History was never going to come easy.
Especially for the last undefeated team in Division I men’s college basketball, No. 19 Miami (Ohio), which has lived life on the edge all season.
Despite committing three technical fouls, going to overtime for the fourth time this season and allowing Ohio to get off a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, Miami wouldn’t be denied. The RedHawks ultimately held on for a nerve-wracking 110-108 overtime victory to improve to 31-0 and become the 21st team to finish the regular season undefeated.
Coach Travis Steele’s team had already clinched the MAC regular-season title. Now, it can tout something much more remarkable.
Something Miami of Ohio supporters, and college basketball fans in general, will never forget.
“Listen, we’ve got that confidence and belief,” Steele said postgame. “Belief is the most powerful drug in the world, and our guys have it in those moments.”
No team gets to 30-0 — like the RedHawks had entering Friday’s regular-season finale — without a couple of close calls. Or … eight, to be exact, in the case of Steele’s team: games Miami won by either one possession or in overtime. That included Tuesday’s 74-72 victory over Toledo, in which the Rockets turned it over on their potential game-tying possession with seconds left. That victory, the RedHawks’ latest close call, made Miami the fourth team in the last 35 years to win its first 30 games.
And, just as importantly, it set up Friday’s historic showdown at rival Ohio, a place Miami hadn’t won since 2011.
Leading the way for the RedHawks was junior Eian Elmer, who had a career-high 32 points and 12 rebounds, and who regularly had an answer for the Bobcats anytime they tried taking control of the game. Freshman Trey Perry had 21 points off the bench, including a key layup with under two minutes in overtime, while sophomore Brant Byers chipped in 15 and seven boards.
Jackson Paveletzke, Ohio’s leading scorer, set a new career-high with 37 points, and forward Javan Simmons — the beneficiary of Miami’s three technicals, as well as an additional Flagrant-1 foul on Almar Atlason — had 30 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 4.7 seconds remaining in overtime.
If not for Miami’s multiple technical fouls, the RedHawks probably would have led by double-digits for most of the second half. Instead, Ohio made the most of those opportunities and kept clawing back, eventually tying the game with just over six minutes left on a deep 3-pointer from AJ Sheldon. That shot was emblematic of the Bobcats’ hot perimeter shooting all night, as a team that averages under seven 3-pointers a game instead finished with 14, tied for its most in a game this season.
Miami briefly extended its lead thereafter, but Ohio never went away, re-tying the game at 100 on Simmons’ layup with 40 seconds remaining. Miami’s Luke Skaljac got off a corner 3 with 17 seconds left, but missed, setting up a potential game-winning possession for the Bobcats. However, Paveletzke missed a floater with two seconds left that sent the game to a thrilling overtime.
The teams traded baskets most of the extra period, fitting for a game that wound up with 17 lead changes. Still, Simmons’ putback with 25.9 seconds left in overtime gave Ohio a 108-107 lead, putting Miami back in the pressure cooker.
That, though, is clearly where the RedHawks thrive, as leading scorer Peter Suder immediately followed that play up by driving, absorbing a foul — and calmly hitting two free throws to re-establish Miami’s 109-108 lead.
Paveletzke drove straight down the middle of the court for a would-be game-winner … but Suder, who struggled offensively most of the night, met him at the rim and went straight up defensively, forcing Paveletzke’s running layup to clink off the front rim. The RedHawks collected the rebound from there, sending Justin Kirby — the team’s best free-throw shooter at 83.9 percent — to the free-throw line, for Miami’s two most important free throws all season.
Kirby missed the first and made the second, giving Miami a two-point cushion. And that proved just enough, as Paveletzke’s last-ditch 3 at the buzzer fell incomplete.
Following the final buzzer, several Miami players appeared to taunt Ohio fans and players near midcourt, briefly escalating tensions before the teams were separated. As the RedHawks exited the floor, items were thrown toward Steele from the stands. Referees also briefly stopped the game in the second half after an object was thrown from the stands toward Steele while he was standing on the sideline.
Given the way Miami’s historic season has unfolded, could it have happened any other way?
“We want to peak at the right time here in March,” Steele said. “I love coaching our group. I’m extremely blessed to be here.”