Game 23- Central Michigan

[clarkwgriswold]

The Chippewas come to the JAR Tuesday night to face the first place Zips. 

 

The Chips are 12-9/7-2 headed into today's contest at Bowling Green.  After that game I'll update the thread. 

 

 

[Westie]

Hopefully Ali Ali is ok after rolling the ankle late in the Toledo game. Glad they have the extra day off.

[GP1]

Second game in a three game stretch against strong opponents is good tournament prep. 

[LoyalZIP]

15 minutes ago, Westie said:

Hopefully Ali Ali is ok after rolling the ankle late in the Toledo game. Glad they have the extra day off.

That was nasty. I can’t imagine what it felt like when he woke up this morning. Gonna be a long day in the training room. 

[NWAkron]

30 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

That was nasty. I can’t imagine what it felt like when he woke up this morning. Gonna be a long day in the training room. 

He kept retying is shoe lace to tighten the shoe and give his ankle support.  remember, Tribble had an ankle injury right before the 2022 tournament.

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, GP1 said:

Second game in a three game stretch against strong opponents is good tournament prep. 

I'm still not buying CMU. Akron is clearly the class of the MAC this season. Toledo is good enough to challenge. After that I feel it's a huge drop off to everyone else. Someone has to be in 3rd place.

[Westie]

A.A. did a postgame interview with Freeman and he didn’t seem troubled about anything but Groce said they would have to see how he feels tomorrow (meaning today). 
 

Groce also said they are still hopeful about getting N. Johnson back before the end of season. That would be a huge addition. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Central is not a good team. They've taken advantage of the weakest MAC I can remember to put themselves in 3rd in the conference, but their record is 12-9 (5-7 outside the MAC) and rightfully so. 

 

- 10 pt loss to the Fighting Terry Bowdens (ULM)

- 10 pt loss to the Fighting Corey Klubers (Stetson)

- 27 pt loss at the Suckeyes (nobody should lose to this Suckeyes team by 27)

- 45 pt loss to Creighton (the loss isn't bad, but a 45 pt deficit is embarrassing)

- 73-35 loss to the Fighting Sister Jeans (Loyola Chicago)

- 12 pt loss at home to Buffalo (who just lost by 30 to PCCC)

 

I don't want this to be a close game. 

[LoyalZIP]

CMU is 4th in the country in “Luck” on KenPom. Essentially, they win much more than expected based on the stats they produce. BG is 11th, Ohio is near the bottom. The 2019 Zips, who finished 108 in KenPom despite their record, were also near the bottom in luck. 

[clarkwgriswold]

CMU/BG in their second OT!

[zipsrule]

Central wins in 2OT, 77-76.

[Illini Zip]

Central Michigan is legit!!

[Westie]

BG shot 33% and it took two OTs to beat them. Zips play their game they’ll beat CMU by 12-15.

[LoyalZIP]

5 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Central Michigan is legit!!

They left it all out on the floor twice this week!

[zipsrule]

With the Central win, they move into the #2 seed.  Toledo falls to #3.

[Illini Zip]

4 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

They left it all out on the floor twice this week!

😂

[clarkwgriswold]

6'2" junior guard Anthony Pritchard, leads the Chipps at 14.6 ppg.  6'6" grad student guard Brian Taylor leads rebounding at 7.5 rpg while also being the team's second leading scorer at 12.5 ppg.  They are 10th in MAC offense at 68 ppg and 5th defense surrendering 71.7 ppg.

[LoyalZIP]

With the wild win yesterday, the Chips have moved into 2nd in the country in Luck on KenPom. 

 

In MAC play, they're 9th in offensive efficiency, but 2nd in defensive efficiency. Winning a pair of 2OT games in a week is impressive no matter who you are, the Zips won't be able to sleepwalk their way to a win like they have a couple times this year.

[Zippy87]

CMU has actually been pretty solid in MAC play. Key conference wins over Toledo, BG, and Kent so far. But also lost to Buffalo.

[clarkwgriswold]

I went back over their last three or four boxes and noticed that they played yesterday without Pritchard, their leading scorer, and Harding, their big man, only played 3 minutes.    Sophomore guard Paul McMillan stepped into the starting lineup and led the Chipps with 19 points, including the shot that took it to OT, though he was pretty inefficient at 7/21 from the field, 0/5 from 3 with 4 turnovers.  Pritchard suffered a foot injury in last week's game against NIU.

[clarkwgriswold]

I'd sure like to see more out of Sammy.  I expected him to be the Zips' 3rd scoring option, but other than in the WMU game when I thought he'd turned the corner, he's been inconsistent and generally underperformed in MAC play.  At this juncture, even with the 19 point game against Western, he's averaging 7.3 ppd and 3.5 rpg a game in MAC play.   I wouldn't be surprised to see his minutes decrease as Shammah and Tavari's increase.

[zippy5]

Is that point per disappointment?

[1981 grad]

2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I'd sure like to see more out of Sammy.  I expected him to be the Zips' 3rd scoring option, but other than in the WMU game when I thought he'd turned the corner, he's been inconsistent and generally underperformed in MAC play.  At this juncture, even with the 19 point game against Western, he's averaging 7.3 ppd and 3.5 rpg a game in MAC play.   I wouldn't be surprised to see his minutes decrease as Shammah and Tavari's increase.

I hope his parents visit at the end of the season and he turns it on like last year.

[clarkwgriswold]

We'll find out how good CMU really is tomorrow night but I have to give them credit.  They were picked to finish last in the MAC pre-season poll yet here we are half way through the season and they are tied for second place.  

[Hilltopper]

I think Sammy is playing fine. On Friday, when Riq got into foul trouble, he slid into that position and performed admirably.