Jan. 17, 2003

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THE GAME
In the second of two straight road games and three games over a seven-day stretch, Miami (4-9; 2-2 Mid-American Conference) travels to Ohio (4-8; 1-3 MAC) for a 2 p.m. contest on Saturday, Jan. 18. The game will be televised on Cincinnati's WB64 and also broadcast on ONN.

Saturday's tilt marks Johnson vs. Johnson III as brothers junior guard Juby Johnson (Miami) and senior forward Sonny Johnson (Ohio) clash for the third time in their collegiate careers. Last year the two split the two-game series with each brother's respective team winning on its home court. Juby paces Miami, scoring 13.7 points per game and 14.8 ppg in league action. Sonny comes off the bench to average 14.9 ppg, which ranks second on the team behind Brandon Hunter's 19.2 ppg. Hunter also averages 12.8 rebounds per game, which ties for first nationally according to ESPN.com. Steve Esterkamp also scores in double figures for the Bobcats, tossing in 12.2 ppg.

Miami is coming off a 61-51 loss at Toledo on Tuesday and is looking for its first road win of the season. Sophomore forward Danny Horace averages 10.0 ppg for the RedHawks, while junior guard Chet Mason chips in 9.8 ppg and a team-best 6.0 rpg. Over the past two contests Mason averaged 11.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg.

Ohio also has lost two straight games, suffering losses at Central Michigan (84-87) and to Northern Illinois on Wednesday (68-81)-the Bobcats first home loss of the season.

THE SERIES VERSUS THE BOBCATS
The series with Toledo dates back to the 1908 season with Ohio owning an 85-79 lead in the series. When playing in Athens, Ohio posts a 54-24 advantage. Having dropped their last three meetings in Athens, the RedHawks' last win on Ohio's home court was on Feb. 18, 1998, 85-53. Last season, the two teams split the two-game home and home series with each squad winning on its respective floor. In the last meeting, Miami posted a 79-55 triumph in Millett Hall on Feb. 11. (For complete series information, please refer to pages 54 and 55 of the media guide.)

AGAIN MIAMI BOASTS ONE OF NATION'S TOP NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULES
Over the past two seasons, Miami's strength of schedule has been among the top 15 nationally at the conclusion of non-conference play, and this season is no exception. As has become the signature of Miami's non-conference slate, the RedHawks' strength at the end of their non-conference slate was among the nation's top five according to CollegeRPI.com and in the Sagarin Index (No. 4 in CollegeRPI.com and No. 5 in the Sagarin Index). Heading into its game against Cincinnati, Miami's strength of schedule was No. 1 in both indexes. Currently, the RedHawks' strength of schedule is ranked No. 2 by CollegeRPI.com (second to Georgia) and is No. 3 in the Sagarin Index (third behind Temple and Georgia). Miami is 103rd according to CollegeRPI.com and is ranked 129th by Sagarin.

PROGRAM MILESTONE LOOMS
Miami took another step toward becoming the first program in Mid-American Conference history to reach 500 league wins with a 71-62 win over Central Michigan. Miami needs just four more MAC wins to reach that mark after starting the MAC season 2-2. In their 56th year in the MAC, the RedHawks hold a 496-288 record in conference play and boast a league-best .633 winning percentage. The next closest school in the win column is Ohio University, which owns a 445-349 record over 57 years in the MAC. Miami also owns 20 regular-season MAC crowns, more than twice the number of titles than any other league school.

ROAD BLOCKS
Miami tries to barrel down another league road barrier, traveling to a MAC school where the RedHawks have not won in five seasons. The Red and White tries to end a three-game drought in the Convo with its last win there on Feb. 18, 1998, 85-53. Road games have been a true obstacle for the RedHawks, who won just two road contests last season and have yet to win a road game this season. Miami has lost eight straight road games. Its last road win was 66-52 at Buffalo on Feb. 6, 2002. There are three MAC schools (Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan) who are undefeated at home this season. Miami travels to two of those three schools.

