No. 11 Miami Falls to No. 6 Tennessee in NCAA Tournament

Friday, March 20

Philadelphia, Pa.

4:25 p.m.

Miami University

Tennessee

Photo by: Megan Walker

No. 11 Miami Falls to No. 6 Tennessee in NCAA Tournament

3/20/2026 4:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA– The 11th-seeded Miami University men's basketball team saw its magical 2025-26 season come to an end Friday with a 78-56 loss to sixth-seeded Tennessee in an NCAA Tournament first-round game. Peter Suder led the RedHawks with 27 points as Miami wraps up the year with a 32-2 record. Ja'Kobi Gillespie scored 22 of his 29 points in the first half for the Volunteers (23-11), who advance to play third-seeded Virginia on Sunday.

"This loss doesn't take away what we have done all year," said Suder in the postgame press conference. "Our culture and connectivity, the brotherhood we have: We're best friends on and off the court and I think it shows when we play."

"Our team has had a heck of a journey," said head coach Travis Steele. "The quality of human beings that we have in our locker room: Man, we're everything that's right about college athletics in my opinion...I couldn't be more proud of our group...

"We're not done yet, though," Steele continued as he contemplated the trajectory of his program. "We're not where we were, but we're not where we want to be yet, either. My goal is to get this thing to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Fell short of that goal this year, but we'll be back.

"I'm very, very, very confident of that."

How it Happened:

The RedHawks started the game on fire, knocking down their first four shot attempts. Brant Byers and Suder hit threes on Miami's first two trips down the floor, followed by a Byers midrange turnaround and a Luke Skaljac pullup. The Volunteers hung tight early with a pair of lob dunks, as Miami led 10-6. An Almar Atlason triple put the RedHawks up 13-10 four minutes into the game before UT responded with a 13-2 spurt to force a Steele timeout.
Suder stemmed the momentum for the Vols with a tough pull-up jumper to pull within 23-17, but Tennessee scored the next eight points to take a 14-point lead. Suder battled back with four-straight free throws to make it 34-21, and Perry used a fake inside to get a pair of defenders in the air and finish with his left hand at 37-23. A 6-0 run gave the Vols their largest lead of the half at 43-23, with Miami quickly trimming the deficit to 15 points on a pair of Byers foul shots and a step-back three for Suder. Back-to-back buckets in the final minute of the half gave the RedHawks some momentum, as Skaljac hit a fadeaway jumper and Suder got behind everyone for a transition layup, but a Tennessee three bounced in at the buzzer to make it 51-32 at the break.
UT extended its lead to 55-33 in the second half before Antwone Woolfolk buried a three-pointer with 15:30 to go. The Vols scored the next seven points for their biggest lead of the game, but Suder beat the shot clock from downtown to pull within 62-39. After four free throws in a row from Suder, Miami's backcourt pressure forced a turnover and Byers finished off a layup to trim the gap to 62-45. Justin Kirby grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in at 64-47 with 8:15 to go.
Tennessee scored the next two hoops to slow Miami's comeback hopes before Trey Perry got to the rim for a left-handed layup, cutting the margin to 68-49. An Elmer offensive rebound and putback and a straightaway triple from Suder pulled Miami within 72-54, but the RedHawks would get no closer. The Red and White finally ran out of time, falling 78-56.

SUDER'S SCORING: Suder's big scoring night gave him 487 points this season and a total of 1596 in his career. "He did today what he's been doing all year," Byers said.

"Captain Millett, man," echoed Perry. "Suder is an amazing player and an amazing teammate – a guy you love having on your team. He showed it tonight; obviously we were losing the majority of the game, but Suder kept fighting. We can rally behind his play, and we did at times; we just fell short."

LOOKING AHEAD: When the time comes for Miami to turn the page to 2026-27, the future of the RedHawks' program seems very bright. "We're building a mid-major powerhouse," Perry said confidently. And Evan Ipsaro, who missed the final 22 games of the season due to injury, mentioned one more silver lining in the hallway as Miami prepared to depart the arena: "I'll be back for the next game!"

Steele said his emphasis has been on building a program that's not only successful, but sustainable. "Your retention allows you to keep your culture so you're not constantly starting a new culture every single year," Steele said.

"We're confident we can develop our young men into really good basketball players. Retention is at a premium in order to keep sustained success."

'UNFORGETTABLE': There will be plenty of time for Miami players, coaches, fans, students, staff and alumni to look back and try to put into perspective one of the most incredible seasons that the Mid-American Conference –and college basketball as a whole– has ever seen. Still, that didn't stop Perry from offering some thoughts in the locker room postgame.

"This was an unforgettable season," Perry said as he reflected specifically on the 31-game winning that captured the nation's attention this winter. "This team will be remembered [as] one of the greatest Miami teams of all-time. We went undefeated; we'll be stamped in Miami history forever."

"You never forget going undefeated," Perry continued. "It's something that I and every person in this room on this team [will] carry on with them for life."

NEWS AND NOTES: The RedHawks ended the year with a program-record 1,049 made field goals and scored a program-record 3,047 points while also setting new records for field goal percentage (51.7%) and most made free throws in a season (592)...Skaljac finished with three assists, giving him 149 for the season, the ninth-highest single-season total in program history (passing Phil Lumpkin)...The announced attendance for the doubleheader was 19,686…...Atlason, Byers, and Elmer played in all 34 games for Miami this year, matching the program record for appearances in a season.