That was reaffirmed on Tuesday when Miami announced Wednesday’s season opener at Wisconsin was postponed ‘due to COVID-19 concerns.’ The RedHawks and Badgers will look into rescheduling the game.
Miami is now scheduled to open the season Sunday at Notre Dame.
That will be the RedHawks first game since an 87-72 loss at Buffalo on March 9 in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The loss to the sixth-seeded Bulls by the 11th-seeded RedHawks was Miami’s ninth straight, capping a disappointing season that ended with records of 11-20 overall and 4-14 in the MAC.
Hendrix faces the task of replacing the top two scorers and three of the top four from last year’s squad. That group included guard Lauren Dickerson, who graduated as the program’s all-time scoring leader. Hendrix hopes to make up for the losses with depth.
“Roster willing, we hope to go pretty deep,” she said. “We’ll play a lot of lineups and a lot of different rotations. We’ll be as up-tempo as we can be, We’ll be moving the ball. On the other side of the ball, we’ll be gritty and tough.”
Sophomore Peyton Scott is Miami’s top returning scorer. The 5-foot-8 Scott averaged 12.5 points per game last season and finished second on the team behind Dickerson with 65 assists. Hendrix also anticipates significant contributions from 5-10 freshman guard Katie Davidson.
Hendrix’s hopes for utilizing a deep corps of players to make up for the loss of Dickerson and Kluesner could be compromised by the loss to injuries and pandemic concerns of several players. Sydney Watkins, a 5-8 freshman guard, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament two weeks ago, Hendrix said.
“That was a big disappointment,” the coach said. “She could’ve been our best defender.”
Taylor Boruff, a 5-11 redshirt-freshman guard, underwent two weeks ago what Hendrix described as a “pretty invasive surgery.”
“We’re beat up,” she admitted. “We haven’t had enough time for strength training. That’s another aspect we’ve been missing, and we’ve suffered some early injuries. Everybody in the country is going through it. We had a couple of players opt out. We’ll see what we’ve got.”
The RedHawks are scheduled to play at Purdue on Dec. 3 before meeting Valparaiso in their home opener on Dec. 8. Their 20-game Mid-American Conference schedule is due to open at Central Michigan on Dec. 15, followed by another non-conference game at Evansville on Dec. 19 before welcoming Buffalo in the MAC home opener on Jan. 2.
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