March 7, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

MIAMI ROUNDS OUT REGULAR SEASON HOSTING BOWLING GREEN AT NOON ON SUNDAY, MARCH 9: Miami men's basketball team rounds out the regular season by hosting Bowling Green at noon on Sunday, March 9. The RedHawks will honor their lone senior, Tim Pollitz, before tip-off. Miami tries to finish the season strong. A RedHawk win would put Miami as the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, depending on the Buffalo at Ohio outcome. A Miami loss could drop the RedHawks to as low as the No. 8 seed depending on the outcomes of several other games.

ABOUT BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons enter today's game with a 13-15 overall record and a 7-8 Mid-American Conference mark. After picking up an 81-65 win at Detroit on Feb. 23 and downing Kent State on March 1, 89-83, the Falcons suffered a 96-50 loss at Buffalo on Tuesday. The Falcons are led in scoring by Nate Miller, who averages 13.1 ppg, and Chris Knight, who averages 10.7 ppg. Brian Moten follows closely behind, averaging 9.3 ppg and ranks first among MAC statistical leaders in 3-point field goal percentage (.452). Knight and Moten pace the Falcons in conference play, averaging 12.7 ppg. Knight leads the team in rebounding, averaging 7.3 ppg. Additionally, Otis Polk ranks second in the MAC in blocked shots, averaging 1.68 per game. As a team, the Falcons lead the Mid-American Conference in blocked shots (5.18) and 3-point field goal defense (.319). Although there are only 11 players on Bowling Green's roster, seven have seen action in every game with one more playing in all but two games.

THE SERIES WITH THE FALCONS: Today marks the 119th meeting between Bowling Green and Miami with the RedHawks owning a 71-47 lead in the all-time series. When playing in Oxford, Miami is 40-14 against the Falcons and has won the last three meetings with Bowling Green in Millett Hall. Last season, the RedHawks pulled out a 66-60 win at home against the Falcons. Bowling Green's last win in Oxford came on Feb. 20, 2002, 65-50. Earlier this season, Bowling Green edged Miami on its home floor, 55-52.

UP NEXT: Miami defends its 2007 Mid-American Conference Tournament title at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland March 12-15. All Miami basketball fans are invited to attend the Red & White Rally at the Hard Rock Café, located in the Tower City Center, adjacent to Quicken Loans Arena. The rally will begin, at a time to be announced, prior to the tip-off of the RedHawk men's opening game. Tickets for the 2008 Mid-American Conference Tournament can be purchased on www.MURedHawks.com or by calling the Miami Athletics Ticket Office at 1-866-MUHAWKS.

POLLITZ NAMED TO NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM: Senior forward Tim Pollitz earned Second-Team All-District 10 honors by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, Pollitz is one of 150 student-athletes from 15 districts that are now eligible for the State Farm Division I All-America teams. Pollitz ranks in the top-10 in the MAC in seven statistical categories and leads Miami in scoring (15.9 ppg), rebounding (7.1 rpg) and assists (3.2 apg). Pollitz and Ohio's Leon Williams were the only two players to earn all-district honors from the Mid-American Conference. Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, Indiana's D.J. White and Eric Gordon, Dayton's Brian Roberts and Butler's Mike Green earned District 10 First-Team honors. Ohio State's Jamar Butler, Xavier's Drew Lavender and Butler's A.J. Graves joined Pollitz and Williams on the District 10 Second Team.

BRAMOS TABBED MAC EAST DIVISION CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior forward Michael Bramos erupted for 31 points in 28 minutes of action against Ohio on March 1 and was named the MAC East Division Co-Player of the Week on March 3. He went 9-of-15 (.600) from the field--including 5-for-9 (.556) from 3-point range--and 8-for-9 (.889) from the free-throw line, to lead Miami to one of its largest wins of the season and a key victory to place the RedHawks in a tie for third place in the East Division with Ohio. It was his fourth 30-point scoring effort of the season and the eighth time he has eclipsed 20 points in 2007-08. Bramos scored the RedHawks' first nine points of the game and accounted for 19 of Miami's 37 first-half points. He also recorded three steals and two blocked shots.

THIRTY SOMETHING: For the fifth time this season and for the second straight game, Miami had a player score 30 or more points as junior forward Michael Bramos poured in 31 points in a 73-49 win against Ohio on March 1. It was Bramos' fourth 30-point scoring effort of the season. Bramos also recorded 30 points in back-to-back games against Mississippi State on Nov. 25 and a career-high 36 points against Dayton on Nov. 28, becoming just the sixth player in Miami basketball history to score 30 points in back-to-back games. Junior guard Kenny Hayes scored a career-high 30 points at Valparaiso in Miami's previous game on Feb. 23.

REDHAWKS HOLD BOBCATS TO 14 FIRST-HALF POINTS: Ohio's 14 first-half points against Miami on March 1 tied for the seventh fewest points Miami has allowed an opponent in a half. The last time the RedHawks held an opponent to 14 points or less in a half was when it restricted Florida A&M to 11 first-half points on Nov. 17, 2006. Additionally, The RedHawks shot 56.1 percent from the field against Ohio, marking its fourth straight game shooting above 50.0 percent from the field and 12th 50 percent field goal percentage effort this season.

