Chippewas Home Thursday Night for Date with Marygrove
11/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (2-0) vs. MARYGROVE (1-7)
Thursday, November 17 • 7 p.m. • McGuirk Arena • Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Game Notes: Central Michigan | Marygrove
Watch: CSN Digital
Listen: Central Michigan IMG Sports Network
Live Stats:
Twitter: @CMUMensBball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - With so many new faces on the roster, the emphasis is internal rathe than on the opponent for the Central Michigan men's basketball team.
The Chippewas, 2-0 after an 86-74 victory at Tennessee Tech on Monday, play host to NAIA Marygrove on Thursday (7 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena before heading to the Lone Star Showcase in Austin, Texas next week.
Marygrove, located in Detroit, plays in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference. The Mustangs were 1-6 heading into a Wednesday night league game at Cornerstone in Grand Rapids. CMU and Marygrove have met once previously, in 2014 when the Chippewas equaled the program record for points in a game in a 127-44 victory.
CMU opened the season with a 117-53 victory over Indiana Kokomo, which defeated Marygrove, 87-81, just over two weeks ago.
CMU coach Keno Davis said it isn't the opponent or the final score that really matters at this point, but in finding the right combinations and identifying strengths and weaknesses.
"I think we're really in the improvement stage where we need to continue to get better, and rapidly," he said.
Marcus Keene, a junior guard who transferred from Youngstown State, has made a major splash in his first two games in a Chippewa uniform.
He ranks third nationally with 31 points per game and has made nearly 57 percent of his field goal attempts. He is shooting 46.2 percent (6-for-13) from 3-point range and is averaging 8 rebounds and a team-best 4.5 assists per. He had 10 boards in recording a double-double in the season-opening win over Kokomo.
"He's a special player, a guy who can put up stats in a hurry," Davis said. "And not just points, but rebounds, you see that with the double-figure rebounding he had in the opening game. You're going to see that with assists and you're going to see that in other areas as he continues to improve.
"The ball's going to be in his hands a lot. He's going to set guys up, he's going to score, he's going to do a lot of things."
Keene's backcourt mate, senior Braylon Rayson, hasn't gotten off to the scorching start that Keene has, but he is averaging 17.5 points per game - about a point better than he averaged a year ago - and if he has proven anything in his three-plus years as a Chippewa, it's that he's more than capable of igniting at any given time.
"You put (Keene) and Braylon Rayson together that's as tough of a backcourt to match up with as you might have in the country," Davis said.
Cecil Williams, another transfer in his first year as a Chippewa, has also impressed. The 6-foot-6 junior forward, who came from Moberly Area (Mo.) Community College, is averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds while logging 22.5 minutes per game. He has made 17 of his 20 free throw attempts.
While the likes of Keene and Rayson have garnered much of the attention, the Chippewas have gotten key contributions from freshmen Kevin McKay and David DiLeo, among many others.
McKay, a 6-4 ½ guard from Warren, posted a double-double (11 points, 15 rebounds) against Kokomo. DiLeo, a 6-7 ½ forward from Iowa City, has scored 10 and 17 points, respectively, in CMU's first two games, is averaging a team-high 8.5 rebounds, and made several key plays down the stretch in the Chippewas' win at Tennessee Tech.
"We're at a point early in the season where it's going to be a different guy each night who's going to step up," Davis said. "It's going to be a Kevin McKay in the opener, it's going to be a David DiLeo in the game against Tennessee Tech. It'll be somebody different against Marygrove."
