MIAMI BASKETBALL

Miami looking for offense, defensive stops against Ohio

Bobcats 3-point success among challenges

By MIKE SMITH
Tuesday's challenge for Miami basketball was to beat an opponent that had won the last 21 meetings. It didn't go well at all.  Friday's new challenge is to upset an arch-rival that is arguably the MAC's hottest team.

Miami hosts Ohio Friday night (7 p.m.ET) in the regular season finale for both teams, with each already guaranteed a spot in next week's MAC Tournament. The RedHawks (9-8 MAC) are currently tied with Bowling Green (9-8 MAC) for fifth place -- two games behind Central Michigan (11-6 MAC) and one game ahead of Kent State (8-9) and Western Michigan (8-9). 

Ohio is riding a five-game win streak that includes a 74-67 win over Akron. The Bobcats only conference loss in their last 10 conference games was at Toledo (85-83 Feb. 16). 

Miami, meanwhile, had . . .

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Jaquel Morris reaches for an entry pass as Javan Simmons defends. (MVSmith/MRO)

​. . . won three straight before Toledo mauled MU 97-63 Tuesday. The Rockets took control early with leads of 11-0 and 22-2. It was a 54-24 game by halftime. 

The Rockets were on target all night. While they shot the lights out, MU shot like the lights were already out -- at least at times. Toledo connected on 60.4 percent from the field and 52.6 percent on threes. Miami hit 31.8 percent overall and 25.8 percent on threes. 

The RedHawks test against Ohio will be two-fold. First, MU must find its own shooting touch. Second, it needs to slow down another offensive powerhouse. The Bobcats trail only Toledo in scoring offense, averaging 77.8 ppg. 

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Ryan Mabry drives to the basket (MVSmith/MRO)

MORE NOTES: 
-- This is the 214th all-time meeting between Ohio and Miami. Ohio leads the all-time series, 118-95.
The Bobcats and Miami met twice last season, with the teams splitting the two matchups. 
Ohio is 24-7 against Miami since 2009-10, while the Bobcats are 7-1 against the RedHawks under Jeff Boals.   

-- Ohio connected on 52.9 percent from the field and 51.7 percent on threes in the Feb. 3 win over MU. The latter was particularly damaging as Ohio made 15 of 29 3-point attempts. Jaylin Hunter hit four of nine treys on the way to a game-high 22 points. Forward AJ Clayton knocked down five of eight triples while scoring 15 points. 

-- Clayton, a 6-8 junior has hit 70 3-pointers this year, 25 more than the next Bobcat. He tied his career-high of 23 points Tuesday against Buffalo, hitting a career-high seven three pointers in the process. Clayton is second in the MAC in total blocks and second in blocks per game. He is also sixth in field goal percentage and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage. Meanwhile, Ajay Sheldon is first in the MAC in 3-point shooting percentage. 

-- Individually, Jaylin Hunter leads Ohio with 14.1 points per game, while shooting .426 from the field and averaging 4.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Shereef Mitchell adds 13.0 points a game while shooting 47.3 percent from the field. 

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Bryce Bultman looks for an open teammate. (MVSmith/MRO)

-- Entering the Feb. 3 matchup, Miami was first in the MAC in defensive 3-point percentage at 29.6 percent. Despite Miami holding the MAC lead in three-point field goal percentage defense, the Bobcats drained fifteen three pointers on the day, their second most this season.

-- Miami is looking to get its offense back on track. It scored just 52 points in a win over Eastern Michigan March 2 and struggled making shots for significant stretches of Tuesday's home loss against Toledo. Just one RedHawk player reached double figures. Freshman Eian Elmer led MU with 18 points and tied for team-high honors with six rebounds.

-- The RedHawks will be honoring three players on "Senior Night" -- Anderson Mirambeaux, Bryce Bultman and Darweshi Hunter. All three have been significant contributors. with Mirambeaux (12.5 ppg) leading MU scorers. Hunter is second with 11.9 ppg, while Bultman (7.4 ppg) is third in scoring and first in rebounds (4.7 rpg).

-- After Friday's game's the top eight teams will advance to Cleveland for the MAC Basketball Tournament, which begins Thursday, March 15. Brackets with matchups will be announced after Friday's action. 

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