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Miami (OH) RedHawks guard Luke Skaljac (3) hits a shot from three level vary within the first half of a NCAA males’s basketball sport between the Miami RedHawks and Buffalo Bulls, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at Millett Corridor in Oxford, Oh. Excessive-powered No. 25 Miami (Ohio) has been pushed to the brink in its final two video games however has answered the bell every time in extra time.
The RedHawks will meet their newest problem after they host Massachusetts in a Mid-American Convention contest Tuesday evening in Oxford, Ohio. Miami entered the Related Press High 25 ballot on Jan. 19 for the primary time since Feb. 15, 1999.
Due to extra time wins towards Buffalo at residence and Kent State on the highway, Miami (20-0, 8-0 MAC) stays certainly one of three unbeaten groups in Division I, together with No. 1 Arizona and No. 7 Nebraska. The 20-game win streak is the very best begin to a season in class historical past and the longest for any MAC program, surpassing the 19-0 begin by Western Michigan within the 1975-76 season.
UMass (13-8, 4-5), coached by Frank Martin, has gained its final two video games.
Maybe probably the most well-known assembly between groups for Martin and present Miami coach Travis Steele got here in 2010 when the previous was head coach at Kansas State and the latter was an assistant at Xavier. Martin’s Kansas State squad gained in double-overtime within the Candy 16 of the NCAA Event in Salt Lake Metropolis.
“I’ve coached towards Frank Martin (twice) in my profession, misplaced each occasions, sadly, as an assistant at Xavier,” Steele mentioned. “Probably the greatest video games I’ve ever been part of was within the Candy 16 out in Utah, an elite sport.
“However his groups all the time play actually, actually, actually arduous, and they’re bodily. They tackle his character, robust, nasty. They’re athletic. They attempt to flip you over.”
UMass is coming off a dramatic 68-67 win at Buffalo on Friday when guard Marcus Banks Jr. scored a team-high 19 factors and knocked down 4 3-pointers. Guard Leonardo Bettiol adopted with 16 factors, taking pictures 7-for-10 from the sphere.
“We acquired a bunch of fellows that care,” Minutemen ahead Daniel Hankins-Sanford mentioned, per MassLive.com. “It may not be fairly, however we purchased in to the best sort of stuff. Head down in follow and that is simply the recipe. You bought to maintain listening and trusting Coach and go win the sport, go make the robust performs on the finish of the sport.”
Bettiol leads UMass in scoring at 17.1 factors per sport and Banks is second at 16.2. Senior Hankins-Sanford registered his eighth double-double of the season with 15 factors and a game-high 10 boards towards Buffalo.
For the reason that lack of Miami place to begin guard Evan Ipsaro to a torn ACL on Dec. 20, Luke Skaljac and Peter Suder have helped to choose up the slack for the RedHawks. Suder hit the game-winning three towards Buffalo within the final seconds of extra time on Jan. 17 because the crew gained its twenty sixth straight at residence.
Skaljac compelled extra time at Kent State with a operating financial institution shot with 6 seconds left in regulation final Tuesday to assist Miami stay unbeaten. Suder had 27 factors and 10 boards.
“I believe Luke’s actually settled in on the (level) very properly,” Steele mentioned. “We have executed a fantastic job taking good care of the ball. Peter Suder, clearly, has been an enormous a part of these previous two video games. He scores 37 or seven, he is simply enjoying to win, and he is aware of these moments when he wants to actually, actually elevate, and he is greater than able to doing it.”
Miami has scored a minimum of 100 factors of their final three video games, and 7 occasions this season – probably the most in program historical past. Within the 107-101 extra time win over Kent State, the RedHawks made 38 of their 70 photographs, the sixteenth time this season they’ve shot 50% or higher from the sphere.
–Area Stage Media
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