Skip to content
Colleges

Miami (OH) makes a March Madness statement by beating SMU, and is headed to Philly next

Some analysts and critics questioned whether they belonged in the field with an at-large bid, but Miami silenced skeptics Wednesday with a rousing 89-79 victory.

Miami (Ohio) players react on the bench during the first half of its First Four win over SMU.
Miami (Ohio) players react on the bench during the first half of its First Four win over SMU.Read moreJeff Dean / AP
    by Jeff Wallner, Associated Press
    Published 

DAYTON, Ohio — Eian Elmer scored 22 points and Miami (Ohio) beat Southern Methodist 89-79 on Wednesday night in the First Four for its first NCAA Tournament victory in 27 years.

Elmer went 6 of 9 from three-point range as the 11th-seeded RedHawks (32-1), unbeaten during the regular season, advanced in the Midwest Region to play No. 6 seed Tennessee.

Perkiomen School graduate Brant Byers added 19 points, including four made threes, and Luke Skaljac had 17 points for Miami, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. The RedHawks finished 16 of 41 from three-point range.

Jaden Toombs led SMU (20-14) with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 18 points and Boopie Miller had 15 for the Mustangs.

Miami went 31-0 during a captivating regular season — the only Division I team to go unbeaten in 2025-26 and just the eighth undefeated regular season in the past 50 years.

But the RedHawks lost their Mid-American Conference Tournament opener to Massachusetts, putting their NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy because of a schedule that ranked 339th in overall strength and featured no Quadrant 1 games.

Some analysts and critics questioned whether they belonged in the field with an at-large bid, but Miami silenced some skeptics Wednesday with a rousing victory over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.

» READ MORE: March Madness is the best thing going in sports, still. Enjoy it. | Mike Sielski

Peter Suder had the assist of the night when he gathered an outlet pass from Skaljac and bounced a pass across the paint to Elmer, who caught it and scored with one hand to put the RedHawks ahead 20-13.

Suder dished out six assists.

Elmer had 14 points and went 4 of 6 from three-point range in the first half. Byers hit back-to-back threes to give Miami an 11-point lead.

SMU missed its first seven three-point attempts before Pierre connected with 7 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in the first half. The Mustangs went 5 of 19 from long distance on the night.

Almar Atlason hit a pair of threes to give the RedHawks a 63-50 advantage early in the second half. He scored 12 points.

» READ MORE: Villanova has spent the last two days studying Utah State. What have the Wildcats learned?

Skaljac’s transition three extended Miami’s lead to 71-57.

SMU had a decided size advantage, but foul trouble negated some of that. Mustangs 7-foot-2 center Samet Yigitoglu fouled out with 1:31 remaining. He finished with eight points and six rebounds.

Miami is headed to Philadelphia next, to play No. 6 seed Tennessee on Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (4:25 p.m., TBS).

Inquirer staff writer Jonathan Tannenwald contributed to this report.