Archdeacon: In 18th straight win, Miami basketball shows what it’s got

Early in the second half of the RedHawks’ game with Central Michigan Tuesday night at Millett Hall, 14 members of Miami’s men’s swim team assembled themselves in three rows of the stands behind the visitors’ basket.

And with just under three minutes gone in the period, the entire group made a move that was one step shy of The Full Monty and stripped down to just their skimpy red Speedos.

Soon they were chanting “Defense! ... Defense!”

They waved their t-shirts in the air, Terrible Towel style, when Central Michigan players went to the free throw line a few yards away.

They held one of their guys above their heads in body surf motion and another swimmer held up a sign that read, “Rank the 17-0 RedHawks!”

After Miami’s 100-61 romp over Chippewas, RedHawks coach Travis Steele was asked if he noticed the Skin Squad.

“I was laughing,” he said.

And did he think they were effective?

“I was distracted,” he said with another laugh. “And I think they (CMU) were, as well.

RedHawks freshman Justin Kirby agreed: “Number 13 for Central Michigan definitely saw it. He was affected. He missed like three (free throws) in a row.”

Kirby was talking about CMU forward Keenan Garner, who happened to be his teammate at Fishers High in Indiana for two years.

But it wasn’t just Garner. When the swimmers stripped down, Miami had a 17-point lead.

In less than five minutes, the RedHawks went on a 17-4 run as CMU missed eight of its next 10 field goal attempts, had two turnovers, committed three fouls and Garner clanked at the line three times in a row.

Miami topped the century mark at Millett for the fifth time this season.

Although three of those efforts came against far lesser opponents — Trinity Christian, Indiana East and Milligan — there is no denying Miami is tougher to beat in Millett Hall this year than Dayton is at UD Arena, the hoop haven known nationally for its homecourt cushion.

The unbeaten RedHawks now have won 25 straight games at Millett, their last loss coming in the home opener to Wright State last season.

Miami then went on to win 15 in a row at home last season — a school record — and it’s now gone 10-0 this season. The 25 straight is a program record, too.

So is the 18-0 start.

Going into Wednesday night’s games, Miami is one of just four Division I teams that are still unbeaten this year. The other three are Arizona, Nebraska and Vanderbilt.

While that trio is ranked in the AP Top 25 poll, Miami is not. It has received bottom of the poll votes from the 60 or so writers who cast the votes each week, but it’s still 29th, its 49 points well below the 136 garnered by No. 25 Seton Hall.

But like the sign said, “Rank the RedHawks!”

Two things hurt them I believe. In recent years — excluding last season — Miami basketball was only a shell of its old self.

When Steele took over the program four seasons ago, Miami had had just one winning campaign — and that came in the shortened COVID season — in the past 13 years.

So old perceptions linger with some.

And there’s also those aforementioned clunkers on the schedule.

But if you watch this team, you realize how good it is, both individually, but more so collectively. This is a team that plays well together and seems to play for each other. It has lots of weapons and can shoot the lights out.

Miami is the nation’s leading three-point shooting team and is among the top five in Division I in several other offensive categories.

While Steele admitted, “we have a lot to prove,” he then pivoted and dunked quite definitively on the Miami doubters:

“I think we can beat anybody in the country.”

‘Building something special’

If the national voters are slow to grasp that, former Miami players — who have been waiting for the return to the roundball respectability they knew when they were part of the program — have taken notice.

“They’re super proud of what we’re doing,” Steele said. “We want to honor the players, the coaches, the managers, everyone who came before us and poured their sweat and heart and soul into this program.

“They’re excited because they know we’re trying to build something special here.”

Recently, Wally Szczerbiak — the Miami All-American who led the team to NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 1999; finished as the program’s second all-time scorer; became an NBA All-Star and now is a basketball analyst for CBS Sports — gave a shout out to the current RedHawks team on national TV.

“He’s been awesome since day one when I got here,” Steele said. “Just his support. He comes back and talks to our guys.”

Ron Harper, the Kiser High grad who became Miami’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder; was a big reason why Miami went to three straight NCAA Tournaments in his career; and became a five-time NBA champ — has reconnected with the program as well and will be given an honorary degree by Miami when the RedHawks host Northern Illinois Jan. 31.

Steele said several former Miami players reach out to him after nearly every game, including Damon Frierson and Jermaine Henderson.

“I got a text from Jermaine, he’s a great friend of mine,” Steele said. “He’s an assistant coach at Dayton who coached here a long time and played here, too.”

‘A chip on our shoulders’

For those former players there’s a lot to be proud of with this bunch.

Even though the team lost starting point guard Evan Ipsaro with a torn ACL in the Dec. 20th game at Ball State, it has plugged Luke Skaljac into his slot and have a solid starting five.

And they have some surprising young players on the bench; none more so than Kirby, a 6-foot-4 freshman guard who played in just his fifth game Tuesday night.

He scored 17 points and made some impressive plays — an offensive rebound surrounded by several bigger CMU players; a crisp cut that drew defenders and opened things up for Pete Suder to drain a 3-pointer — that didn’t show up in the box score.

For the first seven weeks of the season the plan was to redshirt Kirby.

“He had a choppy preseason,” Steele said. “He was sick, he was injured, and he didn’t participate in one of the two scrimmages we had leading into the first game.

“As a freshman, that can put you really behind.”

Steele suggested that Kirby think about redshirting, but leave open the option of being activated onto the roster should an injury occur.

Kirby — after some conversations with his family and some soul searching of his own — agreed and he began to immerse himself into helping the scout team and improving himself for next season.

But when Ipsaro was lost for the season, Steele called him and asked whether he would reconsider and become a playing member of the team.

“I didn’t hesitate,” Kirby said. “I told him, ‘Coach, I’m all in.’ I wanted to do whatever I could to help the team.”

Before Tuesday night, he had played sparingly in just four games off the bench and scored 20 points.

Against the Chippewas, he played 21 ½ minutes, made four of five field goal attempts, three of four 3-pointers, six of seven free throws and had six rebounds.

Brant Byers, the team’s leading scorer, led the way with 24. Skaljac added 13, Suder 11 and Antwone Woolfolk had 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals, five assists and two blocked shots.

Steele said Tuesday’s effort once again showed:

“Just how good our offense is. We’re dangerous. We can really make shots. We can get to the free throw line and we can post up.

“It’s not only that we’re winning, but it’s how we’re winning. It’s the brand. The style. It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to coach.

“I pinch myself every single day. It’s a blessing to be around this group.”

That said, he admitted, he, the rest of his coaches and the team have “a chip on our shoulders.”

He said it goes back to last season and the way it ended.

Miami was 25-9 and finished three points away from making the NCAA Tournament.

The RedHawks lost the Mid-American Conference championship game last March to Akron, 76-74, on a Zips’ shot with two seconds left.

In a real snub, they then were overlooked for an NIT bid, although Kent State – who they beat three times in the season – was given an invite.

Add that to the hesitancy of Top 25 voters and the struggle it is to get the kind of home crowd this team deserves – attendance was 2,021 Tuesday and even when the students return to campus it sometimes isn’t much better than that – and you can understand the reason for the chip and why Steele said more than once, “We have to keep making a statement.”

Kirby agreed: “We’ve got a point to prove. We’ve got to show what the RedHawks can do.

“We need to show people what we’ve got.”

Against Central Michigan, the swim team led the way on that front.

Miami may no longer be the Redskins, but at Millett Hall Tuesday night a whole lotta skin was showing.

And after the game the Skin Squad guy who had held up that sign showed he had pulled a magic marker out from somewhere and given his message a makeover.

The sign now read, “Rank the 18-0 RedHawks!”