RedHawks set to open MAC play

Miami hosts Akron in conference opener for both teams.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer 12:08 PM Friday, January 6, 2012

OXFORD — Freshman guard Brian Sullivan is emerging as a legitimate scoring threat for Miami University, a basketball team which has depended far too much on Julian Mavunga for its point production.

But there is a catch.

“Let’s put it this way,” RedHawks coach Charlie Coles said, “when he’s open he’s got a great chance at making the shot. It’s up to us to really put our heads together to get him open.

“If we can do that,” he added, “maybe we’ll get somebody else more open.”

Sullivan scored a career-high 24 points in Miami’s 69-62 loss at Vanderbilt on Monday. He knocked down eight of his 10 shots from the 3-point arc, and it was the second time in the last four games he has scored at least 18 points.

The RedHawks will need the extra scoring he provides when they take on Akron, the defending Mid-American Conference Tournament champion, tonight in Miami’s MAC opener at Millett Hall.

“I feel they’ve got more players than they’ve had in the last five years,” Coles said of the Zips, who are led by 7-foot junior center Zeke Marshall (11.2 points per game) and 6-8 senior forward Nikola Cvetinovic (10.4 points).

Marshall leads the MAC in blocked shots with an average of 3.1.

“That’s a big impact,” Coles said. “Besides the fact that he can block shots, the shots he doesn’t block but where it bothers the shooter, that’s big.”

Miami’s leading shot blockers are Jon Harris and Bill Edwards, both with a total of eight, but Edwards has missed Miami’s last five games with a wrist injury and Coles said he doesn’t think he will play for the rest of the season.

“I don’t see how he could,” Coles said. “He’s supposed to get an operation.”

Edwards would become the second RedHawk to have season-ending surgery. Allen Roberts underwent knee surgery earlier this season.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or Pete.Conrad@coxinc.com.

Saturday’s game

Who: Akron (8-6, 0-0 MAC) at Miami (4-8, 0-0)

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Millett Hall (6,400), Oxford

TV: ONN

Radio: WMOH-AM (1450)

Series: Miami leads 24-22

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