Men’s basketball heads to Akron with confidence
Eight of the 12 Mid-American Conference men’s basketball teams are deadlocked at the top of the standings with a 2-1 conference record.
Two of those teams—Central Michigan University and Akron University—will face off on Saturday night at James A. Rhodes Arena, which claimed the third-largest average home crowd in the MAC earlier this season.
The Chippewas ended a six-game losing streak to Miami (Ohio) Wednesday in dominant fashion, and will look to end a seven-game losing streak to the MAC East powerhouse.
“It seems like they’re good every year and wouldn’t expect it to be any different this year,” Head Coach Keno Davis said. “To get a win on the road on the conference is tough this year.”
McGuirk Arena hosted 2,724 people on Wednesday night. Akron has already brought in over 28,000 total fans in its 10 games this season, second only to Ohio and Toledo.
The Chippewas were not rattled in their MAC opener at Toledo, where the attendance was 4,584. Davis said that is a testament to the maturity of his squad.
“Even though you think of us as a veteran team with one senior and a lot of juniors, we still have a lot of youth,” Davis said. “I’d love to see the shooting display that we put on (Wednesday), but more so I’d like to see the effort and the drive be there each and every night even on the nights when the shooting is not as good.”
Akron has finished first or second in the MAC East the past three seasons.
The Chippewas are second in the country in scoring, but Davis believes the defensive improvements have made the biggest difference this year.
“The thing that is going well is the offense,” Davis said. “The thing that has allowed us to be 12-2 is that we’ve gone from a poor defensive team to an average defensive team from last year to this year.”
Junior forward John Simons, the team’s leading rebounder, said the rebounding letdowns are one of the main aspects standing in the Chippewas’ way.
“We’ve lost a couple of games this year because of rebounding,” Simons said. “I think inside this gym, inside our locker room, we’ve always had high expectations and high goals for ourselves.”
CMU ranks sixth in the conference in scoring defense.
“I believe in all 18 of my teammates that we can sit down and get stops when we need them and rebound the ball,” said junior guard Rayshawn Simmons. “Sometimes we’re not as focused as we need to be, but I definitely believe in everybody.”
