Central Michigan University Athletics
Game Notes: Final Non-Conference Tune Up at WSU
12/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game Notes | Live Stats |
Central Michigan (5-7, 0-0 Mid-American)
at
Wright State (5-8, 1-1 Horizon)
Thursday, December 22 | 7 p.m. | Dayton, Ohio. | Nutter Center (10,400)
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: Horizon League Network (free) — horizonleague.org
PREVIEW
Central Michigan and Wright State meet for the fourth straight season on Thursday night in the Nutter Center. Tipoff in Dayton, Ohio, is set for 7 p.m.
The Chippewas are wrapping up a three-game road trip and the contest serves as CMU's final non-conference tune up before Mid-American Conference action begins on Jan. 7 versus Toledo.
Wright State has won two straight in the series.
| PROBABLE STARTERS | ||||||||||
| Name | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | GP-GS | PPG | RPG | Other | Notes | ||
| (1) G | 2 | Austin McBroom | 6-0 | 162 | Fr. | 12-12 | 10.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 APG | Ranks second in the MAC in 3-pt. percentage (.500) |
| (2) G | 23 | Derek Jackson | 6-0 | 171 | So. | 12-12 | 10.9 | 2.3 | 2.0 SPG | Had 12 points against WSU last year |
| (3) G | 0 | Trey Zeigler | 6-5 | 203 | So. | 12-9 | 17.5 | 6.8 | 2.8 APG | Leads CMU in scoring, rebounding and assists |
| (4) F | 25 | Olivier Mbaigoto | 6-7 | 225 | Jr. | 12-12 | 6.8 | 5.3 | 0.9 BPG | Notched 15 points against Nebraska on Tuesday |
| (5) F | 10 | Andre Coimbra | 6-9 | 235 | Sr. | 12-12 | 9.2 | 5.3 | 1.9 BPG | Needs 21 blocks to join CMU's single season top 10 list |
NEWS AND NOTES
Series History
The Chippewas lead the all-time series, 6-5. This is the fourth straight season the two teams have met, with the Raiders winning the last two meetings. Ernie Zeigler is 1-2 against WSU with the win coming in overtime in Rose Arena during the 2008-09 season.
Last Meeting
Jalin Thomas single-handedly went on a 13-1 run to tie the game late in the second half, but Central Michigan’s comeback attempt fell short, 53-49, on Dec. 14 last season. The Chippewas trailed the Raiders, 44-32, with 11:13 to go when Thomas scored 13 consecutive points to tie the game, 45-45, at the 7:27 mark. But, the Raiders took the lead for good when Cooper Land found Vaughn Duggins on a back door cut and slam dunk. Duggins was whistled for a technical for hanging on the rim and Thomas knocked down one of two free throws for his 14th straight point of the second half. With WSU up 51-49, Trey Zeigler had a chance to tie the game with five seconds remaining. Zeigler’s jumper bounced off the rim and Duggins pulled down his sixth rebound. Duggins then knocked down two free throws on a Zeigler foul for the decisive 53-49 score. Thomas finished the game with 17 points and Derek Jackson chipped in with 12 points off the bench. The Raiders were led by Duggins’ 13 points and six rebounds.
Against the Horizon
Under head coach Ernie Zeigler, the Chippewas are 6-12 against Horizon League schools. CMU faced five Horizon schools in Zeigler’s first season and then three each year since. The Chippewas play only two league schools this year. CMU defeated UIC last Friday, 70-67.
• MAC schools are 10-11 overall against the Horizon League this season. CMU is 1-0 versus the Horizon this year while WSU is 1-1 against the MAC. The Raiders won at Miami and lost to Ohio at home.
Nebraska Recap
Central Michigan dropped a second straight close road game on Tuesday night as Nebraska held off the Chippewas for a 72-69 victory in the Devaney Center. CMU trailed by as many as 12 in the second half before Trey Zeigler hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-point Nebraska lead, 57-56 with 5:01 to go. However, the Chippewas shot just 55 percent (11-for-20) from the stripe compared to 77 percent (20-for-26) by the Cornhuskers and that was the key difference on the stat sheet. Zeigler scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half while keying the Chippewas’ comeback effort. He flirted with a triple-double adding eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists. Olivier Mbaigoto had seven points in the first four minutes but that’s all he would play in the first half after picking up his second foul. He finished with 15 points. All five Nebraska starters were in double figures with Brandon Richardson and Bo Spencer each posting 15 points apiece.
Anniversary of Johnson's School Record
CMU’s school record for points in a game (53) was set at Wright State by Tommie Johnson. Coincidentally, Thursday’s game marks the 24th anniversary of the milestone, as the game was played in the PE Building on Dec. 22, 1987. Johnson drained a CMU school-record 10 3-pointers in the game.
Chippewa Success at Wright State This Week
The Chippewas have had a successful week in the Nutter Center already. CMU’s women’s basketball team went 3-0 in the Wright State Invitational this past Sunday through Tuesday.
