Three in a row?

The Miami University men’s basketball team hasn’t won three straight since the 2010-11 campaign, but will try to achieve that feat Saturday afternoon at Eastern Michigan.

“We’ll see if we can come back together as a group and have the right mind-set to play well on the road,” said RedHawks coach John Cooper, whose squad is 2-6 away from Millett Hall this season. “I’ll tell them if this team is getting where it needs to be. I’m not telling them now because we’re not near where we need to be yet.”

MU, 7-8 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference East Division, has registered consecutive wins over Buffalo and Bowling Green. Now the RedHawks will face an EMU program they haven’t lost to since 1998.

Cooper isn’t expecting it to be easy. The Eagles (8-9, 1-2 MAC West) are a tough, defensive-minded crew, and all of their wins have come on their home floor.

“They’re big, long and cover a lot of space,” Cooper said. “They live off their zone defense, and they do a damn good job in it. They get in flexes, they bother shots, so you’ve got to really be able to execute.”

Miami fell behind 9-0 Wednesday against Bowling Green and only held the lead three times before winning 63-60. Among the key plays was a charge taken by freshman Geovonie McKnight with 54.9 seconds left (the RedHawks were leading 61-60).

“You don’t have to score to make big plays,” said McKnight, who also made a game-ending steal to seal the 58-57 win at Buffalo and is averaging 5.1 points per contest. “It’s a team effort. It was a big team play.”

The Middletown native took the charge from Bowling Green guard Jordon Crawford and had to leave the game with what turned out to be a neck strain.

“He had really been penetrating our defense a lot off the ball screens,” McKnight said. “On that play, he was able to get over the ball screen and get around (Quinten Rollins). He never really stopped, so I just in and stood my ground and he ran into me. I was standing there for a long time, so I would’ve been pretty upset if thastepped t wasn’t a charge.

“Just a little whiplash, nothing major,” he added of the injury. “Coach wanted to put me back in, but I was a little dazed. We finished the game strong, so that was the important thing.”

McKnight is also nursing a left pinky injury, but said he plans to play today at Eastern.

“I wouldn’t say it’s wear and tear because that’s not really what it is,” McKnight said. “It’s just a couple nicks and bruises. I’ll be fine. I’ll be out there.”