Evansville Is Going to Keep Shooting. Miami Has to Make It Work for Every Look.

Miami at Evansville · Saturday, November 14 · 2 p.m. ET · ESPN+ · Evansville, Indiana

Offense: Get downhill. Keep getting to the line.

Miami scored 86 at James Madison and 80 against Bellarmine while shooting 31.0% from three. The number I like more is 38-for-43 at the foul line. Evansville will take plenty of threes on its own. Miami doesn’t have to match the volume to match the points.

Luke Skaljac had 19 points and six assists in the opener, then missed Bellarmine. I haven’t seen confirmation that he’ll play Saturday. His projection below is conditional. If he sits, I’m watching how Evan Ipsaro and Stevie Elam share the work. Miami still recorded 17 assists without him against Bellarmine.

H&H player projections

The possessions I want to see are the ones where Ipsaro gets Miami into its offense, gives up the ball and still gets it back with room to attack. If Skaljac is out, Elam can help make those possessions happen. Ipsaro shouldn’t have to dribble through everybody in Evansville just to get a decent look.

Defense: Stay in front of Quinet. Find Langenfeld early.

Evansville has taken 73 of its 126 shots from three, and Max Langenfeld has made nine of 19. The first problem is Bryce Quinet, who’s averaging 21 points and seven assists. If he gets deep into the lane, somebody has to help. That’s when I start looking for Langenfeld.

Miami gave up 50 paint points to Bellarmine. I want to see Justin Kirby and the other perimeter defenders keep the ball in front of them so Antwone Woolfolk can protect the rim without having to abandon his rebounding position.

My defensive benchmark is to hold Evansville below 33% from three. They can still make 11 threes at that rate if they take enough of them. I’m also projecting Woolfolk for eight points and eight rebounds. I’ll take the defensive board that ends the possession over the block that sends the ball back to Evansville.

Prediction: Miami 82, Evansville 74

I’m picking Evansville to win the three-point count and Miami to win at the line. I’ve got Quinet at 20 points and six assists and Ipsaro at six assists. The difference late is Miami getting downhill and turning those drives into points.

H&H team projections

The danger is a couple of Evansville makes convincing Miami that it needs to answer from the same spot. I’d rather see the RedHawks come back down, make somebody guard a drive and take the free points if they’re there. That’s how I see Miami getting to 3–0.

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I tagged Miami Agenda Pusher because I figured he’d enjoy the signing-day story. That opened Pandora’s box. Miami Basketball followed me, and both the team account and Travis Steele liked the article. I handled this with the professionalism you’d expect from a man who immediately checked that it was really Travis Steele.

It felt good. A little ego boost, absolutely, but mostly motivation to keep putting real work into Hype & Honor. Now that I know somebody over there might actually read this: Coach, Evansville takes a lot of threes.