The Toledo men’s basketball team (26-6, 16-2 MAC) continues play in the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament on Friday, March 10, against No. 5 seed Ohio (19-13, 10-8 MAC). The contest will be televised by the CBS Sports Network and tip off in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at 5 p.m.
The Rockets are riding a school-record 16-game winning streak during which they are scoring 87.3 ppg to go along with a 51.2 FG% and 43.0 three-point FG%. Toledo has won 26 games for the second-straight season, one away from the school record set in the 2013-14 campaign.
Toledo is the first current MAC school to win three straight outright league titles and is looking to reach the championship game for the seventh time in program history and first since 2018.
Toledo is the first current MAC school to win three straight outright league titles and is looking to reach the championship game for the seventh time in program history and first since 2018. UT’s 16-game winning streak is second in the nation, one behind Oral Roberts.
In Thursday’s game against No. 8 seed Miami in quarterfinal action of the MAC Tournament, sophomore guard EJ Farmer came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points and senior forward Setric Millner Jr. added 19 of his own to lead No. 1 seed Toledo to a 91-75 victory.
Toledo scored the first five points of the contest and never trailed. The Rockets, winners of their last 16 consecutive games, shot a blistering 62.1% (18-of-29) from the field in the first half to take a 48-33 into halftime. Toledo led by as many as 20 points in the second half and was never seriously threatened.
“I thought this was a mature win,” said Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk. “We did what we were supposed to do as the No. 1 seed playing the eight seed. Nothing more, nothing less. In the first half, we came out really focused. We shared the ball, 11 assists and three turnovers, and shot 62%. We played efficient basketball.”
“It was nice to have a good start,” said senior forward JT Shumate, who finished with 17 points. “When things don’t go our way, how are we going to respond? That’s the biggest thing. Being resilient.”
