No. 23 Miami (Ohio) stays unbeaten, edges Buffalo

Field Level Media|published: Tue 3rd February, 21:01 2026

Miami RedHawks guard Luke Skaljac (3) dribbles the ball in the second half of the NCAA Basketball game at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio, on Saturday, January 31, 2026.

Luke Skaljac scored a career-high 19 points as No. 23 Miami (Ohio) remained unbeaten with a 73-71 victory over host Buffalo on Tuesday night in a Mid-American Conference contest.

Buffalo closed to 73-71 on a Noah Batchelor 3-pointer with 12 seconds to play and had a chance to win the game, but Ryan Sabol's 3-pointer with 4 seconds left hit the front rim and bounced out.

Skaljac also had five steals, four rebounds and three assists. Miami (23-0, 11-0 MAC) received an 11-point performance from Brant Byers and 10 points, five rebounds and eight assists from Peter Suder.

Arizona (22-0) is the only other unbeaten Division I team in the country.

Buffalo's Angelo Brizzi made nine of 14 field-goal attempts and scored a game-high 22 points. Daniel Freitag added 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Bulls (14-9, 4-7).

Suder's layup capped a 10-0 spurt that handed Miami a 48-37 lead with 17:56 to play. The RedHawks had their largest lead, 52-40, after Skaljac's jumper with 16:01 left, but Buffalo scored the next nine points to pull within three. It was 62-62 after Brizzi's 3-pointer with 6:39 remaining.

The teams tied twice more before the RedHawks opened a 72-66 advantage on Skaljac's layup with 3:02 left and 18-foot jumper with 1:35 remaining.

Brizzi responded with a dunk with 1:20 to go before Justin Kirby made one of two free throws with 32 seconds left for Miami's 73-68 lead.

The Bulls had a significant edge in the game at the free-throw line, where they made 14 of 18 attempts. The RedHawks didn't attempt a free throw until 9:25 remained in the game. Miami was 3 of 6 at the foul line.

Neither team led by more than seven points in the first half. Buffalo had a 33-32 lead following a Batchelor 3-pointer with 4:07 left in the half before Miami gained a 38-35 by halftime.

The RedHawks shot 56.7% (17 of 30) from the field in the first half, while the Bulls shot 38.7% (12 of 31).

Miami earned a 105-102 overtime victory in the first meeting between the teams this season on Jan. 17 in Oxford, Ohio.

--Field Level Media

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