Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Look to Extend Fast Start
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Coming off a lengthy break, the Central Michigan men's basketball team broke it down into a three-game segment leading up to Christmas.
So far, all good, after victories over Northwestern and Concordia. The third leg of the six-day journey is Monday at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
"We talked about, as a coaching staff, how are we going to try to prepare them for a three-game season," Chippewa coach Keno Davis said. "We had to have legs for the end and yet energy in the beginning, and how could we come out of there with the best record possible before we have a break."
The Chippewas are 8-1, their best start since they went 10-1 to open the 1974-75 season en route to a 22-6 finish and a Mid-American Conference championship.
Monday's game presents several tests for the Chippewas, first because they are playing on the road, and second because it's their third game in six days.
"Our guys are going to enjoy a few days off after that game, but our focus isn't about the time off yet, it's about seeing what kind of record we're going to have when we come back for conference play," said Davis, whose team will play at a non-league home game against Central Penn on Jan. 2, then open MAC play at Toledo on Jan. 6.
McNeese State (5-4) is coming off an 83-69 loss to Toledo, a result that snapped the Cowboys' eight-game win streak on their home floor at Burton Coliseum.
The Cowboys feature two players, Desharick Guidry and Austin Lewis, who rank among the top two in the nation in two statistical categories.
Guidry, a 6-foot-5 senior, averages 12.3 rebounds per game, while Lewis, a 6-8 junior, is blocking shots at a 3.8-per-game clip. Guidry is the team's leading scorer at 17.4 points per game, making 55.6 percent from the field.
CMU continues to be led by guard Chris Fowler, who is averaging 13.2 points and 6.3 assists per game. Fowler's assists-per-game number ranks 10th in the nation.
To get to that level in assists, the 6-foot-1 junior is getting plenty of help. Backcourt mate Braylon Rayson is averaging 12 points per game, while John Simons is at 10.9.
Simons has hit three-point field goals at a 50 percent rate (23-for-46), good for 13th in the nation. Rayson has missed just two of his 27 free throw attempts this season, and is ranked 11th (92.6 percent) in the country.
Three other Chippewas - Josh Kozinski, Luke Meyer and Rayshawn Simmons - are averaging eight points per game or better.
Unselfishness has been a Chippewa trademark this season, and a cornerstone for their 8-1 start.
"You can't teach that," Davis said. "You can't coach that. They're either going to be unselfish by nature or by their experience or who they are, or they're not.
"I think it starts with the assistant coaches being able to recruit such a high level of character in the student-athlete. So it's important for us to be able, in the recruiting process, to not bring guys in who are just going to be focused on themselves, but rather guys who understand that as the team does well there'll be so many more individual accolades to come by."
Case in point: Fowler, Davis said, adding that having players with the team-first attitude such as that continually displayed by Fowler is critical to the building process.
"Chris Fowler is one of the best players in the conference and has been for two years, but you don't hear anything about him," Davis said. "That's because we haven't won. Chris Fowler was the third-leading scorer and was second in assists in the conference last year and didn't get player of the week in the west (division) once the whole season.
"If we win, those accolades are going to come. And I think to be able, as a coach, to continue to teach and to show them that - but I really don't need to because it's very rare that we see anything from them that resembles anything even close to selfishness."
