The Bobcats will continue their historic rivalry with Miami in Oxford on Saturday.
Muck Fiami.
That’s not a typo. It’s a slogan printed on T-shirts sold at campus bookstores, and a motto for many Ohio University students’ feelings about their in-state rivals.
“Every time I see that shirt I actually think it’s pretty cool,” redshirt senior guard Javarez “Bean” Willis said.
Willis, a native of Homer, Louisiana, hasn’t experienced much of the historic rivalry between the schools. But he did play for the Bobcats last year and has been on campus for two seasons, so he understands what playing the RedHawks means to students and alumni.
“I see how excited people get when we do play,” he said. “It’s a scrappy, hard game every single time no matter what, despite their record, ours or whatever it’s gonna be a battle.”
Ohio (9-13, 4-7 Mid-American Conference) and Miami (8-16, 3-8 MAC) will renew their MAC rivalry Saturday for a Valentine’s Day showdown in Oxford.
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Coach Saul Phillips has never coached against Miami or been to Oxford. Despite that, he’s familiar with the rivalry and has received assistance from alumni to fire up the Bobcats.
Paul Baron, who played for Ohio from 1983-86 and is third all-time in career assists (579), reached out to Phillips this week to speak to the team in advance of Saturday. Phillips said he’s heard from more alumni about the “Battle of the Bricks” rivalry than when Ohio played Akron, another rivalry that’s come to fruition recently.
“That’s usually a sign of a pretty good rivalry when alums are trying to crawl in and fire up your group,” Phillips said.
Saturday will showcase many of the rivalry’s best moments when Miami honors former coach Charlie Coles, the school’s all time-leader in victories. Miami is returning his No. 10 jersey from his playing days as a RedHawk in the 1960s. He then coached his alma mater from 1996 until returning in 2012. He passed away in June of 2013.
“Everybody likes Charlie,” Phillips said. “He appeared to be the kind of guy I would have gotten along real well with. It’s too bad we didn’t cross paths.”
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Aside from the ceremonies and added-intensity for the rivalry game, Ohio is hoping to bounce back after losing Wednesday to Central Michigan. The Bobcats had won their previous two, but opened with 15-0 deficit they couldn’t overcome.
“It seemed like we really were taking a step forward and then Central Michigan happened,” Phillips said. “I don’t have any great explanation as to why it happened other than we just clearly weren’t engaged.”
Willis, despite scoring nine points on three of 14 shooting Wednesday, is still optimistic moving forward.
“We’re having some progress. We’re not losing four games in a row anymore,”
Willis said. “Sometimes you’ve gotta let go of the negatives and just think about the positives.”
@chadlindskog
cl027410@ohio.edu
