No. 23 Miami (Ohio) hopes to keep its perfect record intact when it visits Buffalo for a Mid-American Conference matchup on Tuesday night.
Offense has carried the RedHawks (22-0, 10-0 MAC), who lead the conference in scoring (93.7) and 3-point percentage (40.1). Top-ranked Arizona (22-0) is the only other unbeaten team in the country.
Buffalo (14-8, 4-6) threw a scare into Miami when the teams met in Ohio on Jan. 17. Miami won that game 105-102 in overtime after Peter Suder sank a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left.
Both teams shot the ball well in that contest. Miami was 38 of 66 from the field (57.6%) and 13 of 29 from 3-point territory (44.8%). Buffalo was 35 of 65 from the field (53.8%) and 13 of 26 on 3-point attempts (50%).
“I’d rather hold teams to 60 points and get the win than (when) we both score in the hundreds,” Miami forward Antwone Woolfolk said. “I think we can score with anybody, but if we continue to lock in on defense, the sky will be the limit for us.”
Buffalo is coming off Saturday’s 95-83 loss to Ohio, which dropped Buffalo’s home record to 6-5.
Daniel Freitag led the Bulls with 25 points. He is averaging 20.1 points per game, which ranks second in the MAC.
Ryan Sabol added 22 points, six rebounds and five assists in the loss. It was his fifth consecutive game scoring at least 20 points.
“I don’t think we brought the proper fight to this game — the proper focus,” Buffalo coach George Halcovage said. “We have to learn from that. We’ve done this to ourselves a number of times at our place. … Team makes a run, take that punch and punch right back.
“When you give up 13 turnovers and 13 offensive rebounds, you’re giving the other team a great chance to knock you off. We have to learn from that, grow from that and get better.”
It looked like Miami might suffer its first loss Saturday against Northern Illinois. The RedHawks trailed by five points with 15 minutes to play before outscoring the Huskies 38-9 the rest of the way to earn an 85-61 win.
Miami coach Travis Steele said his team still has plenty of room to grow at the defensive end.
“We have good spurtability. We do,” Steele said “We can score in bunches. But our defense is what allows you to get those big runs. That picture we had in the second half of our defense (is what) we need to see moving forward if we want to be able to continue to get the results we want and become the team that we want to become.
“The further you go, the harder it gets. (Our players) have to understand what’s going to win and separate us is on the defensive end. Our offense is elite. On the defensive side, I want to be elite too. That’s what great teams are.”
Guard Brant Byers is Miami’s leading scorer (15.4 ppg). Suder is next (14.3).
–Field Level Media
