Game Notes: CMU Begins Road Trip at Pepperdine

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Central Michigan (1-1, 0-0 Mid-American)
at
Pepperdine (2-1, 0-0 West Coast)

Monday, November 21, 7 p.m. PST, Malibu, Calif., Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104)

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Radio:  WCFX-FM 95.3 & WUPS-FM 98.5 — Don Chiodo and Don Helinski
Television: None
Live Audio: CMU Sports Zone (free) — wcfx.com
Webcast:  Wave Cast (free video) — pepperdinesports.com

PREVIEW

Central Michigan kicks off a busy week on Monday with a road game at Pepperdine (2-1, 0-0 West Coast).  Tipoff in Malibu is set for 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST).

The Chippewas then head to Alaska where they will play three games in three days beginning on Thanksgiving.

Pepperdine suffered its first setback of the season on Saturday night with a 79-70 road loss at Cal State Bakersfield.  The Waves started the season 2-0 under first-year head coach Marty Wilson, including a road win at Arizona State.

CMU also is looking to bounce back from a loss after falling to Charlotte, 77-75, in two overtimes last Tuesday in McGuirk Arena.

PROBABLE STARTERS
		Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	GP-GS	PPG	RPG	Other	Notes
(1) G	2	Austin McBroom	6-0	162	Fr.	2-2	11.5	1.5	3.0 APG	Homecoming to the greater Los Angeles area
(2) G	23	Derek Jackson	6-0	171	So.	2-2	14.0	3.5	3.5 SPG	Leads the MAC in steals
(3) G	0	Trey Zeigler	6-5	203	So.	2-1	16.5	13.5	2.0 APG	Had a double-double in each of CMU's games
(4) F	25	Olivier Mbaigoto	6-7	225	Jr.	2-2	7.5	9.0	1.0 SPG	Grabbed 10 rebounds in the season opener
(5) F	10	Andre Coimbra	6-9	235	Sr.	2-2	6.0	6.5	2.5 BPG	Had at least five points and five rebounds in all four games (including exhibitions)

NEWS AND NOTES

Series History
This marks the first meeting all-time between the two schools.
  •  Ernie Zeigler faced Pepperdine once while he was an assistant at UCLA, an 85-83 Bruins victory during the 2004-05 season.

Against the West Coast
The Chippewas are 0-3 all-time against teams currently in the West Coast Conference. The Chippewas have losses against St. Mary’s, Santa Clara and San Diego.  
  •  Ernie Zeigler is 0-1 against WCC teams as the Chippewas lost to San Diego, 67-66, in his first season (2006-07).
  •  CMU could face San Francisco in the Great Alaska Shootout next week.

Charlotte Recap
Central Michigan shot just 44 percent (8-for-18) from the line in the second half as the Chippewas fell to visiting Charlotte, 77-75, in double overtime last Tuesday night. Trey Zeigler split a pair of free throws to tie the score with six seconds left in regulation and Zach Saylor nailed a baseline jumper with two seconds left in the first overtime to knot the score once again. CMU trailed by two with four seconds left in the double overtime, but without a timeout, the Chippewas were unable to get a good shot off at the buzzer on an inbound play in front of their own bench. Zeigler finished with 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds while three Charlotte players recorded double-doubles of their own, led by Chris Braswell’s 22 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-8 shooting. CMU shot just 52 percent from the line going 13-for-25, including just 1-for-4 in the final 30 seconds. Derek Jackson had 18 points and Austin McBroom 15 for the Chippewas.   

Overtime Unkind
The Chippewas have now dropped six straight overtime games and stand 3-8 in extra sessions under head coach Ernie Zeigler.  The Chippewas are 2-1 in multiple-overtime games under the current Chippewa mentor.

Extra Time
Tuesday’s game against Charlotte went 50 minutes and because of the two extra sessions there were some unique statistics.
•  Four different players recorded double-doubles (three 49ers and one Chippewa).
•  CMU had four players foul out, three of which were post players.
•  Six players logged 40 or more minutes, including three for each team. Zeigler tallied the most minutes with 45.

Double Dipping
Trey Zeigler has recorded back-to-back double-doubles in CMU’s first two games.  He had 11 points and 12 rebounds in the opener and then 22 points and 15 boards against Charlotte. He became the first Chippewa to record a double-double in back-to-back games since Marcus Van accomplished the feat toward the end of the 2009 season. Before that, you’d have to go back to Chris Kaman in 2003 to find a Chippewa with a back-to-back double-double. That year, Kaman led the nation with 25 double-dips, including a string of nine straight.

Packed for the Long Haul
The Chippewas will be on a nine-day, eight-night road trip to play four games. Over the course of the trip, CMU’s travel party will cover a total of 9,000 miles (8,700 by air and 300 by bus).

Paramore’s Career Over
CMU men’s basketball student-athlete Paris Paramore will no longer be able to participate in the sport of basketball at CMU due to a medical condition. The JUCO transfer from Triton College saw action in 19 games last season and averaged 0.4 points per game in his only year with the Chippewas.

