Miller, Wong rally Miami past Texas 88-81 for first Final Four

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 to beat the Longhorns, who had been the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament.

Now, after falling short in the Elite Eight a year ago, the fifth-seeded Hurricanes (29-7) are headed to NRG Stadium in Houston for a date with No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night.

It’s the first time since seeding began in 1979 that no team seeded better than No. 4 made the Final Four, and perhaps it’s fitting that Miami coach Jim Larrañaga is involved. He returns to the Final Four after taking George Mason there as an 11 seed in 2006.

“No one wanted to go home,” said Miller, 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 Tournament game. “We came together. We stuck together. We showed really good perseverance and the will — the will to just want to get there.”

Miami and Texas were tied 79-all when Omier, known for his bruising style of play, 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 left.

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

Wooga Poplar scored 16 points, and Nijel 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.

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.

Marcus Carr led the Longhorns (29-9) with 17 points, though he appeared to be bothered by a hamstring injury that he picked up late in the game. Timmy Allen added 16 points and Sir’Jabari Rice finished with 15 in 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 his team after a gut-wrenching defeat.

SAN DIEGO STATE 57, CREIGHTON 56: Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and fifth-seeded San Diego State (31-6) muscled its way into its first Final Four by grinding out a victory over No. 6 seed Creighton (31-6) in Louisville, Kentucky.

Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the Aztecs, who slowed down the high-scoring Bluejays to become the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals.

The experienced Aztecs, in their sixth season under coach Brian Dutcher, will play the surprising East Region champion, ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic, on Saturday in Houston for a spot in the national title game.

With the game tied at 56-all on San Diego State’s final possession, Trammell drove toward the free-throw line, elevated for the shot and was fouled by Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard. Trammell missed the first free throw but converted the second.

Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman threw the ensuing inbound pass the length of the floor. San Diego State’s Aguek Arop and Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma both jumped for it and the ball deflected out of bounds. Officials reviewed the play and determined that time had expired, and the celebration was on for the Aztecs.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points and Scheierman and Kaluma had 12 apiece for the Bluejays, who went 2 of 17 from 3-point range.