JOHNSON-MIAMI'S MINUTE MAN AND MORE
Over a three-game stretch, junior guard Juby Johnson (Warrensville Heights, Ohio/Warrensville Heights) logged 40.0 minutes per game. Johnson has been a driving force in the RedHawk lineup, hitting critical baskets to place Miami in contention to win games or overcome deficits and playing superior defense while typically drawing the toughest defensive assignments. Johnson is scoring at a 17.0 point-per-game clip to lead the RedHawks over the past four games, collecting a season-high 23 points against Kent State on Jan. 8. This season, Johnson has scored in double figures in nine games, including four of Miami's last five contests.

JOHNSON AND JOHNSON PART III
Saturday marks the third meeting between brothers Juby Johnson (Miami) and Sonny Johnson (Ohio). The two clashed for the first time last season, meeting twice and each coming away with a win on his team's respective court. Juby and Sonny played two years together at Garfield Heights where their father, William, coached them. Juby then transferred to Warrensville Heights to finish out his prep career. The Johnson Family is truly becoming a MAC family as youngest brother, Demetrius, has signed to play at Kent State next year.

JOHNSON'S BAND-AID BRAND DEFENSE
As the Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid slogan goes, "I'm stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me," junior guard Juby Johnson's brand of defense stuck on Evansville's Clint Cuffle and Central Michigan's Mike Manciel. Cuffle, who averaged 20.3 points per game and is one of the nation's top three-point shooters, hitting more than 60 percent of his three-point attempts prior to the Dec. 30 contest, was held to a mere four points as he went just 1-for-9 from the field versus Johnson. Manciel averaged 14.5 ppg and was held to nine by Johnson.

SCHENKE-MR. ASSIST
Until Miami's Jan. 8 game against Kent State, sophomore forward Tim Schenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) had not committed more than one turnover in a game, giving up just six for the season while producing 19 assists. Against the Golden Flashes, Schenke committed four turnovers, but also dished out four assists. He owns a team-best 2.1 assist/turnover ratio (23 assists/11 turnovers) and has only once committed more turnovers than assists. Just twice has he had an even number of assists/turnovers (1/1 at Xavier; 4/4 vs. Kent State). Four times this season Schenke has amassed four or more assists, including a career-high five assists against Cincinnati. Over his past four contests (he sat out the Evansville game due to a severely sprained ankle), Schenke notched 13 assists and committed seven turnovers.

TOLEDO 61, MIAMI 51
A jumper by junior guard Juby Johnson and a three-pointer from freshman guard Josh Hausfeld got Miami out of the gates quickly at Toledo as the RedHawks opened an early 5-0 lead. A 19-3 run late in the second half, however, proved to be insurmountable as the RedHawks fell to Toledo, 61-51.

Miami went on a 7-0 run early in the first half off a jumpers by Danny Horace and Chet Mason and a trey by Mason to make the score 12-5 with 15:07 left in the half. A pair of free throws by Horace less than a minute later increased the RedHawk lead to eight-its largest lead of the game-14-6. Sparked by a pair of Sammy Villegas treys, Toledo went on a 17-5 surge from 8:33 to 2:43 to capture a five-point advantage, 29-24. But an off balance jumper by Johnson with four seconds left in the half following a made free throw by senior guard Doug Williams and a layup by Mason evened the game going into the half, 29-29.

The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the early part of the second half. Toledo took a four-point edge with 14:14 left in the game, 40-36, but Mason drained a jumper and Johnson put together a three-point play to hand the RedHawks the 41-40 edge at the 12:08 mark. That, however, would be the final lead for Miami as the Rockets went on to outscore the RedHawks 21-10 over the final 10:37 of the game. Twice Toledo led by 14 late in the second half with its final 14-point advantage coming at 2:13, 61-47. Freshman guard William Hatcher drained a three-pointer with 27 second left to cut the final margin to 10.

Despite one of its best outings from the field (.475) of the season, Miami was unable to overcome the 20 turnovers it committed. Mason scored a team-high 17 points and added nine rebounds, while Horace chipped in 10 points and seven boards.

