ST. LOUIS — The other Miami, the one in Ohio, got so much attention for its historic undefeated regular season that much of the nation seemed to have missed the most dramatic turnaround story in college basketball this season.

The Miami Hurricanes, under 37-year-old first-year coach Jai Lucas, tied an NCAA record for the largest victory turnaround in Division I history, flipping from 7-24 last year to 26-8 this season.

The resurgent Canes, a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, finally got onto the national radar Sunday, as they gave No. 2 Purdue all it could handle in a second-round showdown that was closer than many experts predicted.

Sparked by a standout performance from freshman Shelton Henderson, Miami led at the half and battled until the closing minutes before falling short 79-69.

Henderson led the Hurricanes with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds and four assists. Malik Reneau, the former Indiana forward going up against his old rival, had 16 points and five rebounds.

Tre Donaldson scored 13 with four rebounds and three assists. Dante Allen pitched in eight points. And Tru Washington had 11, including a layup with 57 seconds remaining to close the gap to four points and give UM fans hope for the upset.

But Purdue closed out the game on a 6-0 run to advance to the Sweet 16, where they will play Texas at the West Regional in San Jose, Calif.

“Congrats to Miami and their coach, Jai Lucas, for a fabulous season,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “For a first-year coach to have that kind of improvement in wins and be able to piece a team together ... they gave us everything we could handle. It was difficult to keep them off the glass, out of the paint, our guys had to work to defend them.”

Lucas and his players were emotional after the game, wiping tears during their post-game press conference.

“It’s a tough one, it’s a tough one,” Lucas said, trying to keep his composure. “I felt we were right there and then it’s just moments in the game. You get in these high-level tournament games and one or two moments, one or two plays separate the game. It was a 10-point win, but the game was a lot closer than that, the way it felt.”

Lucas then took a moment to reflect on his first season at Miami.

“I told them in the locker room, and I’ll say in publicly, that it was an absolute joy to coach this team, and I thank them for believing in me, believing in a person who had never coached before and everything they gave me; I am forever indebted,” he said, as Reneau, Donaldson and Henderson got teary-eyed on the dais. “I’m proud of them, and I’ll remember this forever.”

Having overcome a huge hostile Missouri crowd to beat the Tigers in the first round at the Enterprise Center, the Hurricanes were unfazed by the Purdue fans, who did not boo UM as much as the Missouri fans, but were just as loud after every Boilermakers basket.

Lucas and his players all said in the lead up to the game that they were relishing their underdog status.

“It all starts with the chip that we had, us-against-everybody mentality,” Lucas said. “It started early on with where we were picked in the league, towards the bottom, not having any Big Monday games, and kind of just, `Oh, it’s Miami.’ So, we have had that chip on our shoulder the whole year, and the road games really lets us buy into that. I think the guys enjoy that and it lets us play our best basketball.”

The Hurricanes were not intimidated and made that point very clear in the opening seconds on Sunday, when UM took the lead on a thunderous Ernest Udeh dunk that silenced the Purdue faithful. Freshman Dante Allen followed that up with a 3-pointer to put Miami up 5-0.

Purdue answered a few minutes later with a 15-2 run that gave the Boilermakers what looked like a comfortable 21-14 lead. But the Canes did not get rattled. Instead, they went on a run of their own, 13-6, to tie the game at 27 with six minutes to go in the first half.

Henderson, who de-committed from Duke to join Lucas at UM, gave Purdue fits all day. He barreled his way through the lane time and time again. He scored on back-to-back possessions late in the first half and then, with a monster dunk, pushed the Hurricanes back in front, 31-29.

“He’s great, he’s a stud, we had him in USA Basketball, he can play for the football and the basketball team,” Painter said of Henderson. “He just runs through people. We always talk about having a strong chest and taking it; he just pushed everybody back. He’s an NBA player. He can rebound, defend, he was fabulous.”

Painter said Henderson was the reason Miami was getting the ball in transition.

“I switched some things because I didn’t want certain people to have to deal with his physicality,” Painter said. “I’ve been a fan of his for a long time.”

Miami opened its largest lead of the half, 36-29, before Purdue guard C.J. Cox hit a trio of 3s to tie it up 38-38 and ignite the Boilermaker fans. UM guard Tre Donaldson scored two seconds before the break to give the Canes a 40-38 halftime lead.

Much of the pre-game analysis focused on the matchup between UM’s Malik Reneau and Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn, on the battle in the paint between Udeh and Oscar Cluff, and on how the Hurricanes guards would contain Purdue star Braden Smith, who on Friday broke the NCAA record for career assists (Smith was held scoreless until five minutes before halftime and wound up with a career-high eight turnovers).

Henderson wound up being the X-factor for Miami.

“His ability to get in the paint and have that shoulder bump and finish through contact is incredible,” said Kaufman-Renn. “He’s a really good player. It’s crazy. He’s a freshman, right? He’s going to be a really good player. I was talking to him a little bit on the free throw line and it seems like he’s got his head on straight, doing all the little things for his team. So, much respect to him.”

The first-half team stats were nearly identical. Miami shot 51.5% from the floor, Purdue 53.8%. Both were perfect from the free throw line. Both had 10 turnovers. And the Hurricanes outrebounded the Boilermakers 15-13.

Miami hung around the entire second half, but the Boilermakers proved too tough in the end.

Fletcher Loyer led Purdue with 24 points. Kaufman-Renn had 19, Smith 12 points with eight assists and Cox had 11.

Lucas said he felt good about the matchup against Purdue and had a feeling his team would be able to give the Boilermakers trouble.

“I like our speed and pace, I felt like it would give them some trouble, and they’re one of the best teams in the country, and [Painter] is one of the best coaches in the country and has been for the past 10 to 12 years, the program’s a blue blood, so it’s with the upmost respect that I say that,” Lucas said. “But I felt like we were a good matchup. All losses are tough, but it’s hard to get here, hard to be part of March Madness and win a game, so I’m just appreciative of that.”

The UM players were also sentimental.

Reneau, with tears streaming down his face, said “That first phone call, I will always remember. He put his utmost faith in me and believed in me. This season meant the world to me, coming through all the obstacles I’ve been through in my career and Coach giving me that opportunity to not only be a pivotal player and play 30-plus minutes, but also to become a leader.”

Donaldson thanked Lucas for building him back up after he transferred from Michigan.

“I’ll never forget the first phone call [with Lucas] because I was in a real low moment and it meant the world to me because I felt like everybody gave up on me,” Donaldson said. “Just having a coach that believes in you, trusts you, it means a lot and it’s something I’ll never forget ... I had to build myself back up, and this staff not only built me back up but helped me get better. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

____

©2026 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.