No. 10 Miami Upsets Jabari Smith, No. 2 Auburn; Will Face Iowa State in Sweet 16

The Miami Hurricanes are on their way to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years after their 79-61 win over the Auburn Tigers in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament on Sunday.

Miami made the tournament as the No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region, as head coach Jim Larranaga's team had its best regular season since 2015-16 (23-10). It had to hold off a furious second-half rally from USC in the first round to advance this weekend.

Meanwhile, Auburn looked like a potential national-title contender coming into the tournament. The Tigers earned their highest seed (No. 2) since the 1998-99 campaign after going 27-5 during the regular season. They had no problems against Jacksonville State with an 80-61 win in the first round Friday.

After a close first half, Miami outscored Auburn 46-29 in the second half to cruise to an easy win. 

Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller, Charlie Moore and Kameron McGusty combined to score 68 of the Hurricanes' points in the win. 

Auburn's offense vanished with just 61 points, its fewest in a game since Jan. 25. The Tigers' inability to put the ball in the basket offset their 17-6 offensive-rebound advantage. 

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Notable Game Stats

• Isaiah Wong (MIA): 21 points (8-of-18 FG), 6 rebounds, 2 assists
• Kameron McGusty (MIA): 20 points (10-of-18 FG), 7 rebounds, 4 assists
• Charlie Moore (MIA): 15 points (4-of-8 FG), 9 rebounds, 8 assists
• Jaylin Williams (AUB): 12 points (5-of-8 FG), 4 rebounds
• K.D. Johnson (AUB): 12 points (4-of-10 FG), 3 rebounds
• Jabari Smith (AUB): 10 points (3-of-16 FG), 15 rebounds, 4 assists

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Balanced Offense Carries Hurricanes to Sweet 16

The formula for Miami to succeed this season has been outscoring opponents. Larranaga's team finished the regular season ranked 35th in offensive rating (110.1).

Miami's offense didn't put its best foot forward against USC in the first round. It scored 68 points on 42.9 percent shooting (1-of-14 from three-point range). 

On Sunday, even though the three-point shooting still wasn't there for Miami (3-of-15), everything else for the offense was on point. 

Four of their five starters scored in double figures. Wong has been fantastic so far in the tournament, scoring 22 points against USC. The sophomore guard followed that up with 21 points against Auburn. 

Wong also had arguably the best highlight of the tournament thus far when he put Jabari Smith on a poster in the first half. 

McGusty had a solid bounceback game after a 5-of-18 performance against the Trojans. He had 20 points on 10-of-18 shooting vs. Auburn. 

The duo of Wong and McGusty scored Miami's first eight points to start the second half when the team opened up a 41-32 lead. 

In addition to their efficiency on two-point attempts, the Hurricanes were great at protecting the ball and creating additional opportunities. They had 19 assists to 4 turnovers in the win. 

Consistency hasn't been there for Miami throughout the season. It went from beating Duke on Jan. 8 to losing to Florida State in its next game. It needed overtime to beat a 13-20 Boston College team in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. 

If Larranaga and his staff can harness this performance going forward, though, the Hurricanes will continue to be a major factor in the tournament with their offensive upside. 

Shooting Lets Tigers Down in Loss

A matchup with Miami seemed like it was designed to highlight a lot of the things that Auburn does well.

The Tigers ranked in the top 50 in offensive (108.9) and defensive efficiency (92.4), per Basketball Reference. Miami's defense was 227th in points allowed (70.9) and 281st in efficiency (104.6).

Instead, everything that could go wrong for Auburn pretty much did across the board. The team's 30.4 field-goal percentage matched its performance in a 67-62 loss against Texas A&M in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

Miami nearly pitched a shutout on fast-break points in the game:

Walker Kessler, who was fourth on the Tigers with 11.7 points per game during the regular season, scored two points and didn't make a field goal Sunday.

Jabari Smith did have a double-double of 10 points and 15 rebounds, but he only made three of his 16 shot attempts. Smith and K.D. Johnson were the only Auburn starters to score in double figures.

Jaylin Williams was the only Auburn player who can legitimately claim to have played a good game. The junior forward scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting off the bench, as he tried to provide a spark.

But nothing was working for head coach Bruce Pearl's team. He didn't have any way to stop the slide once it started, leading to a blowout loss and a frustrating end to what was one of the best seasons in program history.

Auburn's 28 wins are the third-most in school history. It reached No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time ever Jan. 24 and remained there for three weeks.

Pearl has done a fantastic job of making the Tigers into an annual title contender. He will almost certainly be able to reload for next season, but this loss will likely linger for some time because of how high the expectations were coming into the tournament.     

What's Next?

Miami will play Iowa State in the Sweet 16 on Friday.