Chippewa Men Welcome Northern Illinois On Tuesday Night

MOUNT PLEASANT. -- The Central Michigan men's basketball team looks to continue its hot start in the Mid-American Conference on Tuesday (7 p.m.) when it entertains Northern Illinois at McGuirk Arena.

Last Time Out
The Chippewas are 8-6 after defeating Miami (Ohio), 93-82, in their MAC opener on Saturday. Dallas Morgan sparked the Chippewas, scoring 19 of his 23 points in the second half as he made all five of his second-half 3-point attempts.

CMU is undefeated (8-0) at home this season.

Team Stats
CMU heads into Tuesday's game averaging 86.4 points per game, which is No. 2 in the country. Gonzaga, at 87.5 points per, leads the nation.

Defensively, CMU is forcing 17.6 turnovers per game, which is good for second in the MAC and No. 24 in the country. Ten of those 17.6 turnovers come off steals, which is the best in the MAC and ranks as No. 7 in the country.

Individual Stats
Kevin McKay leads CMU in scoring and rebounds with 14.9 and 6.0 per game, respectively. His 65.5 percent field goal percentage is good for No. 7 in the country and is first among guards.

McKay is one of four Chippewas scoring a double-figure clip. Senior David DiLeo averages 14.0 per game, while Dallas Morgan averages 13.6 and Rob Montgomery is at 11.8. Morgan is making 39.8 percent from 3-point range; he ranks eighth in the MAC in 3-point field goal percentage.

Devontae Lane leads CMU in assists with 4.2 per game. He ranks sixth in the MAC in that category.

Scouting
Northern Illinois is 8-6 and is coming off a 73-72 win over two-time defending MAC Tournament champion Buffalo in its league opener.

Northern Illinois' leading scorer is Eugene German, a 6-foot senior guard who leads the MAC in scoring with 20.7 points per game. He scored 26 points to lead the Huskies in their win over Buffalo and on Monday was named the MAC West Player of the Week.

German ranks 22nd in the country in scoring and is No. 2 in scoring in program history with 1,859 career points.

Lacey James, a 6-9, 240-pound senior, leads Northern Illinois in rebounds with 8.0 per game. He is the Huskies' second-leading scorer with 9.4 points per game. James had 18 points and 13 rebounds against the Bulls.

Team Depth
The Chippewas have used roster depth to their advantage throughout the season. Any number of players, starter or reserve, can have a major impact in any given game.

That was the case in the Chippewas' win at home on Saturday over Miami.

"I don't think we win (that game) without the depth," CMU coach Keno Davis said.

Davis has used his style of play, combined with the depth, to wear out opponents.

"We've worn teams out because of the style of play," Davis said. "Our thought is this year, not only do we have the style of play, but now we have the depth. We should be able to rotate guys in, use different forms of pressure, and be really aggressive on the offensive end.

"Maybe you saw our full court pressure (on Saturday) that I thought made some big plays. I think you'll see that some more as we play teams with shorter benches."

Next
The Chippewas will head to Kent, Ohio, for a game with Kent State on Saturday, Jan. 11 (3:30 p.m.). The Golden Flashes are 11-3, 1-0 MAC, and are the highest-ranked MAC (13^th) in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.

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Players Mentioned

David DiLeo

Devontae Lane

Kevin McKay

Rob Montgomery

Dallas Morgan

Central Michigan University Athletics