While the main floor of Millett Hall was getting prepared for a speech from ‘Shark Tank’ star Kevin O’Leary, there was something brewing underneath the surface.
The Miami University RedHawks men’s basketball team practiced in the auxiliary gym underneath the main floor. With a young team and new pieces trying to figure out the puzzle of college basketball, there was one piece that is making everyone take notice.
That piece is junior forward Antwone Woolfolk.
Woolfolk is entering his first season as a member of the RedHawks after beginning his career at Rutgers University. His 6-foot-9 frame towers over nearly everyone on the court, and his rebounding effort and ability to make passes out of the post is making an impact on the team.
Assistant coach Khristian Smith knew when Miami got Woolfolk that it just gained a huge advantage.
“When we got him, we knew he was gonna make our team a whole hell of a lot better,” Smith said.
Woolfolk played football and basketball in Cleveland at Charles F. Brush High School, where he was coached by Miami Hall-of-Fame basketball player Chet Mason.
While at Brush, Woolfolk starred on the field and the court. He received football offers from the University of Akron, Boston College, University of Cincinnati and Marshall University as a tight-end. His collegiate basketball offers came from California State University Bakersfield, Cleveland State University and Rutgers.
Woolfolk ended up choosing the hardwood over the gridiron and began his college career playing for Rutgers. He played two seasons for the Scarlet Knights, averaging 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in his first year. Those averages rose to 3.3 and 3.1 respectively during his sophomore campaign.
Two years with Rutgers found Woolfolk wishing to enter the transfer portal. Miami’s coaching staff saw an opportunity and invited him to campus to meet the coaches.
“All the coaches, man, they’re fun to be around,” Woolfolk said. “It’s a great atmosphere. I loved it as soon as I got on campus.”
Woolfolk added that he appreciated the coaches’ honesty. Head coach Travis Steele and his staff were authentic about his role on the team and what they expect from him.
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That authenticity led Woolfolk to commit to Miami shortly after his visit. Before the season starts, Woolfolk promises fans one main thing from him: energy.
His competitive energy and spirit certainly showed during the waning moments of practice, when the team scrimmage against each other. Every time a shot was put up, it was guaranteed that Woolfolk would be in the battle underneath the basket, putting his body on the line to get the rebound.
His football experience gave him that fighting spirit.
“Knowing how to use my body,” Woolfolk said, “like boxing out and getting rebounds, things like that, putting myself in a position to get rebounds.”
That’s not the only area where his football skills appear on the hardwood.
“He has great hands, so he can catch a lot of basketballs outside of his frame,” Smith said, “He’s a little slick down there, so he’ll catch up to you with his physicality, but when he gets after that ball, he’s gonna get it.”
His toughness and grit on the court strengthened the RedHawks, but even when he’s not on the court, Woolfolk impressed the coaching staff with his willingness to learn.
“He could sit out two days for rest purposes and come back in and not miss a beat,” Smith said. “His IQ to sit on the sidelines and just learn from other people’s reps, to jump back in as if he had been doing it the entire time.”
Woolfolk brings power conference experience to Miami, and for a team with 11 underclassmen, that could play a huge role from a leadership standpoint.
His experience was a major factor in Miami’s interest in him, which Steele expressed when the program officially announced his addition to the team.
“[Antwone] has battled some of the best big men in the country the last two years while competing at Rutgers,” Steele said. “[That] will allow him to have an instant impact for us.”
Those instant impacts that Woolfolk can provide come from a leadership perspective, which is something that he thinks he can improve on.
“The biggest transition for me was [going from] one of the bench guys to having a bigger role and trying to be a leader on and off the court for the younger guys,” Woolfolk said. “I don’t think that I came in ready for it, but as the summer went on, I started to grow more and more into it.”
For a team with expectations of making a run at a Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship and making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007, having that type of leadership and experience is critical for reaching those high hopes, especially with some of the players gone from last year’s team.
The RedHawk begin their season on Nov. 4, where they will take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge. With Woolfolk added to the roster, the RedHawks can use his physicality to push them further than they have in recent years.
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