Following another soldout crowd at Millett Hall, the Miami University men’s basketball team (25-0, 12-0 in conference play) is back on the road with a rematch against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen (15-11, 6-7 in conference play). Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Feb. 17.
The RedHawks downed the Ohio University Bobcats 90-74 in front of 10,640 fans at home on Feb. 13 to extend its win streak to 25. Still the only undefeated team remaining in the country, Miami rose to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 poll.
The win derived from a 21-point performance by redshirt sophomore wing Brant Byers, who shot 13-16 from the free throw line. Senior guard Peter Suder joined him with 20 points, his fourth game of the season with 20 or more, while converting 8-12 (66.7%) from the field. Five RedHawks finished the night with double-digit points.
Miami grabbed 38 rebounds compared to the Bobcats' 29. In the postgame press conference, Byers said this was a major component in the RedHawks’ win and something the team had been focused on going into the rivalry matchup.
“We knew that they were going to rely heavily on getting to the rim or the mid-range,” Byers said. “[We knew] the rebounds were probably going to be short … They take a lot of 2-pointers, so you’re just trying to pack the paint, hit our man, and I’d say we did it pretty well.”
The Bobcats struck first and kept the game even in the early minutes, but Miami ran away with the game, holding a 22-17 game after 10 minutes of play. The RedHawks entered the second half up 43-35, and an 18-5 run across a five-minute stretch essentially sealed the game. Ohio was unable to overcome the deficit, and Miami took its win 90-74.
Ohio senior guard Jackson Paveletzke led the Bobcats with 22 points and shot 7-16 from the field. Redshirt junior forward followed with 12 points, and Miami held the rest of the roster to single-digit points.
“In rivalry games, you can just throw those records right out the window,” Miami head coach Travis Steele said. “It’s a players game … We wanted to set that tone right away. I thought they made some pretty tough shots early. Paveletzke has a tendency to do that. He’s a great player, but we wanted him to have an inefficient night … I thought we did a great job [throwing] the cavalry after him.”
The RedHawks rose one spot in the recent AP Top 25 Poll. Their national ranking and No. 1 seed in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) is back on the line with a second matchup against UMass.
Since their first loss to Miami on Jan. 27, the Minutemen have gone 2-2, defeating Eastern Michigan University and Central Michigan University but losing to Coastal Carolina University and the University of Akron.
Junior guard K’jei Parker led UMass with 20 points against the Zips, while graduate student forward Leonardo Bettiol and graduate student guard Marcus Banks Jr. each added 18. Bettiol and Banks both rank in the top 10 in the conference for points per game (17.6 and 16.9, respectively).
The Zips held a 44-43 advantage at halftime, but within the first 10 minutes of the second half, they took a 73-65 lead that they held until the final buzzer. UMass took its second-straight loss 99-92 and dropped to seventh in the MAC.
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Bettiol has been dominant for the Minutemen. Since his 22-point performance against Miami, the transfer from Abilene Christian University has averaged 19.25 points in four games, including two performances with 20 or more points.
In the first meeting, Miami shot 28-38 from the charity stripe, the most free throw attempts of the season. In comparison, UMass shot 13-17 and finished with 28 fouls to the RedHawks’ 16. Miami is one of the most efficient free-throw shooting teams, sinking 444 out of 579 attempts (76.7%), the third-highest in the conference.
The RedHawks have already punched their ticket to Cleveland, but Steele has insisted that he wants his team to peak at the right moment. To do that, Miami needs to continue its winning streak and keep its foot on the gas.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Feb. 17 at the Mullins Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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