Unbeaten and Unseen: The Miami RedHawks’ Stunning Rise No One’s Talking About

For a team that’s 30-0, Miami RedHawks men’s basketball sure is flying under the radar. The MAC regular-season champ is chasing the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since 2007.

As it’s gone unbeaten into early March, you surely know a lot about UConn women’s basketball.

Defending national champion.

Geno Auriemma, the winningest coach in NCAA history.

National player of the year candidates Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, backed by a standout lineup.

There’s only one other unbeaten team in Division I basketball, and, oh, how the recognition level is so different. Unlike UConn, you probably don’t know a lot about Miami (Ohio) men’s basketball, and you may be asking: Who are these guys?

Tuesday night, Miami became just the fourth D-I men’s basketball team in the last 35 years to start a season 30-0, joining 2013-14 Wichita State, 2014-15 Kentucky and 2020-21 Gonzaga.

The RedHawks claimed their 22nd Mid-American Conference championship with the 74-72 win over Toledo, but it’s their first regular-season title in 21 years. They’ve set school records for best start and wins, and MAC records for best start and consecutive conference wins (17).

“That’s the beauty of basketball,” leading scorer Peter Suder said after the win over Toledo. “When you’re having fun with the right group of guys, you can become unbeatable.”

Despite the banner start, and ever growing attention on the program, the RedHawks remain under the radar to some degree due to being outside the major conferences, having not played a Top 25 opponent, and still facing national conversation that their resume would fall short of an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament – that they need to claim the MAC’s automatic bid to make their first appearance since 2007.  

Miami cracked the AP Top 25 in mid-January as the MAC’s first ranked team since Buffalo in the 2018-19 season. They’re No. 19 this week, adding a No. 20 ranking in the USA Today coaches poll.

Even TRACR (Team Rating Adjusted for Conference and Roster) has reservations about Miami. TRACR is a net efficiency metric that calculates a team’s points per possession on both sides of the ball, adjusted for the strength of the opponent. The RedHawks are 48th in TRACR, which is bubble territory for NCAA at-large candidates.

Miami has built toward its high success in coach Travis Steele’s fourth season. A year ago, the RedHawks advanced to the MAC Tournament championship game and finished with 25 wins for what then was the program record.

Before this season, they were picked first in the conference’s preseason poll. Despite two key transfer losses, they returned three starters, four of the team’s top five scorers, and six of the nine players who were in the regular rotation.

RedHawks players have combined for only six double-doubles this season. That’s one more than the last two seasons combined, but 114 D-I players have more than six this season. Their depth reflects particularly in the scoring as six players are averaging between 10 and 15 points per game, and a seventh, guard Evan Ipsaro, was averaging 13.9 points before he was sidelined by an ACL tear after the first 12 games.

Suder, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, leads the team with a 14.8-point average, and is second in rebounds and assists, while 6-8 redshirt sophomore wing Brant Byers is second with a 14.1-point average. Additionally, 6-6 junior wing Eiam Elmer (13.9-point average, leading rebounder) is No. 1 on the team in DRIP (Daily-Updated Rating of Individual Performance).

The shooting of Division I’s No. 3 scoring offense (90.3 points per game) stands out. The RedHawks lead all 361 teams in field-goal percentage (52.6) and rank ninth in 3-point percentage (39.2), making 10.4 per game. They’re also second in effective FG% (61.4), which provides a more accurate measure of shooting efficiency by weighting 3-pointers.

But here’s where there’s even more substance behind the style – the Miami RedHawks are a complete team on both ends of the floor. They rank higher in defensive TRACR (11th) than in offensive TRACR (59th). Opponents are shooting 43.1% from the floor, making for D-I’s eighth-largest difference (nearly 9.6%) between a team’s field-goal% and field-goal defensive%.

Plus, the RedHawks have risen in tight moments. Each of their last two games ended with two-point wins, giving them 12 by single digits. None of the aforementioned teams with a 30-0 start had more than seven.