Central Michigan University Athletics
Game Notes: Chippewas Face KSU on Sports Time Ohio
1/30/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game Notes (.pdf)| Live Stats
Central Michigan (7-13, 2-5 Mid-American)
vs.
Kent State (14-6, 4-3 Mid-American)
Tuesday, January 31 | 7 p.m. | Mount Pleasant, Mich. | McGuirk Arena (5,300)
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Radio: WCFX-FM 95.3 & WUPS-FM 98.5 — Don Chiodo and Don Helinski
Television: Sports Time Ohio — Michael Reghi and Steve Mix
Live Audio: CMU Sports Zone (free) — cmuchippewas.com
Live Video Webcast: CMU Sports Zone (subscription) — cmuchippewas.com
Twitter: #CMUKSU
PREVIEW
Central Michigan is playing back-to-back home games for just the second time this season when the Chippewas host Kent State on Tuesday night in McGuirk Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be televised live on Sports Time Ohio.
The Chippewas have dropped five straight after opening MAC play 2-0. It won't get any easier for CMU as Kent State has won the last 10 meetings in the series after Central captured the 2003 MAC Tournament championship with a 10-point win over the Golden Flashes.
CMU shook up the starting lineup in their last game against Akron on Saturday but the MAC-leading Zips posted a 74-64 win. Derek Jackson scored a career-high 21 points and CMU's trio of guards once again led the Chippewas in scoring. Trey Zeigler added 16 points and Austin McBroom 14.
Kent State is led by first year head coach Rob Senderoff, who had been an assistant on the KSU bench. Justin Greene, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, leads the Golden Flashes again this season with 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
| PROBABLE STARTERS | ||||||||||
| Name | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | GP-GS | PPG | RPG | Other | Notes | ||
| (1) G | 1 | Jorddan Myrick | 5-11 | 177 | Fr. | 14-1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 APG | Made first career start against Akron |
| (2) G | 23 | Derek Jackson | 6-0 | 171 | So. | 20-19 | 11.7 | 2.6 | 2.0 SPG | Scored a career-high 21 points on Saturday versus Akron |
| (3) G | 0 | Trey Zeigler | 6-5 | 203 | So. | 20-17 | 16.1 | 7.0 | 2.7 APG | In league play, ranks fourth in the MAC in both scoring (15.1) and rebounding (7.6) |
| (4) F | 10 | Andre Coimbra | 6-9 | 235 | Sr. | 20-17 | 8.5 | 5.6 | 1.4 BPG | Notched a season-high 14 points versus KSU last year |
| (5) F | 35 | Jevon Harden | 6-8 | 232 | So. | 20-4 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.2 BPG | Has started four of the last seven games |
NEWS AND NOTES
Series History
CMU is 29-41 all-time against Kent State. The Golden Flashes have won 10 straight and 17 of the last 18 meetings. The lone CMU win during the stretch was in the 2003 MAC Tournament Championship game at Cleveland’s Gund Arena (now Quicken Loans Arena). The Chippewas’ last regular season win against KSU was on the road near the end of the 1997 season.
• CMU’s Ernie Zeigler is 0-5 all-time against the Golden Flashes. Kent State is the only MAC program he has not defeated during his tenure.
• CMU won MAC championships in 2001 and 2003 and both years the Chippewas lost regular season meetings at Kent State.
Last Meeting
Kent State jumped out to a 12-2 lead and never looked back in a 66-53 win over Central Michigan last Feb. 5 at the M.A.C. Center. After committing 14 turnovers in the first half, the Chippewas made just three miscues in the second but the Golden Flashes shot 68 percent from the floor in that frame and CMU could never catch back up. Jalin Thomas led three Chippewas in double figures with 15 points while Andre Coimbra had 14 points and six boards off the bench. Rodriguez Sherman had a game-high 17 points for KSU and Justin Greene added 12 points and eight boards.
Akron Recap
Derek Jackson led all scorers with a career-high 21 points and he tried to bring Central Michigan back from an 18-point deficit, but Akron recovered to hand the Chippewas a 74-64 home loss Saturday evening. Jackson’s 3-pointer with 3:21 remaining capped a 14-6 run and brought the Chippewas within three, 63-60, but the MAC-leading Zips scored the next eight points, including six at the line, to go back up by double-digits and put the game away. Trey Zeigler nearly recorded a double-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists while Austin McBroom came off the bench to tally 14 points and six boards. Akron shot 49 percent from the floor and the Zips were led in scoring by Zeke Marshall and Nick Harney with 13 points each.
The Starting Five
• The Chippewas are averaging 20.0 offensive rebounds over the last two games.
• CMU is committing just 10.7 turnovers per MAC game, the least in the league.
• Central shot just .614 from the free throw line in non-conference action but CMU has been shooting .733 at the stripe in MAC games (third best in the league).
• CMU is the only MAC team with freshmen and sophomores as its top three scorers. Central is led by sophomores Trey Zeigler (16.1) and Derek Jackson (11.7) and freshman Austin McBroom (10.5).
• Jorddan Myrick became the eighth different Chippewa to start a game this season on Saturday against Akron.
