Men's basketball can claim No. 1 seed in MAC Tournament with win at Western Michigan
Attempting to keep distractions out of their heads and staying focused on the "one game at a time" mantra, members of the Central Michigan University men's basketball team head to Kalamazoo tonight with a chance to end the season as the Mid-American Conference's top team.
The Chippewas (22-6, 12-5 in MAC) take on rival Western Michigan University at 7 p.m. today at Read Fieldhouse.
A victory against the Broncos gives CMU the outright MAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament next week. Regardless of CMU's game, a Bowling Green loss against Buffalo tonight would also guarantee the top seed for CMU.
Topping the University of Toledo 85-77 on Tuesday, the Chippewas claimed the MAC West Division title and clinched a share of the league's overall regular season championship.
With their ticket to Cleveland punched, the Chippewas say the postseason mindset as already set in.
“We want to play western like it is the tournament," said junior guard Chris Fowler. "If we start thinking ahead, we will miss a great opportunity. You never take any game for granted."
Fowler and fellow junior guard John Simons led the Chippewas to a 70-65 victory over the Broncos Feb. 7 in front of McGuirk Arena’s first capacity crowd (5,350) since its opening night. CMU outscored WMU 40-26 in the second half to complete the second-half comeback.
“We got off to a slow start the last time we played them," Simons said. "We can’t get ourselves down in a hole like we did last time. On the road it is a lot harder to dig out of a hole than it is at home."
Simons’ eight 3-pointers Tuesday against Toledo was the most by any MAC player this year. Simons is first in the MAC, hitting 46.3 percent of his 3-pointers and second with 82 made threes.
Before CMU's Feb. 7 win against WMU, the Broncos had won four straight against the Chippewas and third-year Head Coach Keno Davis was winless against CMU's biggest conference rival.
The Chippewas have already surpassed the amount of wins this season (22) that Davis had during his first two years in Mount Pleasant.
"We have accomplished a lot and we should enjoy that," Davis said. "I’m not as focused on the win or loss on Friday as I am making sure that we have the same effort we had on Tuesday night (against Toledo). It’s been a good method for us so far and I don’t see any need to change it now."
CMU has more than 22 wins just once since 1968 (2003) and only three times since the program began in 1907-1908.
CMU and WMU have played each other in the regular season finale each year since 2010-2011. WMU has won three of the past four regular season finales between the two teams.
The Chippewas say crunch time has officially arrived.
"No matter when the season ends, we are closer to the end than we are the beginning now," Fowler said. "We know we are guaranteed at least one more game, and that's Friday."
