CORAL GABLES — While Miami Hurricanes fans congregated in Houston for UM’s first-ever appearance in the Final Four, those who could not make the trip to Texas went back to the Watsco Center for one last game.
More than 2,600 fans crowded UM’s basketball arena to watch the Hurricanes fall to UConn on Saturday night, bringing energy and enthusiasm that years ago was previously reserved for the football program to the basketball team.
“I just love our team, man,” UM fan Jene Turner said. “We’re very cool. We’re very — obviously — good at basketball, and I’m just really, really proud of them and I’m proud to be a Hurricane. ... I never felt more proud to be from the University of Miami in my life. No school is doing it like us.”
The university set up the Watsco Center watch party in the four days leading up to Miami’s Final Four appearance, said Marianne Mijares, the university’s executive director of commencement and special projects for student affairs. The event started as the idea of a student watch party and grew into one open to the public. Mijares said there were plans to hold another watch party on Monday if Miami reached the national title game.
“This is history, for us, in the making,” Mijares said. “When I was a student here, we won the national championship in football, so I remember what it was like to be there. Now to give this to our students here, it’s just an amazing opportunity to rally around our, for everyone that couldn’t go to Houston.”
Students were not the only ones who attended the watch party on Saturday. Chris Gomien drove down from Orlando because his son is a freshman at UM.
“We’re here to have a good time and enjoy it,” Gomien said.
Unfortunately for the fans in the arena, Miami got off to a slow start. The Hurricanes went down 9-0 to begin the game and trailed for nearly the entire contest. The crowd did keep its energy up, erupting when Isaiah Wong sunk a three-pointer to cut UM’s deficit to eight points in the second half.
The fans had to leave with the taste of a 13-point Final Four loss in their mouth, but fans were still happy to see the Hurricanes get further in the NCAA Tournament than they had ever been before.
“They never even expected us to get here,” Turner said. “So that says a lot in itself, so I’m proud of them. Last year, they made it to the Elite Eight and then they proved themselves again. I think we really have a lot to be proud of.”
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