DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — Conventional wisdom says Nathan Peavy is the most talented player on the Miami University basketball team and is bound to break out of his mini-slump sooner or later.

His coach Charlie Coles would prefer sooner. Tonight would work.

Peavy, who has scored in double figures only once in the last five games, will try to bust loose tonight when the RedHawks take on the Toledo Rockets, the only team in the Mid-American Conference without a league loss.

Miami is seeking its fourth consecutive win and second straight on the road.

"Toledo's a very good team, the top team in the West. They've got good athletes," Miami junior forward Tim Pollitz said. "But we're going to their place with confidence."

Pollitz, who has been recovering from a chronic knee injury, is on a hot streak. Since Jan. 7 he has averaged 16.8 points per game.

"Tim's good when he moves without the ball," Coles said. "When he does that, he becomes a tough (player to) guard for someone. Our hope is that it forces the other team to double-team him and that's open up somebody else."

So far that "somebody else" hasn't been Peavy. At least, not often.

Since Jan. 7, Peavy has averaged 9.0 points and his scoring average has dropped from 15.0 to 13.5. The man who has reached the 20-point mark three times this season has connected for exactly three baskets in each of his last five games.

"Peavy hasn't scored as much as we'd like him to," Coles said. "He's not moving without the ball as well as Pollitz and Bramos are."

Pollitz said part of the blame for Peavy's slump should go to him and his teammates.

"We need to get Peavy the ball," Pollitz said. "Sometimes I don't think I look for him as much as I should, and he's our prime man."

Miami's prime number seems to be 72. That is Miami's season high in points scored; the RedHawks have reached it four times (including the last two games) and they've won all four.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.