Miami basketball ‘not playing good defense’

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 1:52 AM Saturday, November 28, 2009

OXFORD — Charlie Coles knows exactly what he needs.

The Miami University men’s basketball coach needs some fan support when the RedHawks play their sixth game of the season but first game at home today, Nov. 28, against the Evansville Purple Aces.

He needs some good defense. That’s always on his list, only more so now. And the more Coles looks at his schedule, the more he could use some leisure time on a Mexican beach.

“As I look at this schedule, it’s tougher than it was last year. This schedule ... I want to go to Cancun,” he joked. “If I could escape to go to Cancun at this immediate hour, I would.”

It’s been a struggle for the 1-4 RedHawks, who have yet to play a single second on the Millett Hall court, who are allowing an average of 74.2 points per game (last season it was 58.9), and who are playing a nonconference schedule consisting of 13 teams with a combined record of 41-20 as of Friday.

Miami already has faced two teams which still are undefeated, Kentucky (6-0) and New Mexico (5-0).

And it’s not as if the easy part of Miami’s schedule is coming up. Seven of the RedHawks’ next eight nonconference foes have winning records, and the eighth team is Dayton (2-2), which was ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 just last week.

“I hope we can get a decent crowd to help us,” Coles said of today’s game against the 2-1 Purple Aces. “We need a lot of help.”

Evansville has a trio of scoring threats in 6-foot-5 freshman guard Colt Ryan (16.0 points), 6-7 sophomore forward James Haarsma (14.7) and 6-10 sophomore center Bryan Bouchie (11.0).

“This will be a good test for us,” Coles said. “Evansville is very good. They played Butler down to the wire.”

Ryan scored 12 points in the final 59 seconds to put a king-sized scare into 12th-ranked Butler, which managed to hang on for a 64-60 victory last weekend.

That’s not good news for the RedHawks.

“We’re not playing as well as I’d like us to be,” Coles said. “We’re just not clicking right now. That happens, and it’s up to the coaches to put things together a little bit.

“We can’t guard right now,” he said. “We’re not playing good team defense. We’re not trusting each other on the floor. Too many times we’ve ended up one-on-one and you can’t play defense that way. We should have five guys guarding the ball.”

Coles said this should not be a long-term problem.

“We have good athletes,” he said. “There is no reason we can’t play good defense. You have to want to do it. There has to be a lot of desire there. We have to put that desire together with a lot of teamwork.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197  or pconrad@coxohio.com.