MIAMI IS FIRST TO 500!
With a 73-58 win at Eastern Michigan on Jan. 29, Miami became the first Mid-American Conference school to attain 500 league wins. In their 56th year in the MAC, the RedHawks hold a 502-290 record in conference play and boast a league-best .634 winning percentage. The next closest school in the win column is Ohio University, which owns a 449-354 record over 57 years in the MAC. Miami also owns 20 regular-season MAC crowns, more than twice the number of any other league school.
ANY GIVEN DAY
One of the unique things about Miami's team is that on any given day a variety of players can step to the forefront and make key contributions, which is evident by its three different player of the week honorees-the greatest number of different honorees of any MAC school-and additional scholar-athlete of the week. Chet Mason, Danny Horace and Juby Johnson have each been decorated as MAC East Division Player of the Week, while Tim Schenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) was tabbed MAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
WILLIAMS MAKES "PLAY OF THE GAME"
Senior guard/forward Doug Williams (Piketon, Ohio/Piketon) has been a quiet contributor as of late, giving the RedHawks quality minutes in seven of their last eight games. While his career-high-tying eight points in Miami's win at Eastern Michigan got lost in the shuffle of other milestones that night, Williams made a bold statement in Miami's Feb. 1 game against Buffalo. With Miami surging back from a 15-point deficit, Williams single-handedly thwarted a break-away bucket that would have given Buffalo momentum, stripping the ball from Roderick Middleton, saving it from going out of bounds and shuttling it down the court to his teammates. Williams' steal led to a Josh Hausfeld three-pointer during a 22-5 Miami run. According to head coach Charlie Coles, "Doug Williams made the play of the game for us."
HAUSFELD MAKING KEY CONTRIBUTIONS
Freshman guard Josh Hausfeld (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) landed himself a spot in the starting lineup in Miami's first game of 2003 and has been making key contributions in many areas to help lift the RedHawks to their present 8-4 MAC mark. Hausfeld has hit critical three's to spark Miami runs and is leading the team with a 43.9 percent three-point shooting percentage in MAC play. Currently he is averaging a solid 8.8 ppg in league play. He also owns a team-high 34 assists in MAC action, while committing just 12 turnovers for a 2.8 assist/turnover ratio.
'HAWKS CAN DISH IT OUT
In its last two games, Miami has compiled 17 assists in each contest, its highest number of assists this season. In Saturday's win over Marshall, the RedHawks also produced their best assist/turnover ratio the season 17/7 (2.42). Chet Mason dished out a game-high six assists on Saturday against Marshall, while Gene Seals (Saginaw, Mich./Saginaw) handed out a game-best and career-high eight assists on Feb. 9 at Ball State. Seals' eight assists are the most by any RedHawk this season.
AGAIN MIAMI BOASTS ONE OF NATION'S TOP NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULES
Over the past two seasons, Miami's strength of schedule has been among the top 15 nationally at the conclusion of non-conference play, and this season is no exception. As has become the signature of Miami's non-conference slate, the RedHawks' strength at the end of their non-conference slate was among the nation's top five according to CollegeRPI.com and in the Sagarin Index (No. 4 in CollegeRPI.com and No. 5 in the Sagarin Index). Heading into its game against Cincinnati, Miami's strength of schedule was No. 1 in both indexes. Currently, the RedHawks' strength of schedule is ranked No. 22 in the Sagarin Index and 39th by CollegeRPI.com. Miami is 96th according to CollegeRPI.com and is ranked 103rd by Sagarin.
MIAMI 69, MARSHALL 49
Juby Johnson knocked down one of his three treys just seconds into the game to give Miami a lead it would never relinquish as the RedHawks went on to down Marshall 69-49. Johnson poured in a game-high 21 points to bolster the RedHawks.
