his act together with a post layup and then a three-pointer that put Miami ahead by five with 6:04 to play and Shelton Henderson followed that up with a breakaway slam and a jumper that opened the lead to nine.  When Missouri cut it to five, Donaldson nailed a deep three and Reneau converted a three-point play. Then Donaldson nailed another three to extend the lead to 12 with 1:29 to play.

IT’S A CANES THING 🕺🏼🙌 pic.twitter.com/VjSUlJqigm

— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) March 21, 2026

And one other thing. In crunch time, Miami made eight straight free throws.

That was pure class.

Nine months ago, the program was staring at a rebuild. Today, it’s smack in the middle of March Madness and will face Purdue Sunday for the chance to reach the Sweet 16.

“We’ve all gone through adversity,” Reneau said. “We are fighting for our lives.”

When Lucas was hired to replace Jim Larrañaga, expectations were modest.

The Hurricanes were coming off a difficult season and a roster reset. The plan was patience — build culture first, then build a winner.

Instead, the transformation happened almost immediately and Miami started winning tough games on the road, finishing third in the ACC despite a couple of tough home losses. Friday night it was obvious Miami has a real chance to win on Sunday. Missouri only had the lead for one minute.

“It was exciting – you still get the same feeling as I remember when I played in March Madness,” Lucas said. “That excitement, that joy, it’s like an anxious excitement. It was great. I enjoyed it. It was neutral but really a road game, so it made it more exciting. It’s something we’ve thrived in all year.”

After the game it was time to go back to the locker room for the traditional hockey mask ceremony where the player of the game is awarded the head piece. It’s an offshoot from the Friday the 13^th Movie where Jason Voorhees is a homicidal maniac who trades a bag over his head for a hockey mask. Miami’s cheerleaders caught the fever too Friday with all the guys wearing hockey masks in a line.

Sunday the challenge gets scarier against a really good Purdue team.

Lucas always asks his team what kind of monster it wants to be.

After the way they surged when things reached their most critical moment Friday night, the Hurricanes may be reaching the point where they have their choice.