No. 21 Miami (Ohio) head coach Travis Steele admitted his team is starting to witness the price of success.
With his squad still the only remaining unbeaten team in Division I men’s basketball entering Friday’s Mid-American Conference contest against Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich., Steele said the off-court distractions have been ramping up lately.
“I told them, listen, as we get better, as we’re going to continue on this journey, that there are going to be things and people that are going to try to grab us,” Steele said. “That’s just part of success. Whether it’s agents or whether that’s other schools, especially in the landscape we’re in today, it’s just part of it. Tampering happens and all sorts of stuff happens.
“I told our guys and addressed to them that it’s happening to me. We trust each other and I’m very transparent with our guys. I said, ‘Listen fellas, we need to focus on the task at hand. Enjoy this ride. We’ll deal with the stuff in the offseason once that time comes.'”
Indeed, Miami will just try and continue and revel in what’s been a historic season so far that has brought more national attention than the program likely ever has had.
The RedHawks (28-0, 15-0 MAC) have already won the most games in program history, and it’s not even March yet. Miami also has never been 15-0 before in league play and has a program-best 13-game road winning streak.
Miami is one of the nation’s best offensive teams, averaging 91.6 points per game (second nationally) and featuring seven players who are scoring in double figures.
Through it all, Steele wants his players to just keep striving for improvement.
“I’m more obsessed with the trajectory rather than just the results of … getting these wins,” he said. “And listen, we want to win every game, right? But it’s more, are we getting better? Offensively, we’re going to be a team that’s going to score 90 to 100 dang near every night. As long as we take care of the ball, we’re hard to stop.”
Miami is led in scoring by Brant Byers and Peter Suder, who are each averaging 14.6 points per game.
Miami did suffer a bit of a scare on Tuesday at Eastern Michigan, seeing a 26-point lead get cut to six midway through the second half before pulling out a 74-64 win.
The next challenge is Western Michigan (10-18, 4-11), which is 7-6 at home and coming off an 88-79 win at Bowling Green on Tuesday.
The Broncos are led in scoring by Justice Williams (14.9), Jalen Griffith (12.7) and Jayden Brewer (12.6).
Western Michigan should have some confidence going up against Miami after playing the RedHawks tough in their first meeting of the season on Jan. 6 in Oxford, Ohio.
The Broncos held a second-half lead and trailed by five points with 12 minutes left in the game before Miami pulled away for an 87-76 win.
–Field Level Media
