Miami coach Charlie Coles knew, even after upsetting Notre Dame, that the RedHawks were vulnerable when going on the road to play Wright State and George Mason. (The RedHawks lost both). And Coles knows today's game with North Carolina-Wilmington at Millett Hall (1p.m.) will be no walk in the park, either.

        “Our players understand the situation we're in,” Coles said. “And, more importantly, I understand it. If we don't play well, we're in trouble.”

UNC-WILMINGTON at MIAMI

• When: 1 p.m. today.   • Where: Millett Hall (9,200), Oxford.   • Records: Miami 4-6, UNC Wilmington 4-5.   • TV: None.   • Radio: WCKY-AM (1360), WMOH-AM (1450).   UNC-WILMINGTON   Player-Ht-Yr-Avg   Ed Williams-6-6-Jr.-15.6   Dominick Scott-6-4-Sr.-4.0   Marcus Green-6-9-Sr.-2.3   Brett Blizzard-6-3-So.-14.4   Barron Thelmon-6-1-Sr.-11.4   Coach: Jerry Wainwright (98-87, sixth season; same overall)   MIAMI   Player-Ht-Yr-Avg   Matt Jameson-6-1-So.-3.6   Doug Davis -6-3-Jr.-7.9   Alex Shorts-6-8-So.-13.3   J. Grunkemeyer-6-5-Sr.-11.2   Mike Ensminger-6-6-Sr.-6.3   Coach: Charlie Coles (81-50, fifth season; 173-135 overall)   BY THE NUMBERS   • 25.8: Percentage Miami is shooting from 3-point range.   • 2.8: Assists per game Miami's leader (Grunkemeyer) is averaging.   • 1-4: UNC Wilmington's road record.

        Optimism ran rampant in the RedHawks' world after the Notre Dame win. The victory got the RedHawks to 4-4. It was easy to envision them closing the pre-Mid-American Conference schedule at 7-4. Instead, they enter today's game 4-6.

        The matchup with UNC-Wilmington would fall into the toss-up category. The Seahawks, who lost to Cincinnati 66-55 Thursday night, are 4-5 and 1-4 on the road.

        But UNC-Wilmington led UC for the first 24 minutes, and the Seahawks were an NCAA Tournament team last season.

        “They're pretty good,” Coles said.

        Coles is more concerned about getting his team back to playing well.

        The problem in the back-to-back losses was offense. To try to remedy that, Coles will shake up the starting lineup. Point guards Matt Jameson and Doug Davis will start together for the first time.

        “We need another dribbler,” Coles said. “We'll start (Jason) Grunkemeyer at forward. (UNC-Wilmington) is a good team, but they're not a physically strong team, so I think we'll be all right inside.”

        Coles is hoping to get more dribble penetration and easy baskets. Miami is averaging only 9.7 assists a game this season.

        Grunkemeyer, the team's best outside shooter, continues to struggle. Since he hit a season-best 5-for-7 from 3-point range against Temple, Grunkemeyer is 6-for-31 (19 percent) from behind the arc in his last five games.

        Miami begins the MAC schedule Wednesday at Toledo and then plays Marshall at home Saturday. Toledo and Marshall were picked 1-2 in the MAC.

        “(Today's) game would be important no matter what,” Coles said. “But it would be good to get some momentum.”

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