Freshman of the Year Candidate
Freshman point guard Austin McBroom is making a bid for MAC Freshman of the Year honors. In MAC play only, the North Hollywood, Calif., native ranks second among freshmen in scoring (11.7) and second in assists (2.8). Among all league players in conference action, McBroom ranks second in free throw percentage (.933) and 3-pointers made (2.6) and sixth in 3-point percentage (.462). His overall scoring average of 10.5 points per game ranks second among league freshmen.
Chasing 1,000
Sophomore Trey Zeigler surpassed the 800 career points plateau on Wednesday at Bowling Green. He enters the Kent State game with 827 points and is averaging 16.1 points per game. If he maintains his average for the rest of the season, Zeigler would hit 1,000 points in CMU’s first MAC Tournament game.
• Zeigler is looking to become the 28th member of CMU’s 1,000-point club and the first since Jordan Bitzer and Robbie Harman both joined during the 2010 season.
• Zeigler is looking to become the first Chippewa to ever hit the 1,000-point plateau as a sophomore. Ben Kelso scored exactly 1,000 points in his first two seasons, but they were as a sophomore and a junior as he played in an era when freshman were not eligible. Dan Majerle scored 801 points his freshman and sophomore seasons but he only played in 12 games his freshman year because of injury. He was averaging 18.6 points as a freshman and missed 15 games that year. Junior college transfer Ervin Leavy scored 1,003 points in his first two seasons as a Chippewa, but it was his junior and senior years.
League’s Top 3-Point Tandem
Central Michigan has arguably the top 3-point shooting tandem in the MAC in Austin McBroom and Derek Jackson. They are the only teammates to rank in the league’s top 15 together in both 3-pointers made per game and 3-point percentage. McBroom is tied for fourth in makes (2.0) and ranks fourth in percentage (.464) while Jackson is sixth in makes (1.9) and 12th in percentage (.384).
Freshman Double-Figure Scorer
Freshman point guard Austin McBroom is averaging in double figures with 10.5 points per game. He is looking to become just the fourth CMU freshman to average in double figures in the last 15 years. The three to accomplish the feat in that span includes Trey Zeigler (16.3 ppg) last year, Giordan Watson (10.3) in 2005 and Mike Manciel (17.5) in 1999.
Battling on the Boards
CMU held a 12-rebound edge in the battle of the boards last Wednesday as the Chippewas outrebounded the Falcons 41-29. The +12 margin is CMU’s best against a Division I team this season and snapped a string of three straight games of being outrebounded by double figures in each contest.
• CMU ranks last in the MAC in rebounding margin this season at -5.1. The Chippewas have outrebounded their opponent in just five of the 20 games.
Taking Care of the Ball and Forcing Turnovers, Too
The Chippewas have committed fewer turnovers than their opponent in all but one MAC game and CMU ranks second in the league in conference play with a +4.7 turnover margin. In fact, the +13 (7/20) turnover margin at Western Michigan recently matched the best in the Ernie Zeigler era at CMU. The Chippewas also were +13 (11/24) in a three-point home win over Bowling Green in 2007.
• CMU’s 10.7 turnovers per game during MAC action are the fewest in the conference.
Tough Loss
Central is 23-12 (.657) in MAC home games under Ernie Zeigler. But, CMU’s 21-point setback to Ball State on Jan. 18 was the Chippewas’ worst MAC home defeat in his tenure.
Block Leader
In just his second season at CMU, senior JUCO transfer Andre Coimbra has recorded 59 career blocks. He needs 15 more to join CMU’s career top 10 list and tie Dennis Kann’s (1989-92) career total of 74. If Coimbra maintains his 1.4 blocks per game average this season, he also will rank among CMU’s single-season top 10 leaders. He’s on pace to notch 49 blocks this year which would rank sixth on CMU’s single-season chart.
Single-Season Records Watch
Two Chippewas are on pace to challenge CMU single season records this season.
• Sophomore Derek Jackson has 39 steals on the year while averaging 2.0 per game. The CMU single season record is 63 set by Dave Grauzer in 1979.
• Freshman Austin McBroom is shooting .464 from 3-point range this season. Central’s season record is .510 set by Bill Slack in 1997.
Double-Double
Trey Zeigler recorded the sixth double-double of his career with 17 points and 10 rebounds at Bowling Green. It marked just his second double-double against a MAC opponent. He also had one against Eastern Michigan this year. Andre Coimbra is the only other active Chippewa with a double-double in his career. Coimbra notched his lone double dip last season at Eastern Michigan.
Road Warriors
CMU closed non-conference action by playing 10 of 11 games on the road. During the span, the Chippewas traveled 14,780 miles, set foot in 12 different states and played games in four different time zones.
• CMU had 15 days off between its last non-conference game at Wright State (Dec. 22) and the MAC opener on Jan. 7.
• The Chippewas played four of their first six MAC games on the road.
RPI Rankings
According to the NCAA’s official Jan. 23 RPI rankings, the Chippewas have a mark of 245 while Kent State has a rating of 106. Three MAC teams are listed in the top 100 — Akron (66), Ohio (74) and Buffalo (93).
.400 is the Magic Mark
The Chippewas held the opposition below .400 shooting from the floor in each of the first six games this season but the last 13 opponents have all shot .400 or better.
• CMU is 30-11 (.732) under Ernie Zeigler when holding the opponent under 40 percent.
• The last 14 CMU opponents have all shot 40 percent or better from the floor.
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 Out for the Year
Colin Voss is out for the year 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.
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.
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.
