CLEVELAND — The angst-ridden early afternoons of the past two seasons were but a distant memory on Thursday.
No. 1 seed Toledo, which barely escaped against the 8-seed in 2021 and 2022, never trailed eighth-seeded Miami at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, rolling to a stress-free 91-75 victory over the RedHawks in the Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinals.
“We did what we were supposed to do as the No. 1 seed when you’re playing the 8 seed,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
It marked a school-record 16th consecutive win for Toledo, its 20th straight victory over Miami and, if the last two years foreshadowed doom, perhaps this year painted a picture of a prosperous team that has a date with destiny.
Already, conference tournaments have triggered a series of unpredictable upsets. Seasons that featured well north of 20 wins have been spoiled by lesser opponents that fed off the nothing-to-lose mentality that allows underdogs to thrive in March. Toledo is well-versed in that brand of heartache.
Not Thursday.
Four different Rockets made the first four baskets, as UT started the game 10 of 14 and announced its presence with a 27-12 lead.
“We came ready to play,” said senior forward Setric Millner, Jr., who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. He scored 12 in the first half.
“We played to our potential, listened to our coaches, and followed through with the game plan,” Millner said.
The recipe for lower seeds to upset favorites is hanging around and letting the pressure increase. Toledo closed off that avenue by shooting 62.1 percent in the first half and leading 48-33 at halftime.
“Our game plan going in was to take away their ‘A’ stuff, and we gave them their ‘A’ stuff,” said Miami guard Morgan Safford, who had a game-high 21 points. “We definitely did not follow the game plan.”
UT (26-6) will play fifth-seeded Ohio (19-13) at 5 p.m. on Friday in the MAC semifinals.
Toledo’s EJ Farmer had 19 points off the bench, going 5 of 6 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line, Shumate had 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting, and RayJ Dennis scored 15 points.
Millner, Farmer, Shumate, and Dennis shot a combined 27 of 40.
“We came out really focused,” Kowalczyk said. “We played efficient basketball.”
Farmer and AJ Edu gave the Rockets 41 valuable minutes.
Edu had four points, three rebounds, and one block, serving as a defensive reinforcement against 6-foot-8, 305-pound forward Anderson Mirambeaux, who had 16 points on 12 shots. Toledo constantly had multiple bodies on Mirambeaux, preventing him from finding an easy path to the basket.
The Rockets had 23 bench points on Thursday. In four games during the 2021 and 2022 MAC tournaments, they had 15 total bench points.
“The biggest difference between this team and last year is our bench play,” Millner said. “We have a lot of guys coming off and producing.”
Toledo led by double digits for the final 27 minutes, 24 seconds. The Rockets cooled off in the second half, but only slightly — 53.8 percent.
They shot 58.2 percent for the game, their fourth-best performance of the season. It was the seventh straight game UT’s shot at least 50 percent.
Toledo scored 15 points off 12 Miami (12-20) turnovers.
“Statistically, they’re one of the best offensive teams in the country,” Miami guard Mekhi Lairy said. “Once they get it going, it’s hard to slow them down. On the defensive end, they use their length and size to force turnovers.”
Kowalczyk said after the game that he told his team not to be complacent, referencing Miami’s come-from-behind win against Northern Illinois when the RedHawks trailed by 20 with nine minutes left.
“A game like this is never over,” he said.
Except this time it was. As the past two months have shown, Toledo is too explosive, too absorbed, and too deep.
And even if the Rockets do encounter turbulence, there’s a plan for that.
“When things don’t go our way, how are we going to respond?” Shumate said. “That’s the biggest thing, just being resilient.”
First Published March 9, 2023, 8:28 p.m.