HAUSFELD CRACKING THE STARTING LINEUP
Freshman guard Josh Hausfeld (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) earned the first start of his collegiate career against Butler on Dec. 14, but came off the bench in the Miami's next two games-Cincinnati and Evansville-to record 10 and eight points respectively. Hausfeld made his return to the starting lineup versus Central Michigan and has started the last three games.

MAC NUGGETS
Three RedHawks rank among Mid-American Conference statistical leaders. Danny Horace (Cincinnati, Ohio/Western Hills) ranks eighth in free-throw percentage (.780) and 12th in blocked shots (0.77). Chet Mason (Cleveland, Ohio/South) is 9th in defensive rebounds (4.54) and 11th in rebounding (6.0), while Juby Johnson's 1.77 made three-pointers and .750 free-throw percentage both rank 13th.

STINGY DEFENSE
One of the hallmarks of Charlie Coles coached Miami basketball teams is a strong emphasis on defense. For the season, Miami has been among the nation's top teams in scoring defense and currently ranks 11th nationally according to ESPN.com, giving up just 59.3 ppg.

THE 'SLUIS IS LOOSE!
Redshirt freshman Nate VanderSluis (Oak Harbor, Ohio/Oak Harbor) made his much-anticipated debut in a RedHawk uniform on Dec. 14 when Miami hosted Butler. The 6-foot-11 center, who has battled foot injuries the past two seasons, played five minutes against the Bulldogs and scored four points and snagged two rebounds. He also saw limited action against Cincinnati on Dec. 28 and Kent State on Jan. 8.

REDHAWKS HOT AND COLD FROM THREE-POINT RANGE
Against Evansville, Miami drained its first five three-point attempts, and didn't miss a field goal until the 15:40 mark. Miami hit 41.2 percent of its first-half three pointers (7-of-17)-its best first-half effort of the season. Things cooled off for the RedHawks, who went 9-of-29 from three-point range for the game as they made just 2-of-12 attempts in the second half, a 16.7 percent effort. The RedHawks' 29 attempts were their most since the Red and White attempted 30 versus Buffalo in February of 2000 and ranked among the top eight for single-game attempts in Miami history.

HOME SWEET HOME
Over its 34 seasons as the home of Miami basketball, Millett Hall has certainly been a welcome venue for the RedHawks, who are 322-106 (.752) on their home court. All four of Miami's wins this season have been in the confines of Millett Hall. Last season, the RedHawks won just three games away from Millett Hall.

SCHENKE NAMED MAC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Miami University's basketball programs swept the Mid-American Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week awards Dec. 10 as junior forward Colleen Day (Independence, Ohio/Holy Name) and sophomore forward Tim Schenke were named the female and male scholar-athletes of the week.

Schenke, who owns a 3.37 GPA and majors in finance, helped Miami to back-to-back wins for the first time since early last February and got Miami to the .500 mark for the first time this season with wins over Dayton, 78-63, and a league-opening win over Western Michigan, 44-39. Schenke hit a critical three as time expired in the first half against Dayton to cut the Flyer lead to five and give the RedHawks momentum going into the second half. During a 17-0 second half run, Schenke hit another three to push Miami's lead to five. Miami's bench was a key component to the Dayton win, outscoring the Flyers 18-7. Schenke accounted for nine of those 18 points-a career-high sum.

For the second straight game, Schenke drilled a critical three against Western Michigan, Miami's first of the game, with 10:20 left to play to pull the RedHawks, who had trailed by five, to within one. All seven of his points came in the second half. He hit a key jump shot with 1:47 left to hand the RedHawks a three-point edge. Schenke then grabbed the final rebound of the game off a missed Bronco three to ensure the RedHawk win. Defensively, he helped hold Bronco forward Anthony Kann, who averaged 12.0 ppg heading into the contest, to just two points. This is the first scholar-athlete of the week honor for Schenke.

ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO
For the second time in three games, the RedHawks have had a positive assist to turnover ratio. Against Central Michigan on Saturday, Miami tallied 11 assists to only eight turnovers. Three games ago versus Cincinnati, Miami dished out 14 assists again while committing just eight turnovers. Against Dayton on Dec. 4, Miami produced its first positive assist-to-turnover ratio, manufacturing 12 assists while committing just 10 turnovers. Over its four wins, Miami is forcing an average of 17.8 turnovers per game, while committing just 10.1 turnovers per game. The RedHawks also are handing out 10.0 assists per game in their wins, while their opponents are recording just 8.0 assists.

BENCH MARKS
A key to Miami's 78-63 win over Dayton was the production it received from its bench as the RedHawk bench outscored the Flyer bench 18-7. That margin was due in large part to sophomore Tim Schenke-who manufactured a career-high nine points, going 3-for-4 from three-point range-and junior forward Gene Seals (Saginaw, Mich./Saginaw), who added seven points.

THREE-POINT TURN AROUND
Over its first four games, Miami went a paltry 20-of-80 from three-point range, connecting on no more than six in a single game. Against Dayton, it seemed as if that might be the case in the first half as the RedHawks hit just 2-of-11 three-point attempts, including one by sophomore forward Tim Schenke just as the first half ended. The second half, however, was a much different story for the RedHawks, who drilled 8-of-10 three-point attempts for a sizzling .800 second-half three-point shooting percentage. Miami made its first five three-point attempts of the second half and didn't miss until the 13:29 mark.

DANNY "WRIGHT" ON THE BLOCK
When it comes to blocked shots, Danny Horace likes facing the Wright State Raiders. Last season as a freshman, Horace swatted five Raider shots, which tied Miami's No. 5 single-game total. On Nov. 30, Horace blocked three Raider shots for a grand total of eight over the past two years.

REBOUNDS FOR REED
Against Wright State, senior forward Bryan Reed (Terre Haute, Ind./North) snagged a career-high 11 rebounds and become just the second RedHawk this season to produce double figures in rebounding. His 11 rebounds against the Raiders also was a game-high sum, four more than any other player. For the week, Reed averaged a team-best 8.0 boards per game.

HAUSFELD STEPS UP AGAINST MARYLAND
Freshman guard Josh Hausfeld stepped to the floor in front of a national audience against No. 12/15 Maryland and showed that he is more than capable of playing with the nation's finest. Hausfeld was one of just two RedHawks and one of only four players to score in double figures, amassing 11 points off 4-of-8 field goals. Hausfeld drilled three treys as he went 3-of-4 (.750) from beyond the three-point arc. He also produced two rebounds and one steal.

DANNY DOUBLE-DOUBLE
In just the second game of the season, sophomore forward Danny Horace notched his first double-double for the RedHawks. Horace led all players with 17 points and 12 rebounds against No. 12/15 Maryland on Sunday. His 12 boards was twice the sum of any other player. He also had three steals and one assist.

JOHNSON TABBED MAC PRESEASON ALL-EAST DIVISION
Junior guard Juby Johnson was one of 10 players named to the Mid-American Conference All-Divisional Teams as voted by the MAC News Media Association. Johnson joined Ohio's Brandon Hunter, Kent State's Antonio Gates, Marshall's Ronald Blackshear and Akron's Andy Hipsher on the MAC Preseason All-East Division Team. Ball State's Theron Smith, Central Michigan's Chris Kaman, Eastern Michigan's Ricky Cottrill, Toledo's Nick Moore and Western Michigan's Robby Collum comprised the Preseason All-West Division Team.

A MIAMI WIN WOULD ...
* Move Miami to within three wins of reaching the 500 MAC win mark.
* Give the RedHawks their first win at Ohio since 1998 and snap a three-game skid in Ohio's Convo Center.
* End an eight-game losing streak on the road.

A MIAMI LOSS WOULD ...
* Continue Miami's road troubles becoming the ninth-straight road loss.
* Move the RedHawks' and Bobcats' MAC records to 2-3.
* Make the RedHawks 1-7 over their past eight games.