Miami Pulls Away From NIU at Sold-Out Millett, 85-61

Saturday, January 31

Oxford, Ohio

3:30 p.m.

Miami University

22-0,10-0MAC

Northern Illinois

7-14,3-7MAC

NIU

Miami (OH)

Miami Pulls Away From NIU at Sold-Out Millett, 85-61

1/31/2026 8:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

OXFORD, Ohio– The undefeated Miami RedHawks were locked in a tight battle with Northern Illinois in the second half Saturday afternoon.

And then, all of a sudden, they weren't.

Trailing by five points with 15 minutes to play, No. 24/25 Miami closed the game on a dominant, lopsided, clinical, ridiculous, insert-your-adjective-here 38-9 run to pull away from the visiting Huskies for an 85-61 win and improve to 22-0 (10-0 MAC).

Brant Byers led five players in double figures for the Red and White with 21 points, while Peter Suder chipped in 19 points and Antwone Woolfolk added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Miami turned up the defensive intensity after halftime, holding NIU (7-14, 3-7 MAC) to just 23 points over the final 20 minutes to claim their 28th-straight home victory and send a Millett Hall-record crowd of 10,640 home happy. The Huskies shot 50% from the floor before intermission but just 32% in the second half.

"I think our guys at halftime got the message pretty clear," head coach Travis Steele said afterward. "We've got to start playing defense…our defense in the second half was so much better…

"We made them miss and didn't 'hope' that they would miss. We were just more active. That forced some turnovers, sped them up, [and] allowed us to be able to get out on offense in transition and push the ball, which is the way we want to play.

"That picture we had in the second half of our defense [is what] we need to see moving forward if we want to be able to continue to get the results we want and become the team that we want to become."

Miami led 11-9 ahead of the game's first media timeout before the visitors answered back with a 9-0 run to go on top. Northern Illinois stretched the margin to as much as 10 at 26-16 before the RedHawks responded with a 7-0 spurt, capped by a Justin Kirby three-pointer with 8:35 to play in the first half. Kirby then threw down a dunk on the next trip to bring the crowd to life and keep Miami close; the rookie finished with 10 points off the bench.

Still, NIU maintained its lead for much of the half before the RedHawks finally edged ahead 36-35. Byers scored the final five points of the period to help Miami take a slim 40-38 advantage to the locker room.

"We needed to pick it up," Woolfolk said matter-of-factly after the game. "Shoutout to NIU; they were too comfortable in the first half."

And pick it up, the RedHawks did.

It started with Suder, who stayed on the floor despite picking up his third foul a matter of seconds after halftime and scored the first six points for Miami after the break.

"I looked at the coaches, all the way down the bench, and said, 'I'm good. Leave me out there; I'll be smart," Suder explained.

But even though the RedHawks led 46-45 at that point, NIU wouldn't go away. The Huskies scored the next half-dozen points to go ahead 52-47 with 14:44 to go.

Little did they know how quickly the game would turn.

Woolfolk had a lot to do with that, getting to the line on multiple possessions and then hammering a transition dunk to bring Miami within 52-51. ("He spearheaded us in the second half; he got us going," Steele said.) A minute later, the 6-9 senior forward kicked the ball out to Byers for an ensuing extra pass to Eian Elmer at the top.

Splash.

The crowd exploded, and the RedHawks would never trail again.

On Miami's next possession, a baseline out-of-bounds play triggered a four-point play for Suder, and the rout was on.

A driving layup for Woolfolk. A deep triple for Byers. And just like that, Miami had not only erased a deficit but grabbed a double-digit lead, all in the space of four minutes.

"We have good spurtability; we do," said Steele. "We can score in bunches. But our defense is what allows you to get those big runs…

"We're more than capable of doing it. We just have to fly around."

NIU wouldn't get closer than eight points the rest of the way, and —with 'MVP' chants raining down— Suder capped a dominant second half for the Red and White by burying a three-pointer on Miami's final possession to account for the 24-point final margin. Miami shot 56.7% from the field after halftime (17-of-30) after converting on 41.2 of its shot attempts in the first stanza, and forced a total of 17 NIU turnovers while only committing nine miscues of their own.

When the dust had settled, the RedHawks matched the lowest scoring total they've allowed any Division I opponent this season, and both Steele and Woolfolk were pleased with the progress on that end of the floor.

"The further you go, the harder it gets," Steele said after his team had extended the best start in Mid-American Conference history with a 22nd-consecutive victory. "[Our guys] have to understand what's going to win and separate us is on the defensive end…

"Our offense is elite…on the defensive side, I want to be elite too. That's what great teams are."

"I'd rather hold teams to 60 points and get the win than [when] we both score in the hundreds," Woolfolk added. "I think we can score with anybody, but if we continue to lock in on defense, the sky will be the limit for us."

Miami will travel to take on Buffalo on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m.

THE DOCTOR IS IN: Before tipoff, Miami University recognized program legend Ron Harper with the presentation of an honorary doctorate degree. Harper, the leading scorer and rebounder in team history and a five-time NBA champion (three with the Bulls and two with the Lakers), was one of dozens of alumni that returned to Oxford for this weekend's One Miami hoops doubleheader.

"This is a special place," Harper said when he met with the media Saturday afternoon. "This is a college town, a college campus: The kids, the students, the faculty - everyone cares about this place, and that's what makes Miami a special place."

"When I first got here, everybody would always reminisce about Ron Harper. Every fan would come up [and say], 'When Ron Harper was here, this place was sold out,'" Steele said. "They would always talk about him as [a] mythical legend here at Miami…

"To get him back to campus, to give him that degree: Well-deserved. We appreciate him coming back; it means a lot."

CHANGING OF THE GUARDS: In his postgame press conference, Steele praised the culture of his team, specifically the selflessness of guards Luke Skaljac and Eli Yofan.

Skaljac returned from illness to play 29 minutes and score 13 points despite being limited in practice the previous day, including a nifty spin move and twisting layup for a three-point play with 7:31 to go (reminiscent of his late heroics at Kent State). Conversely, Yofan practiced Friday with a bad back to help the team prepare for another crucial MAC contest, knowing he was sacrificing any chance of seeing the floor the next day due to the pain.

"[Luke] makes a huge difference for our team. He is an elite playmaker, scorer, confident…he's a great player. He's playing at a very, very, very high level offensively," said Steele.

"Special shout-out to Eli Yofan, he's been here with me since day one… it just shows again, our guys are so selfless," Steele added.

"That's why we're a good team. We have incredible human beings in our locker room."

NEWS AND NOTES: Woolfolk's double-double was his second of the year and the third of his career…The sell-out crowd eclipsed the previous attendance record at Millett Hall, a turnout of 10,634 for a game against Cincinnati on Dec. 15, 1976. "This is the best crowd in the MAC, and it's not even close," Steele said after the game…Elmer played nearly 35 minutes and was a game-best +32 during his time on the floor for Miami…The RedHawks out-scored Northern Illinois 22-7 in points off turnovers…The 23 points allowed in the second half was the fewest the RedHawks have yielded since Trinity Christian scored 22 before halftime in November.