DAYTON, Ohio — The questions about Miami (Ohio)'s worthiness were supposed to linger into March. They lasted about four minutes of game time.
The RedHawks came out Wednesday night at UD Arena — 50 miles from their Oxford campus, surrounded by what felt like a home crowd — and put on a shooting clinic that answered every critic who spent the better part of two months questioning whether a 31-0 regular-season record from the MAC was worth anything at all. When the final buzzer sounded, Miami (Ohio) had dismantled SMU 89-79 in the First Four, earning the program's first NCAA Tournament win since its Sweet 16 run in 1999.
"The message I gave our guys before the game was they should leave no doubt with who the more attacking team was," head coach Travis Steele said afterward. "I thought that was very evident from the jump ball all the way to the end of the game."
If there was any single moment that captured the night, it was Eian Elmer. The RedHawks guard finished with a game-high 23 points, going 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in a performance that was equal parts precise and fearless. He poured in 14 of those points in the first half alone, keeping Miami ahead of SMU's every attempt to gain traction.
Brant Byers was right behind him with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, and Luke Skaljac added 17 of his own. Almar Atlason chipped in 12 points off a pair of second-half threes that stretched Miami's lead to 13. Altogether, the RedHawks launched 41 three-point attempts and hit 16 of them — a barrage that SMU simply had no answer for.
For the Mustangs, the evening was a frustrating confluence of cold shooting and bad timing. SMU entered having played without key guard Chuck Harris, who was listed as available after returning from injury but ultimately sat in street clothes on the bench. Without him, SMU was unable to match Miami's perimeter firepower.
Jaden Toombs was the one bright spot for SMU, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds to record a double-double. Jaron Pierre Jr. added 18 points, and Boopie Miller chipped in 15, but Miller shot just 6-of-17 from the floor and the Mustangs connected on only 5-of-21 from three — cold numbers that tell the story of the night. SMU's 7-foot-2 center Samet Yigitoglu, one of the Mustangs' size advantages coming in, fouled out with 1:31 remaining after finishing with eight points and six rebounds.
"They put five guys on the court that can shoot the 3, so they're hard to guard," SMU coach Andy Enfield said. "We outscored them in the paint 46-20 tonight, which was our game plan to really try to score the ball in the lane." The Mustangs did win the paint battle — but it wasn't nearly enough to offset getting torched from deep.
Miami's regular season was remarkable by any standard. The RedHawks went 31-0, the only Division I team to finish the regular season undefeated in 2025-26 and just the eighth program to accomplish that feat in the last 50 years. But a loss to UMass in the MAC Tournament opener cost them the automatic bid, and their schedule — ranked 339th in overall strength with zero Quadrant 1 games — made them one of the most debated at-large selections in recent memory.
Wednesday night put that debate to rest, at least temporarily. The atmosphere at UD Arena felt like a home game for the RedHawks — Enfield noted it seemed like 12,000 Miami fans had packed the building — and they fed off every made three and every stop. When Elmer skied for a backdoor cut and one-handed slam in the final minutes to put an exclamation point on the win, the crowd erupted with the kind of noise usually reserved for a Big Ten or ACC venue.
"Oh, we more than belong. We can advance deep into this tournament," Steele told Turner Sports sideline reporter Jenny Dell after the game. "Our group is fully confident of that, fully confident."
The RedHawks (32-1) now advance to the Round of 64 as the No. 11 seed in the Midwest Region, where they will face No. 6 seed Tennessee on Friday in Philadelphia. It will be a significant step up in competition — the Volunteers bring a physical, hulking frontcourt that presents a very different set of challenges than what SMU offered.
But nobody is going to tell Miami (Ohio) they don't belong anymore. Not after Wednesday night. The RedHawks came to Dayton with something to prove, and they proved it emphatically.
FINAL SCORE: Miami (OH) 89, SMU 79 — First Four | UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio | March 18, 2026
MIAMI (OH) LEADERS: Eian Elmer 23 pts (6-9 3PT) | Brant Byers 19 pts | Luke Skaljac 17 pts | Almar Atlason 12 pts
SMU LEADERS: Jaden Toombs 20 pts, 11 reb | Jaron Pierre Jr. 18 pts | Boopie Miller 15 pts
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