Final Pre-MAC Tune Up
CMU is playing its final non-league game before Mid-American Conference play begins. The Chippewas are 3-2 in their final non-conference game under Ernie Zeigler.
Limited Trips to the Line
CMU attempted just six free throws on Sunday at Iowa State. It marked the fewest attempts from the charity stripe by the Chippewas since CMU also shot just six in a 75-66 loss at Buffalo on Feb. 14, 2004.
Twin Figures
CMU had just one double-figure scorer at Iowa State as Trey Zeigler led the Chippewas with 19 points off the bench. It marked the first time this season that the Chippewas had just one double-figure scorer.
• CMU tied a season high with four double-digit scorers on Tuesday at Nebraska. CMU is now 3-1 when having four players hit twin figures this season.
The Long and Winding Road
Including Thursday’s Wright State game, the Chippewas will have played 10 of their last 11 games on the road.
• The lone home game was last Friday, when the Chippewas hosted Illinois-Chicago a total of 31 days after their previous home game.
• When CMU arrives home in Mount Pleasant on Friday morning, the Chippewas will have traveled 14,780 miles, played in four different time zones (Eastern, Central, Pacific and Alaskan) and set foot in 12 different states (Arizona, Washington and Georgia for airplane connections) this season.
• That mileage equates to traveling more than halfway around the globe as the circumference of the equator is 24,902 miles.
• CMU is wrapping up a stretch that has the Chippewas playing four games in seven days.
Shots Start Falling
CMU shot a season-high .538 from the floor against UIC last Friday going 28-for-52. The Chippewas hit 61 percent from the field in the second half which was the best shooting percentage in a half this season. Central has been over 50 percent three times this season, including Tuesday’s game against Nebraska.
Come From Behind Win
Last Friday’s win over UIC marked the first time this season that the Chippewas overcame a deficit to win. The Chippewas trailed by eight in the first half before taking an eight-point lead of their own in the opening stanza. Neither team led by more than three points in the second half.
• CMU led from start to finish in each of its first four victories this season.
In Need of a Bench Boost
• CMU’s starters account for 80 percent of the team’s scoring this season.
• That statistic is somewhat skewed considering leading scorer Trey Zeigler has come off the bench three times this season and averaged 13.3 points in those games.
• Central received no bench points at Minnesota and just one reserve scored at Tennessee State (Finis Craddock with six points).
• For the season, the opponent’s bench is averaging 17.3 points per game compared to CMU’s bench at 13.3 points per game.
Olivarez Visits the White House
CMU Director of Basketball Operations Marcelo Olivarez attended a holiday reception hosted by President Barack Obama at the White House on Dec. 9. He attended the event with his grandmother and then joined the team in Nashville on Friday evening. When Olivarez told the Commander in Chief that he was a basketball coach at CMU, the President replied “The Chippewas! How is the season going?”
• Coincidentally, head coach Ernie Zeigler’s first collegiate coaching victory came against President Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, who was the head coach at Brown at the time. Robinson is currently the head coach at Oregon State.
Coh-eem-BLOCK
Andre Coimbra has blocked a team-high 23 shots this season. The senior ranks third in the MAC with 1.9 blocks per game. This year he is on pace to rank in the top five on CMU’s single-season list.
Balanced Options
In CMU’s 11 games this season, five different Chippewas have led or tied for the team lead in scoring — Trey Zeigler (eight times), Andre Coimbra (twice), Austin Keel (once), Olivier Mbaigoto (once) and Austin McBroom (once).
• Of those five players, three are newcomers this season, including two freshmen.
• The only starter who hasn’t led CMU in scoring is guard Derek Jackson who is averaging 10.9 points per game.
.400 is the Magic Mark
The Chippewas held the opposition below .400 shooting from the floor in the first six games this season before Temple hit 52 percent of its field goal attempts.
• Through those first six games, CMU ranked sixth nationally in field goal percentage defense. The Chippewas currently rank 52nd nationally.
• The string of six straight sub-.400 games was the most in the Ernie Zeigler era, breaking the old mark of three.
• CMU is 30-11 (.732) under Ernie Zeigler when holding the opponent under 40 percent.
80-Point Plateau
The Chippewas scored a season-high 82 points against UC Irvine. During the Ernie Zeigler era, the Chippewas are 12-2 when scoring 80 or more points.
Two Hit 20
The Temple game marked the second time this season that the Chippewas had two players tally 20 or more points. Both Trey Zeigler and Andre Coimbra had 22 points in the road loss. In the Chippewas’ win over UC Irvine in the Great Alaska Shootout, Olivier Mbaigoto had 23 points and Zeigler 21.
Alphabet Soup
With three different Austin/Austons on the team and one difficult name to pronounce, the Chippewa coaching staff commonly refers to four players by nicknames. They include:
AB - Auston Barnes AK - Austin Keel A-MAC - Austin McBroom OV - Olivier Mbaigoto
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.
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.
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).
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).
• 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.