In the first half, Miami connected on three of its first five three-point attempts to claim a 9-6 lead. The RedHawks did not take a shot within the three-point arc for the first 4:40 of the contest. In addition to Johnson, Bryan Reed and Josh Hausfeld drained treys for the Red and White in the opening minutes of the contest. Holding just a two-point edge, 12-10, at the 13:10 mark, Miami went on a 9-1 run sparked by another Hausfeld three pointer and bolstered with a pair of back-to-back three-point plays by Johnson. A Ronald Blackshear trey cut the RedHawk lead to five, 21-16, with 8:53 left in the first half, but that would be as close as the Thundering Herd would get. Larry Drake drilled a three pointer at the 2:16 mark and then came right back to chip in a lay up and give the RedHawks a 34-21 lead with 1:55 left in the first half. Blackshear knocked down a jumper with just over 30 seconds left to cut the Marshall deficit to 11, but Danny Horace tossed in a layup as time expired in the first half to make the halftime margin 13 points, 36-23.
Over nearly the first six minutes of the second half, Marshall was limited to just two points. Johnson chipped in five of the RedHawks' eight points as Miami jumped out to a 19-point lead, 44-25, with 14:23 left to play. A three-pointer by Horace at the 12-minute mark handed Miami its largest lead of the game-21 points-pushing the RedHawks to a 50-29 advantage. Three times in the second half Miami posted a 21-point lead over Marshall. The Thundering Herd was able to pull within 16 points, 57-14, with 3:51 remaining, but it wasn't enough as Miami rolled to the 69-49 triumph.
In addition to his 21 points, Johnson grabbed six rebounds, including a season-high three offensive boards, and snagged two steals. Horace added 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Chet Mason dished out six of Miami's season-high-tying 17 assists, while Hausfeld went 3-for-4 from three-point range for the RedHawks.
HOME SWEET HOME
Over its 34 seasons as the home of Miami basketball, Millett Hall has certainly been a welcome venue for the RedHawks, who are 326-106 (.755) on their home court. Eight of Miami's 10 wins this season have been in the confines of Millett Hall. Last season, the RedHawks won just two games away from Millett Hall.
DRAKE REJOINS ROSTER
Miami University senior guard Larry Drake (Groveport, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) was cleared to rejoin the men's basketball team starting with its game versus Eastern Michigan on Jan. 29 after completing a class that had held him out of action since the RedHawks' Jan. 8 game versus Kent State.
HAUSFELD HAS BREAKOUT GAME
Freshman guard Josh Hausfeld has steadily been emerging in the RedHawk lineup, but Jan. 20 against Akron Hausfeld had a breakout game. Going 7-of-9 (.778 ) from the field, including 5-of-7 (.714) from three-point range, Hausfeld poured in a career-high 19 points, and his career-best six assists led to 13 additional RedHawk points. He also grabbed a career-best five rebounds while playing all 40 minutes of the game for the first time this season.
THE HORACE FACTOR
It is no secret that when Miami scores at least 70 points, it wins games. A key factor for that scoring surge is sophomore forward Danny Horace. In Miami's wins, Horace averages 14.9 points per game, 6.9 rebounds per game and shoots 44.9 percent from the field. Contrastingly, he scores just 9.0 ppg, shoots 33.3 percent from the field and notches 4.7 boards per game in Miami's losses. In the six games where Miami has reached 70 or more points, Horace averages 16.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg and hits 49.3 percent of his shots.
FIRST-HALF FIRE
In the first half of Miami's Jan. 29 game at Eastern Michigan, Miami shot a sizzling 71.4 percent from the field, hitting 20-of-28 field goals. It was the RedHawks' best single-half effort of the season. For the game, Miami shot 54.9 percent from the floor, just the second time this season it has shot 50.0 percent or better.
FIVE MAKE BIG IMPACT OVER FIVE-GAME WIN STREAK
Over Miami's five-game win streak, five players were key elements to Miami's wins, scoring the bulk of the RedHawks' points: Juby Johnson (18.2), Danny Horace (16.0), Chet Mason (9.8), Josh Hausfeld (9.4), Gene Seals (5.8). Seals was averaging double figures before being sidelined with an ankle injury just four minutes into the Jan. 25 contest against Ball State. Making just his second start of the season, Seals was able to score two points and dish out an assist in just four short minutes of action. Horace and Mason also averaged 7.4 and 7.0 rebounds per game, respectively.
