Men's Basketball Drops 74-64 Decision to Louisiana-Monroe

Saturday, November 11

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Noon

Central Michigan University

0-2,0-0MAC

Louisiana-Monroe

1-1,0-0Sun Belt

Team	1	2	F
ULM	38	36	74
Central Mich.	31	33	64

CMU Men's Basketball vs Louisiana-Monroe

Photo by: Jasper Warner '25 - @jasperwarnermedia

11/11/2023 3:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Anthony Pritchard leads CMU with 15 points, Markus Harding adds 14, Aidan Rubio finishes with 12 as Chippewas turn the ball over 19 times, allow 13 offensive rebounds.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Led by three double figure scorers—Nika Metskhvarishvili (16 points), Tyreese Watson (13 points), and Tyreke Locure (13 points) and 44.7 percent field goal shooting, Louisiana-Monroe built a sizeable first half lead and held off the Central Michigan men's basketball team to register a 74-64 win over the Chippewas Saturday afternoon at McGuirk Arena. The contest marked Central Michigan's home opener and first MAC-SBC Challenge contest of the year.

Louisiana-Monroe (1-1) converted 29-60 field goals (44.7 percent), grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, and finished the day with 12 steals. Meanwhile, Central Michigan turned the ball over 19 times and shot 40.7 percent (22-54) from the floor.

For the second consecutive game, Anthony Pritchard led Central Michigan with 15 points, his second straight double figure scoring game. Markus Harding notched a season-high 14 points, and Aidan Rubio added 12 on 4-8 3-point shooting. Jemal Davis finished the day with nine points in 19 minutes and Brian Taylor added eight points and nine rebounds.

"We are just not consistent enough," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "We did our jobs in spots. We can't win a game doing things in spots. Offense can come and go but on the offensive end of the floor, you cannot have 19 turnovers against a team that didn't press us one time. On the defensive end of the floor, we aren't getting consistent play."

Central Michigan (0-2) trailed by as many as 12 points (43-31) with 17:33 to play. CMU gradually cut the lead down to five points and then finally to two points (53-51) with 9:15 to play. The Chippewas went on a 6-0 run fueled by six points from Taylor, who converted a 3-point play on a driving layup, then hit a 3-pointer for a 53-51 deficit. That was as close as CMU came as ULM answered with a Jalen Bolden 3-pointer and a Metskhvarishvili 3-pointer to go back up eight points.

"Physically we got pushed around," Barbee said. "You look at the rebounds, we gave up 13 offensive rebounds. You look at our turnovers, we had 19, most of them we were getting knocked off our move and fumbling the ball and losing it. Some of it was decision making. We've got a young team. We've got to continue to make these guys cohesive and get them to play for each other on both ends of the floor. Your veteran players have to find a way to carry us while we're trying to figure this out at this level, and we're not getting nearly enough production and consistent play out of our veteran players."

From the opening tipoff, CMU built an eight-point lead (12-4) on a Rubio pull-up 3-pointer with 15:52 in the first half, but the Warhawks battled back with a 7-0 run. Louisiana-Monroe took command of the game when it used three consecutive CMU turnovers to go on an 11-0 first half run and take a 24-17 lead on a Makai Willis basket at the 6:37 mark. After a CMU turnover, Locure opened the run with a 3-pointer, following another turnover, Jacob Wilson scored on a layup, Locure gave the Warhawks a 20-17 lead after the third turnover. Willis hit a jumper and then followed with another jumper in the paint.

Louisiana-Monroe fended off the Chippewas the rest of the way in the first half, getting a 3-point play from Locure and turning another turnover into a Watson field goal. ULM led 38-31 at halftime after CMU turned the ball over 12 times and shot 39.1 percent (9-23), while the Warhawks concluded the half shooting 44.7 percent.

Central Michigan started the game with Pritchard, Cayden Vasko, Rubio, and Taylor at guards, while Markus Harding earned the start at center.

"We are too inconsistent," Barbee said. "We're inconsistent on the offensive end, decision-making, and execution. Defensively, we're not tough-minded enough, we're not physically or mentally tough enough. We're not aware, we're not alert, we don't communicate, and we're making a ton of mistakes that are self-inflicted. We've got to continue to grow and get better."

Central Michigan travels to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on Florida State (1-0) on Monday at 7 p.m. The game is being played as part of the Sunshine Slam event. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. on ESPN+/ACC Network Extra.

—CMU—