The Miami RedHawks men’s basketball team escaped a nailbiter in Buffalo, New York, to head back to Oxford, OH, with a 73-71 victory in tow, preserving their perfect record.
Ranked 23rd in the nation, many are wondering how the Redhawks have managed to remain neck and neck with the Arizona Wildcats as the nation’s last remaining unbeatens. Prior to their matchup with the Buffalo Bulls, some interesting tidbits were shared.
Head coach Travis Steele has a secret: his lucky shirts.
“She loves my shirts that I wear underneath my quarter zip,” Steele said, via Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com. “I’ve got a Skyline Chili shirt and I’ve got an Ultimate Warrior T-shirt. She likes that.”
Steele isn’t the only one with his gameday superstitions, either. Breakout Guard Peter Suder isn’t changing his socks on gameday, under any circumstances.
“They’re washed, but I wear the same game socks every single time, regardless,” he said.
Guard and sharpshooter Eian Elmer wears a pair of James Harden Volume 9 Adidas shoes, which retail for $200, for every game. He started the season with eight pairs of the kicks, but he’s down to six now. Why? After a poor performance, he’s done with that pair.
“I had two bad games in them,” he said. “It was time to give them up.”
Strange as they may be, superstitions are working for the Hawks. Miami is playing to sold-out crowds these days, with general admission tickets already gone for their next home contest against the Ohio Bobcats.
“To have the crowd that we had last game is something that we’re not even used to really, but it adds another element to the games and makes them even more fun than what they had been in the past,” said Brant Byers, the team’s leading scorer. “I know there were a few games last year where we were probably pushing a thousand fans.
“It’s really wild to go from a completely quiet gym to a packed, loud gym.”
As great as the season has gone thus far for Miami, Steele is focused on making sure his team puts it all together and plays its best ball when it matters most.
“My biggest thing for us is that we can always control our own destiny,” Steele said. “I know this: If we win three games in three days in Cleveland [at the MAC tournament], we’ll get the automatic bid regardless of what happens.
“That’s where my mind keeps on going back to and it’s like, ‘How can we peak at the right time? How can we get our team to play the best that it can possibly play in March?’ I’m not as consumed with our record.”
The RedHawks have an out of cofernece road matchup with the Marshall Thundering Herd next up on the schedule, with tip-off scheduled for 4:00 PM EST on Feb 7.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.