OXFORD, Ohio — At some point, the clock is supposed to catch up with you. The shots stop falling, the comeback magic fades and the undefeated dream ends quietly on a weeknight in January.
Miami (Ohio) is still waiting for that moment.
The RedHawks improved to 21-0 overall and 9-0 in Mid-American Conference play on Tuesday night, surviving a furious challenge from UMass to earn an 86-84 victory inside Millett Hall. It marked Miami’s first home game as a ranked team in program history — and it ended the same way so many of this season’s games have: with the RedHawks trailing early, responding late and refusing to blink.
Miami trailed 47-43 at halftime, absorbed another second-half punch from a UMass team coached by veteran Frank Martin, then flipped the script in the final minutes. The RedHawks reclaimed the lead late, hung on through a final half-court heave that rattled off the backboard and escaped with their 21st straight win, the best start by any team in MAC history. The previous mark belonged to Western Michigan, which opened 19-0 in the 1970s.
Miami outscored the Minutemen 43-37 in the second half to complete yet another miraculous comeback.
Eian Elmer delivered the headline performance. The junior poured in 30 points, drilling six 3-pointers and repeatedly answering UMass runs with confident, timely shot-making. On the other end, Leonardo Bettiol scored 22 points for the Minutemen, who nearly spoiled the night with a desperate final attempt that came inches from rewriting the story.
Instead, it became another chapter in a season defined by resilience.
Last week, Miami became the first MAC team ever to start 20-0 with a win over Kent State. A weekend off did nothing to cool the RedHawks, who improved to 9-0 in league play and continued to build a résumé that is drawing national attention. Tuesday’s game aired on cable television — not streaming — another sign that Miami’s run is becoming too big to ignore.
The architect of it all is Travis Steele, the former Xavier assistant who has quietly built one of the most disciplined and confident teams in the country. Miami entered the night ranked No. 86 in KenPom, with the 70th-rated offense nationally and a defense ranked 140th, numbers that underscore how much of this season has been about execution, shot quality and late-game poise rather than brand or star power.
That poise has become the RedHawks’ calling card. They are the Cardiac RedHawks, comeback specialists who have shown time and again that deficits don’t rattle them — they sharpen them.
At No. 24 in the polls, Miami remains one of just two unbeaten teams left in college basketball, alongside Arizona. Nebraska’s loss at Michigan on Tuesday narrowed the list, and Arizona stayed perfect with a road win over BYU on Monday. Both teams play Saturday — Miami hosting Northern Illinois, Arizona visiting rival Arizona State — with a real chance that both remain spotless when next week’s rankings are released.
Miami returns to action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern against Northern Illinois on ESPN+, with one more cable appearance already scheduled: Feb. 13 at Ohio on ESPNU. If the RedHawks keep stacking wins, it would be no surprise to see additional games elevated to national television.
The road ahead still demands caution. Miami played three Division II opponents in nonconference action, a reality shared by many mid-majors who struggle to convince power programs to schedule them. The RedHawks do get one more nonleague opportunity against Marshall in the MAC–Sun Belt Challenge on Feb. 7, and they face nine remaining conference games, including a road rematch at UMass on Feb. 17.
As of Tuesday morning, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi projected Miami as an 11 seed, matched up with North Carolina in Greenville. Keep winning, and that line could move. A single-digit seed is not out of the question if the RedHawks pair a strong regular season with a deep MAC tournament run — though history suggests they will likely need to reach the conference final or win it outright to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
For now, Miami controls what it can control: the next possession, the next stop, the next comeback.
And on a frigid night with temperatures hovering near 3 degrees, the RedHawks even got an assist from their swim and dive team, who showed up in Speedos and brought the energy to a packed Millett Hall. It felt like a moment — because it is one.
The wins are piling up. The rankings are climbing. The story in Oxford is no longer a novelty.
At 21-0, Miami isn’t chasing history anymore.
It’s writing it — one narrow escape at a time.
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