Game 22, 2025-26: at Miami OH (1/27)

[MikeUMA]

Worth getting this started a bit early, as it was announced today that this game is getting picked up by ESPNU, and moved to a 9 PM start.

At present, Miami is one of the five remaining unbeaten's in D-I men's hoop. Their schedule in between now and our game on the 27th:
1/13 home for Central Michigan, should be an easy W
1/17 home for Buffalo, less easy but probably still favored
1/20 at Kent State, maybe the hardest of the three

[MikeUMA]

Easy win indeed. Miami by 39
https://miamiredhawks.com/news/2026/1/1 ... cmu-100-61

Miami shot .604 from the field, .478 from 3, and .893 from the stripe.

[CapeCodBruiser]

I was telling a fellow UMass alum at my office you might want to get tickets for the Miami OH game on Feb 17th at the Mullins Center. The possibility of them coming to Amherst with a 25-0 record should spur a big crowd even though it is on a Tuesday. Also if they are ranked and UMass upsets them you get to storm the court.

I listened to Frank Martin's show this morning. Jay Burnham projected us needing at least an 8-10 record to make the MAC tournament. Right now we are 2-4. 12 games left but being realistic lets say the 2 games against the Miami juggernaut would be L's. So we need to go 6-4 in the "other" 10 remaining games to get to 8 wins. 5 of those 10 "other" games are at Mullins. So we could sneak into a 7 or 8 seed just winning all our home games and one on the road. We need that Steve Kornachi guy from NBC to do the possibilities. Go UMass

[MikeUMA]

Not to think past our game at Buffalo, but Miami gets a bye this weekend and their next game will be against us. They're a perfect 20-0 now.

CBS article
Men of Steele: How the 20-0 Miami RedHawks are beating the odds and becoming an irresistible sports story
https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... rts-story/

This can be a perfect opportunity for our coaching staff to motivate the troops: how great would it be to play the spoiler in front of the national TV (ESPNU) cameras?

Will be interesting to see how the team responds to the challenge, DHS in particular. He has turned it on in some games and been nearly invisible in others.

[Floyd]

Will be interesting to see how the team responds to the challenge, DHS in particular. He has turned it on in some games and been nearly invisible in others.

He dumped those pink sneakers last game & was his old self again.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

Will be interesting to see how the team responds to the challenge, DHS in particular. He has turned it on in some games and been nearly invisible in others.

He dumped those pink sneakers last game & was his old self again.

In the games he's turned it on he's been almost unstoppable - ok maybe a bit strong but vs Oregon State no one could match his athleticism - same with Tuesday. I understand you cannot do that for a full 40 minutes game in and game out but at 22 yrs old you should be able to more than every 10 games. Hopefully the coaches challenging him and Jayden about rebounding the past week in practice will carry over.

[Steve81]

Nice we are going in there when they are a ranked team. Buffalo played them tough. If we can play a whole game like the first half with Buffalo, like our chances. I don't know why they lost a lot of energy in the second half and large stretches looked like they were stand around on offense.

[tdmass]

They started throwing the ball around making TO's and taking bad shots. It was the best and worst game that fortunately was won.

[69MG]

Check out Miami's stats and try to figure out how to defend them.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... s/_/id/193

[Juice Stand]

^ Holy cow, 69. 6 guys in double figure points per game and a 7th at 9 ppg. And those seven guys all shoot 39% or better from 3 (41.2% as a team is ridiculous). They also shoot 77% at the line. This is an offensive juggernaut. They rebound at nearly the same clip as we do and they turn it over way less. Good luck.

It's well documented that our man defense is poor. Why not play a zone and see if you can rattle them on the perimeter? It could keep Bettiol and DHS out of foul trouble. I'd also like to see more Placide in this game. First guys off the bench should be our shooters, K'Jei and Placide (He's 2nd on the team in 3pt %. He needs more minutes!). If you try to force them into a defensive slugfest, it's not going to work. 1. We're not good at that, despite what Frank wants and 2. their lowest scoring output this season is 76 points, so it's not going to work. Our only chance in my opinion is to slow them down with the zone and get as many shooters out there to try and keep up.

[69MG]

^ As juice said, they are a potent offensive team. They shoot the 3 very well and they have size. Very tough to defend. Their starters are 6'9, 6'8, 6'6, 6'5 and 6'2. The first guy off the bench, Atlason, is 6'8 and shoots threes at 41%.

With our defense being what it is, I think we need to score 90+ to win this game. A tough task for sure. Somehow, we need 70 from Leo, DHS, Banks and Parker. That's an average of 17.5. They have the capability to do it, but all 4 have to be on their game. We need 20 from Jayden, Danny, Wimbley and Placid. That's also a possibility if at least two of them gets hot. Then, 5 or more from Luka and Clerc and we are at 95. A pipe dream, probably but I doubt we keep them at less than 85.

Take this as a wish, more than a prediction. We only have a 17% chance of winning per ESPN so call the above scenario a miracle.

[inthescoop]

^ As juice said, they are a potent offensive team. They shoot the 3 very well and they have size. Very tough to defend. Their starters are 6'9, 6'8, 6'6, 6'5 and 6'2. The first guy off the bench, Atlason, is 6'8 and shoots threes at 41%.

With our defense being what it is, I think we need to score 90+ to win this game. A tough task for sure. Somehow, we need 70 from Leo, DHS, Banks and Parker. That's an average of 17.5. They have the capability to do it, but all 4 have to be on their game. We need 20 from Jayden, Danny, Wimbley and Placid. That's also a possibility if at least two of them gets hot. Then, 5 or more from Luka and Clerc and we are at 95. A pipe dream, probably but I doubt we keep them at less than 85.

Take this as a wish, more than a prediction. We only have a 17% chance of winning per ESPN so call the above scenario a miracle.

I mean, we've lost a ton of games where we had an 83% chance of winning.

[devildawg3010]

Miami's last two wins have come in OT to Buffalo and Kent. Kent was their first game since being ranked. The lights might be getting bright for them. Hard to win 20 straight and respect is due, but the expectations/pressure to keep winning and stay ranked will continue to mount. Maybe that will benefit us.

[minutefanjsf]

Miami's last two wins have come in OT to Buffalo and Kent. Kent was their first game since being ranked. The lights might be getting bright for them. Hard to win 20 straight and respect is due, but the expectations/pressure to keep winning and stay ranked will continue to mount. Maybe that will benefit us.

We can be their GW. Hope they wear some alternate uniform Tuesdays night.

[69MG]

Opening line was 10.5. It's now down to 9.5 with the over/under at 164.5. That's an implied score of 87-77. As I said before, we better try for 90.