-
Myron Medcalf
multiple authors
Miami (Ohio) Head coach Travis Steele says he wasn’t superstitious during the Redhawks’ 22-0 run, a streak that has them sitting with No. 1 Arizona as the final two undefeated teams of the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season.
However, when pressed, he admitted that he wears the Lucky shirt to every game, at the request of his 3-year-old daughter.
“He loves my shirts that I wear under my quarter zips,” Steele said. “I got a Skyline Chili shirt and I got an Ultimate Warrior T-shirt. He likes that.”
His players? Well, they make no such claims.
senior guard Peter SuderAn All-Mid-American selection last season, it’s especially about what he puts on his feet every night.
“They’re washed, but I wear the same pair of sports socks every time, regardless,” he said.
Brant ByersMack Freshman of the Year, can’t play a game until he wears a bunch of candy before tipoff. Jolly Rancher, Life Saver, anything sweet.
“A bag, a medium-sized bag that you might get at a gas station,” he said. “Normally, I’ll eat the whole bag.”
junior guard Ian ElmerSuperstition is more expensive. The James Harden Volume 9 Adidas shoes that he wears during games retail for around $200 online. Elmer started the season with eight starts; Now he is down to six. Why? Because if he has a bad game, he refuses to wear those shoes again and instead chooses to give them away. During his worst effort of the season – he finished 0-for-4 shooting against Central Michigan on January 13 – Elmer (11.6 points per game) also gave up an orange pair at halftime.
“I had two bad games in those,” he said. “Now is the time to abandon them.”
Even a bad game led to a win for Miami this season.
A year after the RedHawks lost to Akron and Steele’s half-brother, Zips head coach John Gross, is chasing an unblemished season and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007.
This week at number 23 Associated Press Top 25 PollMiami leads the nation in scoring (93.7 ppg) and field goal percentage (53.4%). The RedHawks are also in the top 25 in 3-point (37.9%) and 2-point (62.6%) shooting. They hold the longest winning streak in MAC history, thanks to the chemistry of the roster, which returned its best players from the previous season, and the players’ ability to quickly turn the page after each win.
Ahead (6:30 PM ET, Tuesday, ESPN+) is a Buffalo team that had a nearly perfect season in overtime two weeks ago (A). 105-102 Miami win) – and a loss could spoil any shot the RedHawks have at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, requiring a conference tournament title to secure a berth on Selection Sunday instead.
However, there is a buzz around basketball in twenty-two sports on the campus in Oxford, Ohio.
Tickets for Miami’s 2024-25 season opener against Wright State go on sale for $13. Attendance for that game at Millett Hall, the RedHawks’ home field, was recorded just north of 2,000 – about 20% of the building’s capacity. As of this writing, tickets for the team’s next home game against rival Ohio on February 13 cannot be found for less than $100. (One of the few remaining courtside seats will cost you $514 on StubHub.) And last Saturday’s win over Northern Illinois set an attendance record of 10,640.
Byers, whose 15.4 points per game lead the team, said, “The crowd we had in the last game is something we’re not really used to, but it adds another element to the games and makes them even more fun than before.” “I know there were some games last year where we had maybe a thousand fans attending.
“It’s really weird to go from a completely quiet gym to a packed, noisy gym.”
After leading for most of last season’s MAC Tournament title game, Miami watched Akron come back from an 18-point deficit to lose on the former Zips star’s shot. Nate Johnson With 2.3 seconds to play. Some returning players watched that movie a dozen times. Others stayed away from social media so they wouldn’t have to see it. But they all agreed on one thing: They wanted another shot.
“I know we’ve basically gone through probably the worst we’ve ever been through for a team, but we still felt connected to us,” Suder said. “I think I was the first one to talk [Steele] within a week and I told him within 10 seconds of our [individual] A meeting from which I don’t want to leave, I want to come back. And then I asked him to tell all the players in their meetings.”
That decision created a domino effect, and other top players agreed to return, giving Miami continuity few teams in the US can match – the sixth-most returning minutes (62%) according to KenPom. The RedHawks understand and trust each other. They know each other’s tendencies on the court.
This way they are in a position to chase a dream.
“I’m really proud and happy about this [Steele],” said second-team All-American selection Wally Szczerbiak, who led the school to the Sweet 16 in 1999. “They have done it the right way through player development and hard work. The team is cohesive and very close on the court, which is reflected in pressure, clutch situations on the court. Miami is a special place with special people hanging out on that campus and it’s great to see them go to games to enjoy the ride.”
Amid the new promotion, Steele has preached focusing on the road ahead rather than the rearview mirror. The RedHawks have used that mentality to navigate close games, three of which have been decided by five points or fewer, including two in overtime.
Players point to their connectivity to allow them to stay honest with each other and play through adversity. During the summer, their MAC Tournament loss was followed by intense battles on the court in pickup games – which Byers described as “probably too intense at times”. The Redhawks knew how close they were to their goal. But Steele doesn’t want them to get caught up in the possibility of perfection, or the potential consequences of failing to achieve it.
“My biggest thing for us is that we can always control our destiny,” Steele said. “I know this: If we win three games in three days in Cleveland [at the MAC tournament]No matter what, we’ll get an automatic quote.
“That’s where my mind is going over and over again and it’s like, ‘How do we get to the top at the right time? How do we get our team to play the best game they can possibly play in March?’ “I’m not that impressed with our record.”
