CMU Men Struggle in Showcase Loss
11/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
ESTERO, Fla. - The Central Michigan men's basketball team barely had time to catch its breath before Tuesday's second-round game in the Gulf Coach Showcase at Germain Arena.
That was evident in the Chippewas' 88-60 loss to Western Kentucky -- a game that tipped off some 16 hours after the Chippewas fell in their tourney opener, 63-60, to Weber State.
"It's frustrating that everything that could have gone wrong seemed to go wrong," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "The nice thing in basketball is, it's not like football where you have to wait a week, we get to play again (Wednesday). And we get to show that that was an aberration of what we are about."
The Chippewas (2-2) will play Milwaukee at noon Wednesday in the seventh-place game. The Panthers (4-3) fell to Duquesne, 96-92, in overtime on Tuesday.
CMU was again playing without star guard Chris Fowler, who is out indefinitely with an injury. Another key component, forward Blake Hibbitts, is out for the season.
Western Kentucky (3-2) closed the first half with a 15-2 run to build a 36-19 lead at the break. The Chippewas never got closer than 16 points in the second half.
Fredrick Edmond scored 16 points to lead four Hilltoppers in double figures.
Braylon Rayson scored 13 points and Austin Stewart added 10 to lead CMU, which made just 30.7 percent of its field goal attempts. Guard Rayshawn Simmons finished with eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Chippewas connected on just 10 of 41 3-point tries (24.4 percent), went 4-for-16 from the free throw line, and were outrebounded 49-41. WKU shot 50 percent (10 for 20) from 3-point range.
"You look at our offense from the field, our offense from the 3, our free throw percentage, our rebounding, our defense - it wasn't our night," Davis said.
Fowler's absence was clearly evident as the Chippewas' struggled to get consistent production from the outside. They were 11-for-40 from 3-point range on Monday against Weber State.
"We're getting good looks, we're not knocking them down," Davis said. "I think the main reason for us not shooting better is that we're missing that guy who can take it to the basket and score.
"Chris had always been that guy for us and it would suck defenses in so we'd score at the basket or get to the free throw line and when (the defense) would help we'd have more time to shoot. We've got to get better, we've got to find some other guys who can create at the basket with drives or with post (moves)."
The Chippewas were the preseason favorite in the Mid-American Conference and were ranked eighth in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 entering the tournament.
"We're not a great team right now," Davis said. "We're a work in progress trying to find our way due to some injuries and we'll get better. But that (performance) wasn't what you would expect out of our team even with what we've gone through.
"I'm optimistic about this group and I always have been and I continue to be even on a night where we'd like to burn the tape."
