“I feel bad for a guy like Vince Legarza, who this is his last year and this is the season that we’re having,” Cooper said after the RedHawks dropped their eighth game in nine tries to fall to 8-16 overall and 3-9 in the Mid-American Conference.
“Vince stands for all the right things and represents all the right reasons you want to be in coaching,” Cooper said. “He just wants to be a part of something really good and doesn’t care if he plays 10 minutes or zero. He played particularly well today. He gave us some great looks and really passed the thing out of the ball.”
Birthday boy
Miami coach John Cooper turned 44 Saturday, marking the first time as a head coach he celebrated his birthday on a game day.
“I’ve played on my birthday, and I’ve coached as an assistant, but not as a head coach,” he said.
The last time it happened was 2008 when he was on Jeff Lebo’s staff at Auburn. The Tigers made it a happy birthday with a 90-78 win at Mississippi.
This time, however, there wasn’t much to celebrate.
“I didn’t even know it was his birthday,” MU junior Allen Roberts said. “It would have been nice to get him a win. It would’ve been a nice day.”
Quick hook
Freshman Geovonie McKnight started his sixth consecutive game Saturday, but because of some early struggles he ended up playing just 14 minutes, well below his season average of 20 per game.
McKnight picked up two fouls and committed a pair of turnovers in the first four minutes and didn’t return to the floor until five minutes into the second half.
“Geovonie will be the first one to tell you he didn’t play very well to start the game, but as you watched him later through the second half he was able to be productive,” MU coach John Cooper said. “He didn’t get off on the right foot, but he’ll be fine.”
McKnight finished with seven points and three assists. Five of his seven points came on back-to-back possessions to spark a 9-0 run that cut a 12-point Buffalo lead to three.
Streak snapped
With six rebounds each from Javon McCrea and Jarryn Skeete, Buffalo outrebounded Miami 30-24 Saturday, snapping a five-game streak in which the RedHawks have beaten their opponents on the boards.
Quinten Rollins led Miami with five rebounds.
The last time MU was outrebounded was Jan. 26, when Ball State held a huge 37-17 edge in an 82-62 victory.
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