OXFORD, Ohio What does unknown undefeated Miami (Ohio) have to offer? Start with a picture of coach Travis Steele’s home.
This marks his first game coaching the RedHawks in 2022. He looked at the picture now and noticed the stands in the picture. Lots of empty stalls. He lost the game. He lost 20 times that year and almost no one showed up. After all, they had seen it before; That’s 13 losses in 14 years.
“It’s just a reminder of what we’re building,” Steele recalled, standing in the hallway on Saturday, three years after the photo. His team had just gone undefeated over Akron. A crowd of more than 4,000 was alive and kicking, and the hard-fought 76-73 victory capped Miami’s impressive 15-0 start. Things have changed in Oxford.
“When you have that many people, you’ve got to win, because you can’t outrun it,” sophomore wing Brant Byers would say after powering his patrons with 26 points. “I’m not going to lie, it’s hard when you walk out there and there’s nobody in the seats. But for a game like this, to have a crowd like that is huge. People listening to us and people watching us do it gives you a good feeling.”
Come to think of it, what exactly is Miami doing it?
It’s right after the game and the RedHawks are sitting at a table signing autographs. The line is long and they meet, greet and scribble for 40 minutes. Maybe other college basketball players haven’t made the team yet, but the locals have.
There are six perfect records left this season, and here’s one of them. Miami 15-0. No one else in the country can say that at the moment.
Latest rankings: Arizona and Michigan remain steady at No. 37 in the latest men’s basketball rankings.
Applause polls? No. Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, Vanderbilt and Nebraska are among the top 13 in the latest AP or coaches poll. You need to go deep into the people who are getting other people’s opinions Forest to find the RedHawks.
Confused by the metrics? Almost. KenPom has Miami ranked No. 100, behind five-loss Florida Atlantic and just ahead of four-loss Hofstra. The latest NCAA NET ranking is 60th.
Do the doubters have a weapon to use to keep the RedHawks warm? Well, yes. The schedule was a dessert cart. KenPom ranks him 355th in the nation and 364th in the NCAA. 11 of Miami’s first 13 wins came against Quad 4 or non-Division I opponents.
Don’t the RedHawks care? Not much. A zero on the right side of the record line in January is a big deal by any measure, and they’ve beaten all 15 of their opponents so far. That includes Akron, a 10-3 team that has scored 100 points five times this season and at least 93 the other five. That came just four days after Miami blew Kansas State up by 16 in a 10-point win at Bowling Green. Five of the RedHawks’ six wins Saturday were true road games.
Pinned them 🤐#Unfinished business || #MiamiMindset || #RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/oJINjoJLdH
— Miami Men’s Basketball (@MiamiOH_BBall) January 3, 2026
Is anyone out there starting to notice?
“I hope so,” Steele said. “We can only play who’s in front of us. Scheduling is a monster in the middle. I mean, it’s scary.
“We’re going to keep track of the underdogs. I might not worry about going undefeated. It’s like, are we getting better or not?”
His players are sure of it.
For example, Byers. “Of course we want to see (a good ranking), but we also know how it works, so that’s not our priority. I know a lot of people are talking about the strength of the schedule, and some of that is true, but I think these last two teams really prove that we’re real.”
“I think coming out of the grind and coming back (against Akron) proves to a lot of people, even us, that we’re a team that knows who they are.”
Then the notification wins. “I think it’s a perfect fit for our program,” All-MAC linebacker Peter Suder said. “We have a lot of doubters. We see it all on Twitter. We just push every day, get better every day and ignore it. The rankings will come. We don’t worry about the rankings on KenPom, we just take it one step at a time.”
Setting the standard: Michigan’s dominant start to the season
Here are the numbers to show how Miami went 15-0. The RedHawks entered Saturday ranked No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage and 3-point percentage. They finished seventh in points. They send a bunch of offensive weapons, most of them with Miami veterans and transfers. Seven different players have scored 20 points in a game this season. Miami averaged 95 over the weekend, but no one scored above 14.6. “When you have a variety of gels, I think it’s hard to beat,” Byers said. That depth will be needed with guard and second-leading scorer Evan Ipsaro out with a knee injury.
Asking Steele what he thinks has made the biggest impact, he begins by noting the intangibles.
“The bond. The work ethic, the sacrifice…our guys, that’s what they’re built for. That’s who we are every day.”
Steele was an assistant and head coach at Xavier for 15 years (going 70-50 before parting ways) and saw Jay Wright’s Villanova program up close as a Big East associate. He saw the culture that Wright created and sought the same in Miami. “Everybody else cares about results, not me. I care about our culture and our process,” he said. “We have guys who are really, really fit and they put the team before themselves and I think that really shows on the floor.”
Starters Byers, Suder and Eian Elmer all won state championships in high school, and when the shots didn’t change Saturday, the winning mentality may have come through. The team with the best field goal percentage shot just 30%, or 37.7, in the first half. But Miami found a way in a battle that saw 14 lead changes. Byers made 11 of 12 free throws as part of his 26 points, Elmer had 19 points and Suder had nine assists. Good times have flown by.
“It’s a great sign for us. We didn’t play pretty, it was an ugly game at times,” Steele said. “To win a conference tournament in Cleveland, you have to win games like this. It just has to be physical, it has to be ugly, it has to be tough. And we showed that today.”
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Do you know who his team played against? Steele’s brother. Akron coach John Groce is his half-brother. “I love my brother, nothing is thicker than blood, but it’s weird,” Steele said of watching his relative try so hard to tarnish his team’s spotless record. “I hate that we have to play against each other. It’s tough. He’s playing to win, we’re playing to win, we’re both super competitive and we’ve got work to do.”
They met in the MAC Tournament title game last March, with Akron winning by two tough points. John went to the NCAA Tournament, while younger brother Travis did not. It’s about March, and what Steele means by saying the record is good, but the RedHawks have to make sure they’re “maintaining the basics.” The MAC is a single-bid league. There is one door to the NCAA tournament, and that is winning the league tournament. Miami has made 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, more than any other MAC school, but it’s been 18 years.
Don’t worry about seeing their name high in polls and rankings. Seeing their name on Selection Sunday is a dream for the RedHawks. For now, though, they’re happy to sign and play in front of their newfound supremacy, knowing Michigan and Arizona have nothing.
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