Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Hit the Road for Matchup With Northwestern
12/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The one time this season that the Central Michigan men's basketball team ventured out of McGuirk Arena, it lost, and it discovered an awful lot about itself.
Coach Keno Davis and the Chippewas hope to put that lesson to the test, and see how they fare in a similar environment, Wednesday when they play at Northwestern in a non-conference game.
The Chippewas (6-1) and Wildcats (6-3) tip off at 8 p.m. at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena. CMU is coming off a 94-61 victory over Southern Illinois Edwarsville, the last in a series of convincing victories on its home floor.
CMU's lone loss came at Bradley, 84-73, two weeks ago. The Chippewas have not played in 10 days, taking a break for final exams.
"I think there's a couple things that we're going through," said Davis, who has the Chippewas off to their best start since 2002-03. "One is going on the road, trying to learn how to be able to win away from McGuirk Arena. There are four players in our rotation who are doing this for the first time.
"The other thing that they're doing for the first time is learning how to be able to play after finals week."
Whether or not the layoff affects the Chippewas will play out on Wednesday night. The last time they took the floor, they dropped a school-record 20 three-pointers in torching SIUE.
"I know our guys give great attention to their academics, which they should," Davis said. "It'll be a good game for us to see how we're able to respond with the understanding that our players have had some focus elsewhere, and now it's time to be ready to concentrate solely on basketball for the next several weeks."
Alex Olah, a 7-foot junior center, is Northwestern's leading scorer and rebounder. He had 17 points and 10 rebounds in just 20 minutes in a 101-49 win over Mississippi Valley State on Sunday. It was his third double-double of the season. Point guard Bryant McIntosh added 15 points and six assists and earned the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week honors.
Olah, in particular, presents a good test for CMU. The Chippewas' main problem at Bradley was matching up with good-sized, physical players in the paint while playing in a hostile road environment.
As expected, Chris Fowler has been at the forefront of CMU's early season success. The junior guard leads the Chippewas in scoring (14.6 points per game) and assists (6.7), while turning the ball over just three times per game.
He's getting plenty of help. Junior John Simons and sophomore Braylon Rayson are also scoring in double figures, Simons at 12.6, Rayson at 11.4. Simons is the top rebounder at 6.1 per game.
Simons has made 23 of his 38 three-point attempts this season and is leading the nation at 60.5 percent from long range.
The Chippewas are averaging 82.6 points per game, which ranks first in the MAC and 14th in the country.
Perhaps the most telling statistic about how far the Chippewas have come since last season is on the defensive end. They are surrendering 62.9 points per game, almost 11 points fewer than their per-game average a year ago.
That fact that CMU is 6-1 at this point, Davis said, is indeed a bit of a pleasant surprise given that they won just 10 games last season and 11 two years ago.
But what truly fuels Davis' optimism is the consistency with which the Chippewas have performed.
"We've been able to maintain a pretty good intensity level and by doing that I think that gives us great optimism for how much this team can improve," he said. "We know we're far from a finished product. Just because we've gotten off to a good start doesn't mean that we can't greatly improve in a lot of different areas.
"Our guys are excited about the future of the basketball program here and they want the future to be now. They want to win as much as they can this year and make this a special year. It's been fun to be able to coach this group."