Voss Injured
Colin Voss is out indefinitely with a hand injury suffered in practice on Thursday, Nov. 10. The sophomore averaged 6.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in the two exhibition games this season.

Rookie Leads in Debut
Austin Keel scored a team-high 12 points in his collegiate debut for CMU. The last time a Chippewa newcomer led CMU in scoring in their first game was 2007-08 when Jeremy Allen scored 17 at Missouri, edging out fellow freshman Chase Simon who had 14 against the Tigers.

Double Figure Rebounding Duo
Two Chippewas hit twin digits in the rebounding column in the season opener when Trey Zeigler pulled down 12 caroms and Olivier Mbaigoto 10. It marked the first time that two CMU players had at least 10 boards in a game since Feb. 23, 2002 at Northern Illinois. In that game, Chris Kaman tallied 14 boards and J.R. Wallace 13 as both notched a double-double.

High Scoring Freshman
CMU’s Trey Zeigler was the nation’s third-leading freshman scorer among Division I schools last season.  He also ranked third overall among all Mid-American Conference scorers with 16.3 points per game.  The only two freshmen to average more were Kentucky’s Brandon Knight (17.3 ppg) and Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger (17.2 ppg).

Scouring the Map
The Chippewas have a diverse roster in 2011-12 with 16 players hailing from six different states and two foreign countries. There are nine players from the state of Michigan and one each from California (McBroom), Florida (Keel), Illinois (Paris Paramore-out for the year), Ohio (Jackson) and Texas (Craddock). The two imports are from Africa (Mbaigoto) and Brazil (Coimbra).

Still a Green Roster
There are seven upperclassmen on the roster but the Chippewas are relatively inexperienced. All the regulars are in their first or second season with the Chippewas except for junior Finis Craddock. He has appeared in a team-high 54 career games, including eight starts.

New MAC Tournament Format
The Mid-American Conference Tournament had some drastic changes made to the format for this season. Most notably is the fact that the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receive byes to the semifinals while the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds receive byes to the quarterfinals. Also, seeding will be based on conference winning percentage, regardless of division. So this year, the top two seeds could come from the same division. Seeds No. 5 through No. 12 will play first round games on campus sites with those four winners advancing to the second round in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.

Shooting It Out In Alaska
CMU will play three games in three days as part of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 24-26. The Shootout, in its 34th season, is the longest-running regular season college basketball tournament in the nation, taking place every Thanksgiving in Anchorage since 1978. It marks CMU’s first trip to the state of Alaska. The Chippewa women’s team also will be playing in the women’s bracket of the Great Alaska Shootout at the same time. CMU’s first round matchup is against New Mexico State.

Traveling Across the Land
With a visit to four new states this season, the Chippewas will have traveled to almost half (24) of the 50 states in the USA during Ernie Zeigler’s six seasons as head coach at CMU. The Chippewas will add Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Tennessee to the itinerary this year. The states the Chippewas have visited the past five years under Zeigler include:  Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Packing Their Bags Early
The Chippewas will be road-tested by the time they enter MAC play. CMU’s nonconference schedule includes just three home games to 10 road contests. Central will take only four trips to play those games as the junket includes a four-game trip (Pepperdine and three games at the Great Alaska Shootout), a three-game trip (Iowa State, Nebraska and Wright State) and a two-game trip (Tennessee State and Minnesota). The only nonconference game that will be played on a single trip is Temple.

MAC Poll
After finishing third in the MAC West Division last season, CMU was picked to finish third again this season by a MAC news media panel. Western Michigan (West) and Kent State (East) were both predicted to defend their respective division titles.

Fastbreak Buckets
• Two Chippewas were high school teammates of National Player of the Year honorees.  Austin McBroom played his freshman season at Campbell Hall High School with 2008 Gatorade Player of the Year Jrue Holiday (UCLA/Philadelphia 76ers). Austin Keel played his senior season at Winter Park High School with 2011 Naismith Prep Player of the Year Austin Rivers (Duke).
•  Under Ernie Zeigler, the Chippewas have a goal of holding their opponent under 40 percent shooting from the field each game. During Zeigler’s six seasons, CMU is 27-9 (.750) overall when holding the opposition below that mark.
•  CMU signed 6-8, 210-pound forward John Simons (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac HS) to a National Letter of Intent during the early signing period. As a junior at Cadillac High School, Simons averaged 23 points and eight rebounds while leading the Vikings to a 20-5 record and a Class B regional championship. He was named second team all-state by the Detroit Free Press.

Playing Professionally
Four recent CMU players are currently playing overseas this season — Sefton Barrett, Robbie Harman, Marko Spica and Giordan Watson. Barrett is currently in France (Saint-Vallier), Harman in Holland (Stepco BS Weert), Spica in Slovenia (Maribor Messer) and Watson in Iceland (U.M.F. Grindavik). All four of the Chippewas were teammates together on the 2006-07 squad.

Central Michigan University Athletics

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