CMU Women, Men Tip It Up For Real On Tuesday

Tuesday, November 9

Mount Pleasant, MI

6 p.m.

Central Michigan University

Georgia Tech

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11/8/2021 5:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

A night of hardwood debuts for Central Michigan.

The Chippewas men's and women's basketball teams are set to tip off their respective seasons – seasons of major change for both programs -- on Tuesday night.

The Chippewa women are set to entertain 17^th-ranked Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. at McGuirk Arena. The CMU men go to Missouri for an 8 p.m. tipoff.

Both games figure to give CMU strong out-of-the-chute tests. The Tech women finished 17-9, 12-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

The Missouri men finished 16-10, 8-8 in the Southeastern Conference a year ago. Kobe Brown, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, is the Tigers' top returning talent. He averaged 8.0 points and was second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game a year ago.

The Yellow Jacket women downed Clayton State, 74-53, in an exhibition game last week. Sarah Bates and Eylia Love combined for 42 points to lead Tech. Bates is a senior who averaged 6.9 points in the 11 games she played last season when an injury ended her season in late January; Love is a 6-foot-1 sophomore who appeared in all 26 games a year ago

It marks the first time that the CMU women and Georgia Tech have met.

The Chippewa men and Missouri last met in the 2007-08 season opener. The Tigers won, 87-76.

The CMU women posted a 69-67 exhibition win over Saginaw Valley State last week. They return fulltime starters Molly Davis and Jahari Smith along with Anika Weekes, who saw ample playing time as the sixth person a year ago.

Davis, a junior guard, was named to the Preseason All-Mid-American Conference First Team after last season earning a spot on the all-conference first team in helping lead the Chippewas to the MAC Tournament championship.

While Davis, Smith, Weekes and senior Kalle Martinez give CMU coach Heather Oesterle a solid core around which to build, the Chippewas will have to learn without WNBA draftee Michaela "Twin" Kelly, the second all-time leading scorer in program history, and two program stalwarts Maddy Watters and Kyra Bussell. All three graduated.

The CMU men have even more question marks and shoes to fill under first-year coach Tony Barbee. Just four returnees are on the 16-man roster as Barbee lays a foundation and rebuilds from the ground up.

While their openers promise to provide both CMU squads a good gauge of where they are and how much work they need to do, the schedule remains ambitious for both.

The Chippewa women are scheduled to go to Valparaiso on Sunday, Nov. 14, and then entertain No. 11 Michigan at McGuirk Arena on Saturday, Nov. 20.

Tuesday's game at Missouri is the first of seven consecutive away from McGuirk Arena for the CMU men. Among the Chippewas' first seven opponents is No. 1-ranked Gonzaga (Nov. 22) and Kentucky (Nov. 29).