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Coles: RedHawks worst first-half team in America

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer Updated 10:11 AM Tuesday, January 26, 2010

OXFORD — Miami University men’s basketball coach Charlie Coles doesn’t crunch numbers, and he doesn’t mince words.

When a reporter on Monday’s Mid-American Conference teleconference mentioned the RedHawks have been behind at halftime in 12 consecutive games, Coles laughed said he wasn’t aware of that stat.

But he quickly assessed it.

“Our guys know they’re lousy in the first half. Lousy! I repeat, ‘lousy,’ ” Coles said. “We’re the worst first-half team in America.”

Miami (6-12, 3-2 MAC) will try to put an end to that streak tonight, Jan. 26, at Ball State (8-9, 2-3).

“It is what it is,” Coles said of his squad’s first-half funk. “Our coaching staff has learned to say, ‘OK, we know we’re going to get behind.’ And to our guys’ credit, we’ve done a pretty good job in the league of catching up to opponents in the second half on our home court.

“But on the road that doesn’t fly, so let’s hope that (tonight) we play a better first 20 minutes of the game.”

Another troubling streak for the RedHawks is one that dates back almost a full year. Feb. 7, 2009, was the last time Miami won a road game, a span of 13 contests.

“We don’t think we’ve been jinxed,” Coles said. “It’s no secret that we’re 0-6 against teams that were in the Top 25 at the time, so we’ve asked our players to not even look at it.

“All we’re trying to do is build some confidence,” Coles continued. “We’re going to Ball State, and we’re not going to worry about the (0-13) as much as we’re going to worry about ‘can we get into our offense’ and ‘can we move the ball’ and ‘are we playing good defense without fouling.’ Those are the things we’re concentrating on.”

Ball State has won five of its last six at home, and the Cardinals lead the MAC in scoring defense, surrendering just 59.8 points per game, and rebounding defense, allowing only 31.6 boards per contest.

“They’re sneaky good,” Coles said. “They try to control the game without you knowing that they’re controlling it.”

The offensive leaders are Jarrod Jones, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward who is averaging 11.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and Jauwan Scaife, a 6-2 freshman guard who is scoring 10.3 ppg while making 42 percent of his 3-pointers.

“Ball State is tough,” Coles said. “They’re not where they’re going to be, but they’re a whole lot better than where they were when (third-year coach Billy Taylor) took over. We’re going to have to play well to come out of there with a win.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.