There isn’t quite a night like the one Miami (Ohio) had Friday.
The RedHawks capped off an impressive and historic undefeated 31-0 regular season with an insane 110-108 overtime victory over rival Ohio.
Ohio’s Javan Simmons’ gave the Bobcats a 108-107 lead with just 26 second remaining before Miami’s Peter Suder sank both free throws to regain the lead, and teammate Justin Kirby added another.
However, what came after the final buzzer was even more enthralling.
Chaos erupted in the arena from both sides, with frustrated Ohio fans throwing trash onto the court toward the elated RedHawks, who returned the favor by giving them the bird.
Things only escalated more as taunts were thrown back and forth between the two teams.
Ohio forward Aidan Hadaway was sent back to the locker room amid the chaos and forced to skip the handshake line.
Suder, who scored five of his 13 points during overtime, notably kept waving goodbye to the Ohio fans as he backed away from the crowd while seemingly saying “F–k you, b—hes.”
Miami had a lingering chip on its shoulder heading into Friday’s rivalry game.
Former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl recently questioned the RedHawks’ worthiness in regards to the NCAA Tournament even despite the undefeated record.
It resulted in a clap back from RedHawks athletic director David Sayler.
“I have a lot of respect for him as a coach, but when he starts to use the word ‘We’ about Auburn, that certainly rankles me,” Sayler said. “He shouldn’t be on a TV screen giving advice or opinions on the NCAA Tournament when he’s clearly biased. There should be a disclaimer on the bottom of the screen or something. That’s clearly what he’s doing.”
It’s safe to say Miami had their answer ready Friday.
The win makes them the third team in Division I history to enter its conference tournament with a 31-0 mark, joining Wichita State (2013-14) and Kentucky (2014-15), per ESPN.
Still, the RedHawks might have to win the conference tournament next week guarantee themselves a spot in March Madness.
Miami, as the No. 1 seed, plays No. 8 UMass on Thursday, March 12 to kick off the tournament.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
