Beating the best: Chippewas aim to vanquish top two MAC teams in one week
Though the Chippewas are 1-0 against Akron this season, the history books don’t favor the Central Michigan men’s basketball team.
The Akron Zips have won their past 12 games at home, dating back to last season. The Zips haven’t lost a home game to CMU since Feb. 8, 2003 — two seasons before Keith Dambrot took over as the head coach in Akron.
Friday night’s matchup between the Zips (18-4, 7-2 Mid-American Conference) and the Chippewas (13-9, 6-3 MAC) features the teams with the best records in the conference.
“If you’re not looking forward to playing Akron, playing on TV (and) playing for the top seed in the tournament, then you’re not a competitor,” said Head Coach Keno Davis. “And we’ve got a bunch of competitors on our team. We know it’s going to be a tough test. Arguably, Akron’s the toughest place to go in and win.”
CMU hit 25-of-28 free throw attempts to upset Akron on Jan. 12, despite making 5-of-20 3-point attempts. The Chippewas had one of their best 3-point shooting nights in Tuesday’s 88-61 win over Kent State, hitting 14-of-29.
Akron specializes in the perimeter game, having the highest 3-point field goal percentage (38.7 percent) and allowing the lowest 3-point field goal percentage (27.4 percent) to other teams.
Senior guard Chris Fowler said rebounding was the team’s biggest issue Tuesday.
“Since I am going to nitpick, we got outrebounded by eight and I only had two,” Fowler said. “I think I left my big guys out to dry a little bit too much. That’s something I’ll watch film on and get corrected.”
The Golden Flashes outrebounded CMU 35-27, although the Chippewas earned the slight edge in the second half.
The MAC has three teams in the top 100 in RPI (ratings percentage index), with Akron at 65, Kent State at 85 and Ohio at 94. CMU is 3-0 against those three teams.
Primetime
The MAC has featured one game per week this season in the Friday night slot to increase exposure. This is CMU’s first appearance in the early game.
“By moving that game to Friday, when there’s not as many college games to watch on TV, we’re getting more exposure for our league,” Davis said. “That’s important.”
Senior forward John Simons — who will break Robbie Harmon’s CMU career record of 233 3-pointers on his next 3-point make — said he’s watched most of the Friday games this conference season. He noted the quicker turnaround as the biggest difference.
“It’s kind of like going back to high school,” Simons said. “I think in high school, we played on Tuesday’s and Friday’s. It’s more about the quick turnaround. It’s just like the quick turnaround that we have from a Saturday game to a Tuesday game.”
The game begins at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
Coaching against the former CMU coach
Dambrot began at CMU when he was 33, leading the Chippewas for two seasons from 1991-1993. He amassed a 20-34 record and a 10-24 mark in conference play. The last time CMU beat Akron twice in one season was in 1994 — the year after — when CMU went 5-21.
Dambrot was fired after using a racial slur in the locker room, although he said he received permission from his players before using it. Dambrot went on to St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron to coach Lebron James and win a pair of state championships.
He became an assistant coach with the Akron Zips in 2001 and was promoted to the head coach position in 2004. He has led his team to three NCAA Tournaments and has at least 19 victories in all 11 seasons.
Dambrot is 12-2 against CMU as Akron’s head coach.
“Whenever you come back to a place that you coached before, there’s a little bit different feeling when you first go back,” Davis said. “But I think over time, that tends to wear off. There’s so many changes from administration to athletics of who’s around.”
With three senior post players and a core of young guards, Dambrot has positioned his team to make another run into the postseason.
“He’s obviously had a lot of success,” Davis said. “I think it comes from him having a style. When you talk about Akron basketball, it’s easy to summarize what they’re about and how they win games. And that’s a credit to what they’ve been able to do there, not just in a short amount of time but for the long term as well.”
Akron and CMU were predicted to win their respective divisions in the MAC Preseason Media Poll. Even after an uncertain beginning to the season for CMU, both schools sit alone atop their divisions halfway through the MAC season.
“I don’t think there’s one team to beat in the MAC. And that’s not just coachspeak,” Davis said. “I really believe there’s probably seven or eight teams right now that could have a realistic thought of winning the league. Fortunately, I think we’re one of those seven or eight.”
Nevertheless, if current trends continue, there’s a very real chance Friday’s matchup between CMU and Akron won’t be the last of the season.
