Miami RedHawks remain best story in men's CBB with wild OT win

Suder, who scored a game-high 37 points on 13-of-22 shooting, including 7-of-10 from beyond the arc, got redemption during the extra period with the winning shot.

Wild win continues incredible Miami season

The win continues the best start in program history and ties the best start in MAC history. Head coach Travis Steele has done a remarkable job at a place without a rich basketball tradition.

He arrived at Miami (OH) in 2022 after four seasons at Xavier, where he went 70-50 and was fired during the team's 2022 NIT title run. He inherited a Miami program with one winning record — 12-11 in the condensed 2020-21 season — since 2009-10 and went 27-37 in his first two seasons.

Steele led the RedHawks to a program-record 25 wins a season ago, which ended in heartbreak with a 76-74 loss to Akron in the MAC championship game. Miami led by as many as 18 but lost on guard Nate Johnson's floater with 2.3 seconds remaining.

Entering Saturday, Miami ranked fifth in the country in scoring (93.3 points per game) on the heels of exceptional shooting. The RedHawks rank first in overall field goal percentage and three-point percentage, with those rates increasing after shooting 38-of-66 (57.5 percent), including 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) from deep, against Buffalo.

Even as one of D-I's highest-scoring teams, Miami will need to continue racking up wins to even be considered for an at-large bid. Per KenPom, Miami ranks No. 353 out of 365 teams in opponents' net rating — a strength-of-schedule metric. But to its credit, the 12 teams below it average 7.5 losses, showing that an easy schedule doesn't automatically translate to wins.

Miami, No. 47 in NET rankings, is the only team in the top 50 without a Quad 1 game. Its best wins came in Quad 2 at Wright State (83-76) and Bowling Green (93-83) and at home against Akron (76-73).

Steele spoke about the struggle of changing the outside perception of the program after the team's 100-61 win over Central Michigan on Tuesday.

"I think we have a chip on our shoulder, for sure," Steele said, then adding, "You can't control it. We just gotta continue to make a statement every time we step on that floor" (h/t FOX19's Jeremy Rauch)

The RedHawks will have to avoid any more close calls. Their only remaining regular-season games are against Quad 3 or Quad 4 opponents, making it imperative they're on their A-game every night. 

Chances are, the RedHawks will once again enter their conference tournament needing to win it to go dancing. But unlike last season, based on Saturday's win, fate may be on their side.