Exhibition games used to fix problems for men’s basketball

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Exhibition games are played for a reason.

The Central Michigan men’s basketball team used its two exhibition games to find out what works and what doesn’t.

And if it didn’t work, the team wants it fixed before Saturday’s opener against Ferris State at 7 p.m. Saturday in McGuirk Arena.

“Our toughness is very much in question right now,” said head coach Ernie Zeigler. “We addressed it in our film session and our practice. When I say our toughness, I say our rebounding. Overall defensively, we need to get better with our scheme and pressure the ball and contest shots. We have a ways to go there. That’s what the exhibition games are for.”

CMU won both its exhibitions games, winning 93-36 against Marygrove on Nov. 2 and 90-82 against Northern Michigan on Saturday.

The Chippewas implemented a more run-and-gun offense, looking to push the ball up the floor with freshman point guard Austin McBroom.

Two 90-plus scoring games is evidence the offense has worked early.

“I’m very comfortable, I like running,” said guard Derek Jackson. “We got more guys and are deeper this year. Everybody can shoot, so us getting the ball up the court is going to benefit us well this year.”

Trey Zeigler went 6-for-13 from the free-throw line in the exhibition season. He is someone who can get to the basket, almost at will, so knocking down free throws could be critical in late-game situations.

Ernie doesn’t expect it to be a long-lasting problem, but said it is a concern.

“It’s a concern because he’s put in the time and I think it’s more mental than it is anything else,” he said. “He’s in the gym, shooting 200 free throws. It’s about repetition, 200 free throws a night and he’ll have shot over a 1,000 free throws by the time he plays his next game. I know he’ll be able to step up and knock’em down.”