Miami University will be finishing its Mid-American Conference men’s basketball schedule with several of the MAC’s best teams.

Only four conference squads — Akron, Ohio, Kent State and Western Michigan — have winning records, and the RedHawks will be seeing three of them for a total of five games down the stretch.

MU has two games apiece with Akron and Kent State, along with the regular-season finale at Ohio, in East Division play. And a trip to West Division contender Toledo looms Wednesday night.

“We don’t have an easy streak,” Miami coach John Cooper said. “That’s nothing new being on this side of the league.”

The 8-12 RedHawks, halfway through the MAC slate with a 3-5 record, will have to face one of the MAC’s best backcourts when they get to UT’s Savage Arena.

Junior Rian Pearson is the No. 1 scorer in the conference, averaging 18.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while sophomore Julius Brown is getting 13.7 points, 5.4 assists and 3.2 boards a contest.

“He can score in a variety of ways and, more importantly, he does a really good job defensively,” Rockets coach Tod Kowalczyk said of the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Pearson.

Junior Matt Smith is also having a fine season for Toledo (9-10, 5-3). The 6-7 forward is averaging 9.9 points per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor, 44.0 percent from 3-point range and 89.8 percent from the charity stripe.

Miami hopes to counter with a balanced attack. Nine RedHawks played at least 12 minutes in last weekend’s 70-61 win at Central Michigan.

“I think it helps us not being so fatigued,” Cooper said. “That’s on me to figure out a way to keep doing it like that.”

The Rockets are on a three-game winning streak, and Kowalczyk said his crew likes to push the ball in transition and generally plays solid halfcourt defense. He believes Miami will present a significant challenge.

“Their style differs from everybody in the league,” Kowalczyk said. “They’re pressing, trapping, running and jumping. They’re very high risk and high reward, and they’re really good at it.”

He said UT is below .500 due to a demanding nonconference schedule that included “very few home games because of our penalty structure.” Toledo is ineligible for postseason play this year because of its low Academic Progress Rate scores.

“I think our guys have handled things exceptionally well,” Kowalczyk said. “Overall, I’m very happy with the direction that we’re headed. I think we’ve gotten better. We just need to be a little more consistent with our defense and rebounding.”