The Miami-Ohio RedHawks and the Buffalo Bulls meet in a MAC conference tournament quarter-final matchup from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Thursday afternoon.
The Miami-Ohio RedHawks come into the conference tournament as the #7 seed after finishing the year 9-8 in conference play as part of their 12-10 overall record this season. Dae Dae Grant leads Miami-Ohio in scoring with 13.7 PPG while Dalonte Brown has 13.5 PPG with a team-high 7.5 RPG to lead the RedHawks on the glass. Mekhi Lairy has 13.2 PPG with a team-high 3.4 APG to lead the RedHawks in the assist department and to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Miami-Ohio up to this point in the season. Isaiah Coleman-Lands also has 7.7 PPG and 3 APG for Miami-Ohio this season. As a team, Miami-Ohio is averaging 72.7 PPG on 43.8% shooting from the field and 36.6% from three while allowing 71.5 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field and 34.7% from three this season.
The Buffalo Bulls enter the tournament as the #2 seed, finishing the year with a 12-5 mark in conference play as part of their 14-7 overall record this season. Jeenathan Williams leads the Bulls in scoring with 17.3 PPG as well as logging 7 RPG with 2.5 APG while Josh Mballa has 15.1 PPG and a team-high 9.9 RPG to lead the Bulls on the glass. Jayvon Graves has 14.6 PPG with 6 RPG and 4 APG while Ronaldo Segu has 12.7 PPG with a team-high 4.4 APG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Buffalo up to this point in the season. As a team, Buffalo is averaging 82.7 PPG on 46.6% shooting from the field and 32.6% from three while allowing 72.7 PPG on 41.1% shooting from the field and 27.7% from three this season.
Miami-Ohio is 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall. Buffalo is 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.
The MAC had a reputation this season for being a defense optional conference, and these two teams were two of the main culprits as I can’t remember many times where Miami-Ohio or Buffalo weren’t involved in a game where teams finished in the 70s. I don’t think the conference tournament changes anything here, as I think this game is a track meet from the word go. I think the first team to 80 wins this game, so give me the over in this spot.