Miami men’s basketball looks to 5 returning sophomores for MAC dominance in 2024

The third season of the Travis Steele era is approaching, and the Miami University RedHawks men’s basketball team is prepared to fully capitalize on its experienced roster.

Last year, the RedHawks boasted one of the nation’s youngest teams in college basketball with the average age being 20.07. Five first-years saw significant time on the court, with Mekhi Cooper and Evan Ipsaro averaging more than 20 minutes a game.

While several players are missing this year, including leading scorer Anderson Mirambeaux, the RedHawks can rely on their rising sophomores, including Cooper and Ipsaro, to lead the six newcomers.

“Those guys had to grow up quickly because they were put into situations and roles where they had to be kind of frontline guys right away,” associate coach Jonathan Holmes said. “We had an interesting mixture of a team last year, from youth to experience. Those guys that are all returning from last year got a lot of great experience playing early, and I think that’ll serve us well.”

The RedHawks’ 2023-24 campaign concluded with a 15-17 overall record (9-9 in the MAC). In the final weeks of the regular season, Miami held on to the fourth seed, but back-to-back losses pulled them to the seventh.

The University of Akron Zips waited for Miami in the first round of the MAC tournament, and they handed the RedHawks a 75-63 loss that sent them back to Oxford.

Despite the underwhelming conclusion to the year, the 2024 season saw an improvement from the previous year. Steele arrived as the head coach in 2022, and Miami finished 12–20 (6-12 in MAC play) in the first year with the new coaching staff.

The experience on this year’s roster is a major difference between last year. The five first-years all return, and with transfers such as Kam Craft from Xavier University and Antwone Woolfok from Rutgers, the team doesn’t need to rely on players who haven’t played college basketball before.

However, the holes left by Mirambeaux, Darweshi Hunter and Bryce Bultman were something that Steele and Holmes needed to address in the offseason.

“We’re losing some guys that obviously gave us a scoring punch and were big parts of what we’ve done these first two years,” Holmes said. “In my experience over the years, guys always emerge. With every new team, it gives other guys an opportunity to have bigger roles than they had the previous year.”

One player that will step up for the RedHawks this year is Eian Elmer, who contributed 223 points, the most of any first-year on the team last season.

For Elmer, the players joining Miami for the first time this season have one thing in common: a shared interest in pushing Miami to that next step in the postseason.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

“As far as I can tell, everybody here is committed to [getting better],” Elmer said. “We don’t have any people that are half in. We’ve been working a lot on our principles that are going to carry us on and off the court.”

Incoming-transfer Peter Suder established himself at Miami during the offseason as a leader. When he and the other new players arrived at Miami, the veteran RedHawks ensured that the team’s chemistry was established early.

“I think I’ll fit in pretty well here,” Suder said. “I think overall, [I’m] super comfortable here. It’s like an at-home feeling. All the guys are super connected, [and] the coaching staff is great.”

Miami’s schedule features some big names, including the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Indiana University Hoosiers. The non-conference slate excites Elmer, but he believes every game is equally important.

“We’re just looking to make a point [in] every game we play,” Elmer said. “I would say those two games [Michigan and Indiana] and the non-conference ones I feel have us more excited. Conference-wise, every game matters, it doesn’t matter who it is.”

The Indiana game is notable for Suder, who played previously at Bellarmine University and grew up in Indiana. Suder said the opportunity to play at Assembly Hall is something that stands out in his first season for the Red and White.

Conference play begins in early January, and with the way the MAC is set up, the crown is up for grabs. There haven’t been back-to-back conference champions since the University of Buffalo Bulls won the 2018 and 2019 tournaments.

Late in January, the RedHawks welcome the Zips, who beat the No. 8 Kent State University Golden Flashes by one point for the MAC championship last March. Miami travels to Kent State one week before Akron visits Oxford.

The University of Toledo Rockets will meet Miami at Millett in mid-February. The Rockets were ranked as first in the conference in 2024, but they lost in the first round to the Golden Flashes.

The conference rankings shift each year, and with the roster Miami has, Elmer believes the team has a real chance of winning the MAC in 2025.

“I always think that the MAC is a competitive league,” Elmer said. “As far as I can tell, the MAC is up for grabs, just like it was last year. I think the team we have now has a huge chance to win the MAC regular season and a championship.”

@thekethan04

babukc2@miamioh.edu