Back to Business for CMU Men
11/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (1-0) at TENNESSEE TECH (0-1)
Monday, November 14 • 8:30 p.m. ET • Hooper Eblen Center • Cookeville, Tenn.
Game Notes: Central Michigan | Tennessee Tech
Watch: OVC Digital Network
Listen: Central Michigan IMG Sports Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Twitter: @CMUMensBball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The coming out party could not have gone much better.
Three nights later, it's back to business.
The Central Michigan men's basketball team will play at Tennessee Tech in a nonleague game Monday (8:30 p.m.), just three nights after putting on a fireworks show in a 117-53 victory over Indiana Kokomo.
Four Chippewas posted double-doubles in that win, led by junior guard Marcus Keene, whose CMU debut included 32 points (on 11 of 18 shooting) and 10 rebounds. The 117 points is tied for the seventh-highest in Chippewa history.
"To open our season with a home game, get a nice crowd, the community and the students, our guys fed off of that," fifth-year CMU coach Keno Davis said. "We got better from the experience of playing that game."
Tennessee Tech will almost certainly provide a stiffer test, and it will give Davis and his staff a better gauge of where this Chippewa team is, and where it may eventually be.
The Golden Eagles dropped their season-opener to Georgia Tech, 70-55. They trailed by just three points at halftime, and the game was tight until the Yellowjackets pulled away late.
"We know we've got a formidable opponent that we're going to be playing against," Davis said. "Both teams are young. They graduated a lot, as did we. We're both trying to find our way in the early season.
"They were 14-1 on their home court last season. We know we're going to have to play very well to win."
The Golden Eagles graduated their top two scorers from a team that last season finished 19-12, including 11-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference, and played in the postseason Vegas 16 Tournament.
Their third- and fourth-leading scorers from a year ago, guards Aleksa Jugovic (12.1 points) and Hakeem Rogers (9.9), are back. Micaiah Henry, a 6-foot-9 redshirt freshman, led Tech with 15 points against Georgia Tech.
Jugovic was named to the Preaseason All-OVC Team. The Golden Eagles were picked to finish fourth in the East Division of the OVC in the preseason poll.
Braylon Rayson (17 points, 10 rebounds), Cecil Williams (16, 10) and Kevin McKay (11, 15) also posted double-double totals in the Chippewas' win over Kokomo. CMU held a 72-32 rebounding edge in the game.
"I like how hard that we play," Davis said. "I think that seems a given that every team should play extremely hard, but you never really know until you put a group together if you're going to play with that kind of intensity."
Twelve Chippewas played in the opener, not surprising given the margin of victory, and nine played at least 15 minutes. Davis may not typically go that deeply into his bench this season, but he and his staff are taking a good long look at everybody, including senior Blake Hibbitts, who figures to start or be one of the top reserves off the bench.
Hibbitts, recovering from a knee injury, did not play against Kokomo and will be a game-time decision against Tennessee Tech, Davis said.
"We're playing 10 deep right now and last year with our injuries, we were playing seven and it would wear you down from game to game, and within a game," he said. "To win over a whole season you need to have more than seven players. It's ideal to have nine or 10 players who can contribute.
"We have great depth and not just (players) one through 10. You look at 11 through 15 and there's not much separation on our team. What that does is that gives us an opportunity to get better each and every day in practice. We've got other guys who we think are going to be really good players at CMU down the line."
