AUSTIN, Texas — Assuming the underdog role against the two-seeded Miami Hurricanes, Illinois might need any competitive advantage that could lead to an upset in its third round game Sunday evening.

Lo and behold, an errant fire alarm at the Frank Erwin Center at noon Saturday forced an evacuation of the building, interrupting Miami’s closed practice.

Players and coaches were barred from the facilities for 45 minutes as the Austin Fire Department searched the building. Nothing was found and fire crews left the scene at 12:45 p.m., allowing Miami to re-enter and continue its practice.

The University of Texas does not plan on issuing a statement on the evacuation, but a Texas spokesperson said the cause was believed to be a mechanical malfunction and that the situation was a nonissue.

Though the evacuation could have presented a distraction and interruption to their preparation for Illinois, this Miami team — led by six seniors — flipped the scenario on its head and used the time outside the Frank Erwin Center as another bonding moment in what has been a charmed season.

“We made the most of it,” said Miami guard Trey McKinney Jones. “Julian (Gamble) was out there rapping. We were just having fun, being brothers like we really are.”

Miami, who won the ACC regular season and tournament championship, makes it a priority to stay loose and have fun, which comes as an extension of its head coach, Jim Larranaga.

“I told the players before the tournament began that I was going have more fun than any other head coach and I wanted them to have more fun than other team,” Larranaga said. “So I looked at that as, okay, our guys are out there having a good time with each other. We’ll get back to work as soon as we get cleared to go back into the arena.”

Video footage of the team during the evacuation showed the players rapping and jokingly pounding on the arena doors to get back in. Once the fire department cleared the scene, practice resumed and the same energy was present as before the fire alarm to prepare for an upset-minded Illinois team.

“The fire alarm went off, but it really didn’t distract us or make us feel bad about practice today,” Miami freshman Toney Jekiri said. “We felt like any time we got back in the gym, we’d be ready to practice and we all came out with energy after.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.