DOUBLE-DIGIT TRIO: Junior guard Kenny Hayes scored a career-high 30 points, while junior forward Michael Bramos amassed 23 points and senior forward Tim Pollitz added 22 points in a double-overtime game at Valparaiso on Feb. 23, marking the first time since Dec. 2, 1997 three Miami players recorded 20 or more points in a game. Damon Frierson had 27 points, Wally Szczerbiak had 26 points and Anthony Taylor recorded 22 points against IUPUI during the 1997-98 season.

BLOCK PARTY: Over the last seven games, Miami has amassed 40 blocked shots as a team, which is an average of 5.7 bpg during that stretch. The RedHawks recorded 10 against Central Michigan on Feb. 9, which was the most by a Miami team since Jan. 10, 1996 against Toledo and tied for second on the RedHawks' single-game list. They followed that with nine blocked shots at Western Michigan (Feb. 12), which tied for fifth on the single-game charts, and recorded five against Buffalo (Feb. 16), two against Akron (Feb. 19), seven at Valparaiso (Feb. 23), five against Ohio (Mar. 1) and two at Kent State (Mar. 4).

WORKING OVERTIME: Twice over an 11-day stretch Miami had games go to double overtime. The RedHawks lost a tough 78-75 decision at Western Michigan on Feb. 12 and dropped a 99-94 game at Valparaiso on Feb. 23. The 94 points against the Crusaders were Miami's most since amassing 100 at Central Michigan in a double-overtime game on Jan. 5, 2002. Earlier in the season, Miami defeated Illinois 61-58 in overtime.

BUILDING BLOCKS: Junior forward Michael Bramos has been a shot blocking machine. Bramos has amassed 22 blocked shots in Miami's last seven games (3.1.4 per game), accounting for 55 percent of Miami's blocked shots during that stretch. He ranks third among MAC statistical leaders in blocked shots in overall games and fourth in league-only games. Bramos set a career high of five blocked shots against Central Michigan on Feb. 9 and had four blocked shots in the RedHawks' next two games. Bramos has 91 career blocked shots and has catapulted himself into fourth place on Miami's career blocked shot chart.

ROARING 20s: Eclipsing 20 points for the third straight game against Toledo on Feb. 6, junior guard Kenny Hayes strung together a series of 20-point scoring efforts. Hayes has scored 20 or more points in five of Miami's last 10 games and has the most consecutive 20-point games by a RedHawk this season. Junior forward Michael Bramos notched consecutive 20-plus point scoring efforts twice this season, most recently on March 1, and back-to-back 30-or-more point games against Mississippi State and Dayton earlier this season. Bramos has eight 20-point scoring efforts, senior forward Tim Pollitz has seven, while Hayes has five.

LENDING A HELPING HAND: Miami's post players have been the RedHawks' top assist men this season. Senior forward Tim Pollitz has 87 assists this season and averages 3.11 apg, while junior center Tyler Dierkers has recorded 76 assists and averages 2.81 apg. The duo accounts for 44 percent of the team's assists.

THE HAYES HAS LIFTED: Junior guard Kenny Hayes started the season off scoring in double figures in his first two games, including 18 points in Miami's season-opening win against Xavier. After a somewhat foggy 11-game stretch where Hayes scored in double figures just three times and averaged 7.3 ppg, it seems that the fog has lifted as he has scored in double figures in 14 of the RedHawks' last 15 games, including three straight 20-point efforts from Feb. 2 - Feb. 9 and a career-high 30 points at Valparaiso on Feb. 23. He is averaging 17.2 ppg over Miami's last 13 games and shooting 50.2 percent from the field, 46.4 percent from 3-point range and 87.3 percent from the free-throw line. In MAC play, Hayes is averaging a team-leading 15.0 ppg.

POLLITZ RECORDS 500th CAREER REBOUND AND 200th CAREER ASSIST: With four assists and six rebounds at Ball State on Feb. 2, senior forward Tim Pollitz recorded his 200th career assist and 500th career rebound. Pollitz, who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season, owns 1,346 career points, 556 career rebounds and 220 career assists.

TWO REDHAWKS CLOSING IN ON CAREER TOP-10 CHARTS: Senior forward Tim Pollitz and junior forward Michael Bramos rank on or are closing in on several Miami career top 10-charts. Additionally, Bramos needs 96 points to become the 33rd RedHawk to amass 1,000 career points. Tim Pollitz • His .572 field-goal percentage ranks first all-time at Miami. • Needs 9 more field goals to tie the 5th place total of 595. • Needs 55 points to tie the 10th-place total of 1,401.

Michael Bramos • Needs 18 blocked shots to tie the 3rd-place total of 109. • Is 12 3-pointers away from tying the 10th-place total of 129. • His .812 free-throw percentage ranks 5th all-time at Miami.

A MIAMI WIN WOULD ... • Make Miami 9-3 at home and 6-2 in home MAC games. • Up Miami's record to 15-14 overall. • Move the RedHawks to 9-7 in MAC play. • Make Miami 41-14 against BGSU when playing in Oxford. • Be the RedHawks fourth straight win against the Falcons in Oxford.

A MIAMI LOSS WOULD ... • Hand the RedHawks their second straight loss. • Be Bowling Green's second conference road win of the season. • Drop Miami to 14-15 overall. • Make Miami 8-8 in MAC play. • Be Bowling Green's first win in Oxford since Feb. 20, 2002.