Game Notes: Quick Turnaround to Sun Bowl Invitational
12/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
EL PASO, Texas - The Chippewas left McGuirk Arena with a 92-80 win Thursday night and left behind several inches of snow and freezing rain with blizzard-like wind speeds. Friday's travewl day took brought them to their first appearance in the nation’s oldest collegiate holiday basketball tournament, the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational.
Central Michigan (6-4) will open the 51st edition of the tournament with Nebraska at 5 p.m. Mountain Time Saturday and will play at either 5 or 7 p.m. MT Sunday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff or UTEP.
The 3,500-mile trek to Texas marks the fifth state the Chippewas have visited during the non-conference portion of the season. Their road legs will be tested this weekend as they play three games in four days following visits to both coasts (Charlotte, N.C. and Malibu, Calif.) last week.
• THE MATCHUP
51st WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl
Invitational • Dec. 22-23, 2012
El Paso, Texas • Don Haskins Center
Game one vs. Nebraska (7-3) Saturday at 7 p.m. MT
• THE BROADCAST
Radio: Central Michigan IMG Sports Network - Flagship 95.3 WCFX-FM, Mount Pleasant
Don Chiodo (play-by-play); Robbie Harman (color analyst)
Web:
Live audio: cmuchippewas.com
Twitter updates: @cmumensbball
• THE OPENING TIP
• The Chippewas picked up their first back-to-back wins of the season with a 92-80 victory over Texas State Thursday, securing their sixth win quicker than any team since 2002-03.
• The point column has seen a gradual increase over each of the last five games; Thursday’s 92 points were the most in a regulation game against a D-I opponent since 2003.
• Road legs will be tested this weekend with games two and three in a four-day span – and that coming after hitting both coasts (Charlotte, N.C. and Malibu, Calif.) last week.
• Through an exhibition tournament in the Bahamas and the Utah Thanksgiving Tournament, CMU is 5-1 in tournament play.
• THE SERIES
• Nebraska won the very first meeting in the series last year, 72-69, in Lincoln. CMU has never met UTEP or Arkansas-Pine Bluff. • QUOTABLE
"If you were to tell me we’d be without Zach Saylor, DeAndray Buckley and now Austin Stewart at this point in the season and pick up wins in these last two games I wouldn’t have believed it. But this team is making a believer out of me. We’ve obviously got some areas to improve on but we have shown we can compete on any given night."
- Keno Davis, Dec. 20., 2012 after a 92-80 win over Texas State