‘Good, solid ball’ Miami’s plan

RedHawks seek their third straight victory tonight at N. Illinois.

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12:37 AM Wednesday, February 8, 2012

By Pete Conrad

Staff Writer

OXFORD — Charlie Coles, who turned 70 on Monday, still likes to see his basketball players do things the old-fashioned way. The good way, as he sees it.

“What I’m trying to do is make them feel good about the basketball they’re playing and to get addicted to good ball, good, solid ball,” the Miami University coach said.

The addiction is starting to take hold for the RedHawks, who after suffering 13 losses in a span of 16 games will seek their third straight victory tonight at Northern Illinois.

“Good, solid ball” involves sticking to the game plan, playing strong, steady defense, not committing turnovers, and being more interested in setting a screen than making the ESPN highlights.

“Some young kids have taken the game and made it a clown’s act,” Coles said. “I want our guys to play good basketball.”

The RedHawks have done that. They just haven’t done it for more than 10 or 20 minutes at a time.

Of their six wins over Division I teams, no margin of victory has been greater than six points, and even in that game — 59-53 over Ball State on Saturday — Miami committed 11 turnovers in the second half and saw an 18-point lead whittled down to three with 11 seconds remaining.

“We had some areas I’d like to forget about,” Coles said of that game, “but I learned a long time ago when you win, you celebrate.

“We don’t have a strong bench,” he noted. “If we win any more games this year, we’ll probably have to hang on to win them.”

Miami will face a kindred spirit in Northern Illinois. The Huskies also are trying to dig themselves out of a deep hole, and theirs is a little deeper.

NIU has dropped six straight and three of those losses have been by 25 or more points. Only two of Miami’s 14 total losses have been by 10 or more points (73-60 at Troy and 69-40 at Ohio State).

Today’s game

Who: Miami (7-14, 3-6 MAC) at Northern Illinois (2-18, 1-7)

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Convocation Center, DeKalb, Ill.

Radio: WMOH-AM (1450)

Series: Miami leads 25-12

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