Hurricanes vs Jayhawks: Game Predictions

The Kansas Jayhawks face the Miami Hurricanes in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament tonight. The Blue Wings Rising crew tells you what you should expect to happen.

The Kansas Jayhawks have advanced to the Elite Eight in this year's tournament due to a strong defensive performance against the Providence Friars and another huge offensive performance from super-senior Remy Martin. Up next is the 10th-seeded Miami Hurricanes with a berth in the Final Four on the line.

Villanova and Duke have already punched their ticket to New Orleans next week. Will the Jayhawks be able to join them? Or will former Jayhawk Charlie Moore show out against his former team and push past them for his own Final Four run?

Our crew gets together to tell you what we think you can expect to see today.

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Brendan Dzwierzynski: Simply put, if the Jayhawks can find their offensive touch again I think Kansas runs away with this one. Not necessarily a huge blowout, but with the way this KU defense is playing and consistently improving, I love this matchup. The key is going to be getting Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack going earlier and more often. Neither even needs to be great, given how well Jalen Wilson and Remy Martin are playing, but they both need to pick it up somewhat. If that happens, I think KU gets back to the Final 4 for the fourth time under Bill Self. 

Kansas 77, Miami 67

Lucas Murphy: The Kansas Jayhawks moved passed the Friars in a much closer game than It initially looked like it was going to be. They now will take on the Miami Hurricanes. Miami is going to be a tough matchup for Kansas. The bigs for the Hurricanes are athletic and can shoot the three very well. David McCormack will step up and play one of his best games ever. I would look for Mitch Lightfoot to play log significant minutes. Kansas will need more from Ochai Agbaji if they want to make the Final 4. Remy Martin will continue his magical March run, and the Jayhawks can contain the opposing bigs. I expect a Jayhawk victory.

Kansas 80, Miami 72

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Kyle Davis: Two areas that play to Kansas’ advantage is that Miami does not grab offensive rebounds—while they give up a ton of offensive boards—and they are allowing opponents to shoot 53% from 2. You would think this makes a great matchup for David McCormack, but with Miami having a stretch 5, I think the player to look at is Jalen Wilson. While Remy Martin is (deservedly) getting all the attention, Wilson is averaging 13.6 points and 10.3 rebounds so far in the tournament. Wilson can get to the rim and is great on the glass, so I am looking for him to have a big game. And surely Kansas can’t shoot as poorly as it has for three straight games, right? Miami’s offense can heat up, but if it’s a shootout, I like KU to prevail again. 

Kansas 77, Miami 69

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Derek Noll: I won’t be able to watch this game but that won’t stop me from picking KU to go to the Final Four. KU has out toughed the competition in the last two rounds, and I’d like to finally see them out play someone. I think that happens against the Hurricanes. I’m going to will big games by Agbaji and Braun into existence someday, might as well be today. 

Kansas 80, Miami 68.

Andy Mitts: I feel like a broken record at this point, both with the talking about how Remy Martin and Jalen WIlson have been willing this team to victory, and the confidence that David McCormack, Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun are going to get it turned on and put up huge defensive games. But the confidence is starting to wane a bit. I still have no doubt that those guys COULD get it going. However, unless they do it soon, I'm worried that it won't happen soon enough for Kansas fans to see it.

All that said, it's really hard to see Ochai being held down any longer. Sure Charlie Moore and Miami have been playing really well recently. But their success has not been in shutting down good offenses. Instead, it's been about keeping pace and going on big runs. The problem for them is that Kansas can run with them just as much, and there isn't a guy that can face-guard Agbaji well enough to keep him from getting his shots going.

Kansas 84, Miami 67

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