Saturday, January 08, 2000
Miami's Mestas has turnover turnaround
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
After Miami University lost to Kent Sunday night, coach Charlie Coles blamed turnovers.
“We threw the ball away too much when we didn't have to,” Coles said.
Coles didn't mention anyone by name, but it was clear that he was talking about Rob Mestas.
It was especially clear to Mestas, who had five turnovers and four assists against Kent. That's not a good ratio for anyone, but it was particularly disturbing to the RedHawks' point guard.
He got things back in line Wednesday in the RedHawks' win at Central Michigan: no turnovers, four assists.
Miami will need that kind of game from Mestas today at noon (Channel 12) when Mid-American Conference rival Ohio comes to Millett Hall.
“Rob was very, very good against Central,” Coles said. “We need that from Rob. It's tough for him that we need great games from him to be successful, but Rob knows that.”
The Kent game aside, Mestas is having an excellent year. He's scoring more than he ever has (7.7 points a game). He's shooting better than he ever has (.359 percent from 3-point range). He averages 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals a game. But, most important, he's running the offense extremely well. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 6.3 to 2.5, and Miami has com mitted the fewest turnovers of any MAC team.
“I think I'm having a decent year,” Mestas said. “I'm doing a good job at point guard. But as a player, you always think you can play better. I'd like to have more steals. I was averaging almost three a game earlier in the year. I'd like to be more consistent with the 3-pointer.”
Mestas has played nearly every minute of every game, averaging more than 40 minutes a game. (The RedHawks have played two overtime games.)
“He's one of those guys who likes to play a lot of minutes,” Coles said. “Wally (Szczerbiak) and Damon (Frierson) were like that. You could double their minutes and have them play 80.”
Mestas was a member of the Szczerbiak-Frierson recruiting class and was a starter on the NCAA Tournament teams in 1996-97 and 1998-99. He's still playing because he redshirted after knee surgery early in the 1997-98 season.
Mestas, a 5-foot-10 senior from Minneapolis, has had four knee surgeries. But he hasn't missed any practice or playing time this year after a new treatment in the preseason got the knee back to 100 percent.
The win at Central got the RedHawks back to .500 at 5-5 overall. Ohio comes in 8-6.
“(Ohio's) good,” Coles said. “They've played a crazy schedule. They're one of the teams that has a chance to win (the MAC) and do some damage in the NCAAs.”
Miami is not at that level.
“(But) I've been saying all year we're better than people think,” Mestas said. “We just have to be more consistent.”
Mestas pointed out that at this point last year, Miami was 7-3 with two overtime wins.
“This year, we're 5-5 with two overtime losses against a tougher schedule,” he said. “If we start clicking, we can do some damage.”
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