The 3-1 RedHawks are scheduled to open their 74th MAC season on Tuesday against 2-2 Buffalo with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff at Miami’s Millett Hall. The game originally was scheduled to be played on Feb. 23 before the conference adjusted the schedule, but RedHawks coach Jack Owens and his team were ready to play against the last MAC team Miami played before pandemic protocols prompted the cancellation of last season’s conference tournament.
“We tell the guys and the staff that you have to be flexible,” he said during a Monday midday Zoom media session. “Knowing you have to play Buffalo in your first conference game is just par for the course. We’re just excited for the opportunity to play. Buffalo is a well-coached team and they’re playing well. I wish we could tip off tonight. We’re excited to be competing. We have to be ready to play.”
The Buffalo game is Miami’s third straight at home. The RedHawks on Wednesday knocked off Western Illinois, 67-57, and Division III Mount St. Joseph, 79-64, on Friday to win the three-day, three-team Miami Invitational. They are scheduled to play a non-conference game at Bradley on Saturday before settling into an exclusively MAC slate.
For the first time since 1996-1997 season, the MAC will not be split into East and West divisions. Buffalo, which finished third last season in the MAC East Division with an 11-7 record, was picked in a pre-season poll of MAC coaches to finish fourth in the conference. Miami was projected to finish ninth.
The Bulls are coming off an 81-64 win over Mercyhurst. They lost their MACopener at Bowling Green, the coaches’ pick to win the regular-season championship, by eight points.
The 12th-seeded RedHawks shocked fifth-seeded Buffalo with an 85-79 win at Buffalo in the first round of last season’s MAC Tournament, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with fourth-seeded Northern Illinois that fell victim to the pandemic.
This season’s Bulls have four players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Jennathan Williams at 19.8 points per game, followed by Jayvon Graves at 17.3 points per game and Ronaldo Segu at 14.8 points per game. Keishawn Brewton is averaging 11.0 points per game. The Bulls are one of six MAC teams that already have a conference game under their belt.
“Buffalo is a very talented team,” Owens said. “They were the best rebounding team in the country a year ago. Segu, Graves and Williams have all-conference kinds of talent. We have to settle in and take what the defense gives us and play with confidence.”
Junior guard Mekhi Lairy leads Miami in scoring with an average of 12.3 points per game, followed by fourth-year junior Isaiah Coleman-Lands at 10.5 points per game. Lairy is 18-of-18 on free throws through the first four games and went into the week with the third-most made free throws in the nation while shooting 100 percent.
The RedHawks also went into the week with the fewest average turnovers per game among MAC teams. They were turning the ball over just 9.25 times per game, but Owens admitted that he still didn’t have a handle on his team.
“We’re still trying to figure some things out,” Owens said. “Usually, we have an exhibition game or two and an inter-squad scrimmage, but we’re still learning who we are as a team. Playing games is exciting for us. We’re doing good things defensively, but offensively, we’re a work in progress. We have to work on making shots and improve our conditioning.”
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