Luke Skaljac started the 2025-26 season as a second-string shooting guard for the Miami University RedHawks. Skaljac stepped up after starting point guard Evan Ipsaro suffered an ACL injury on Dec. 20, 2025 in the team\u2019s win against Ball State University. <\/p>\n
RedHawks head coach Travis Steele knew Skaljac was capable of playing point guard even though he hadn\u2019t played the position since he joined Miami.<\/p>\n
Skaljac, a sophomore sales management major, averaged 10.3 points and 4.7 assists per game during the 2025-26 season. He announced his decision to remain a RedHawk on April 14 in an Instagram post after three players entered the transfer portal.<\/p>\n
Skaljac was a top 10 Ohio high school recruit, according to ESPN, and was a three-time team captain for the Breaksville-Broadview Heights Bees. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always far and away the best player on the court,\u201d his dad, Greg Skaljac said. \u201cHe just kept getting better and better, and here we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skaljac attributes his love of basketball to his dad, who drove him to Amateur Athletic Union games and acts as one of his toughest critics. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I play like s—, he\u2019s gonna tell me that, and if I play good, he\u2019ll tell me that,\u201d Skaljac said. \u201cI love him for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greg said Luke is energetic on the court, but likes to relax off the court. When he\u2019s not playing basketball, Skaljac said he loves to play poker and videogames. He also likes spending time at Lake Erie with his friends back home.<\/p>\n
Greg said him and his wife, though both Miami alumni, had little to do with his college decision. He said while Miami had the best academic reputation of the schools Luke considered, it had the worst basketball team by far.<\/p>\n
Skaljac said he chose Miami because of the coaching staff and the program\u2019s promising future. He said the team\u2019s unselfishness and connectivity is what makes it so special.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that this was a place heading upwards,\u201d Skaljac said.<\/p>\n
Steele said Ipsaro\u2019s injury was the biggest point of adversity the team faced the entire season, but everyone had confidence in Skaljac to step up.<\/p>\n
Skaljac\u2019s first game at point guard was Dec. 30 last year against Bowling Green. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst possession he turned it over,\u201d Steele said. \u201cOnce he recognized \u2018hey, I can do this,\u2019 he just took off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steele said Skaljac leads by example on the court and in the locker room and always stays after practice to get extra work in. <\/p>\n
Skaljac and the RedHawks demanded attention as they stacked up wins. People took notice, selling out the 10,000 person capacity Millett Hall and spiking school spirit. The RedHawks took the country by storm and completed a 31-0 regular season. <\/p>\n
The RedHawks earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament despite a loss to the University of Massachusetts in the Mid-American Conference tournament, marking its first appearance since 2007. Skaljac contributed 17 points in the team\u2019s statement win over Southern Methodist University in the First Four.<\/p>\n
The RedHawks lost in the first round to Tennessee, but Skaljac said the goal for next season is to get to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does not put up with mediocrity,\u201d Greg Skaljac said. \u201cI always told him he\u2019s delusionally confident, but I guess you have to be at that level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steele said Skaljac\u2019s role will continue to grow next season, and he is excited for him and Ipsaro to share the spotlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [Skaljac] can be the best playmaker in our league,\u201d Steele said. \u201cWith Evan coming back, we should have the best backcourt not only in our league, but in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
clarkelt@miamioh.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Skaljac started the 2025-26 season as a second-string shooting guard for the Miami University RedHawks. Skaljac stepped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-260543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}