Sunday, December 31, 2000
Redhawks near bottom in assists
Miami Notebook
By Carey Hoffman
Enquirer contributor
Want a number to sum up Miami's frustration? Miami coach Charlie Coles suggests 311 — as in the Redhawks' national ranking in assists per game.
Miami is 311th out of 318 Division I teams in assists. The Redhawks have 97 assists all season and collected just six more on Saturday.
Coles attributes it to bad passing and players looking too quickly for their shots.
“Our guys are not bad shooters. But you become bad shooters when you run around like this,” said Coles, with his arms stretched open wide like a shooter looking for someone to throw him the ball.
He was especially disturbed by his team's five airballs during the game.
“I think, boy, we could be pretty good, and it's gotta fall on me now, no matter what I saw here, and I'm not trying to be brave, it's just gotta fall on me. I'm so disappointed because I think our fans are trying to give us every chance in the book to be a decent basketball team.”
TWO IN A ROW: Saturday's loss at home was Miami's second straight to a non-conference team, making the 20-game non-conference winning streak a distant memory. Dayton broke the streak with its 55-54 victory over Miami on Dec.6.
Saturday's margin of defeat was the worst at home for Miami since losing 76-56 to Toledo on Jan. 10, 1998.
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