Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewa Men Seek to Extend Historic Start
12/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Central Michigan Game Notes 
| Bradley Game Notes
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - It's been more than a half century since the Central Michigan men's basketball team started a season 6-0.
The Chippewas will attempt to equal that feat on Tuesday when they play their first road game of the season as they go to Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., for a non-league game. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
CMU is 5-0, its best start since 1980-81, while the Braves are 2-4 with their four losses coming by an average of about seven points.
The Chippewas are coming off a 79-77 victory Saturday over Grand Canyon. The game was tight throughout and the Chippewas held off a late charge by the Lopes.
A victory over Bradley would make CMU 6-0 for the first time since 1963-64.
"With our inexperience and our youth, to go through a close win like we did on Saturday and now we're playing a quality opponent from the Missouri Valley Conference, it's all good for the development of our team," third-year CMU coach Keno Davis said. "(Bradley's) record isn't representative of how good a team they are. They could be very well 5-1. We're going to have our hands full. We played them the last couple of years and ended up on the short end."
Bradley has lost two straight games, 60-57, to Saint Louis; and 57-49 to unbeaten Texas Christian. Prior to that, the Braves won back-to-back games against North Carolina A&T and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Braves' leading scorer (12.8 points per game) is guard Warren Jones, who, despite not starting, shares the team lead in minutes per game at 29.8. Austin Barnes, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, is second on the team at 12 points per game.
A trademark of the Chippewas in 2014-15 has been balance. Junior guard Chris Fowler, who is emerging as one of the top players in the Mid-American Conference, leads CMU at 13.6 points per game while junior forward John Simons averages 13.4.
Five other Chippewas average from 6.6-8.8 points per game while nine are averaging double-digits in minutes. The Chippewas are plus-10.2 in rebounding margin, a major improvement over last season.
Another area in which the Chippewas have made major strides since last season is on defense. They are allowing an average of 59.0 points per game after surrendering 73.8 per in 2013-14.
