Men's basketball looks to improve defense as it battles inconsistent offense
The Central Michigan men's basketball team has been an offensive powerhouse in the Mid-American Conference in recent memory, earning the nickname "3MU" for its ability to shoot from beyond the arc at a high pace.
However, after a 5-of-20 performance from the 3-point line in a 72-49 win against Ohio on Saturday, the team is not consistently using the deep shot to control games.
Sophomore forward Luke Meyer said if the Chippewas take care of business on the defensive end, then the offense will take care of itself.
“Our focus all week in practice has been on the defensive end," Meyer said. "We just really wanted to go out and work as hard as we could on the defensive end.”
CMU held the highest-scoring offense in the MAC to 49 points and, despite shooting 25 percent from three, scored 72 points. Saturday's offensive output was the best for the Chippewas since a 92-81 home win against Akron on Jan. 12, when they also made 5-of-20 3-pointers.
The Chippewa defense, however, has given up as many as 99 points, as it did against Eastern Michigan in an 18-point home loss nearly a week earlier on Jan. 6.
“On nights where we gave up a lot of points, I continued to preach that we weren’t that bad defensively even though it seemed like that in the game," said Head Coach Keno Davis.
CMU entered Saturday fourth in scoring offense (77.3 points per game) in the MAC but last in scoring defense (75.1 per game). Following Saturday, CMU moved up to 10th of 12 teams in the MAC, now averaging 73.7 points per game.
The Chippewas have been outrebounded by just six, 687-681, but have forced teams to commit 207 turnovers.
In addition, CMU has 94 steals compared to its opponents' 85 and have outblocked its competition 52-40, which is good for 2.7 blocks per game.
CMU is ranked 10th in the MAC in rebounding margin (-0.8) and is ninth in both blocked shots (2.7 per game) and steals (5.0 per game).
Despite the Chippewas' defense showing significant strides, Davis said his team is not the best defense, but is "somewhere in the middle."
"More importantly is, can we continue to improve and work hard?" Davis said. "And if we do, then we can win games on our defense? Can we win games on our rebounding?"
CMU has been able to hold its own in rebounding despite Meyer calling himself "undersized" and sophomore forward DaRohn Scott being 6-foot-9. The small lineup CMU runs leads to more opportunities to collect the boards for the guards, including junior guard Braylon Rayson.
Rayson tied senior forward John Simons for a team-high seven rebounds on Saturday. Rayson, despite a 5-foot-9 frame, ranks fifth on the team with 3.6 rebounds per game.
“Guards have got to get in there and rebound," Rayson said, adding Davis stresses it in practice. "We knew (Ohio) had a pretty big lineup so we knew guards have to get in there and rebound and digs on up.”
Rayson, who leads the team in scoring with 16.8 points per game, leads the team with 20 steals while also placing in fourth in defensive rebounds with 2.9 per game.
The Dallas native said his "heightened awareness" on the floor comes with repetitions and playing hard.
Davis said he wants to continue to improve defensively as the MAC season continues to progress and added his team has focused less on pressure defense and more on solidifying its half-court defense.
“I don’t think I’ve seen any hesitancy from our guys to be able to really buy into what we’re trying to do," Davis said.
