Junior guard leads nation in scoring through first quarter of season
Though Marcus Keene stands at a mere 5-feet-9 inches tall, the Central Michigan men’s basketball junior guard makes his presence known in the scoring charts.
Through eight games, Keene leads the NCAA with an average of 30.4 points per game. After tying his career high with 36 points in the Chippewas’ 91-81 win over William & Mary on Tuesday, Keene remains at the top of college basketball’s scoring list.
The Youngstown State transfer exited Tuesday’s contest averaging 30.4 points per game, leading the next-closest scorer, Alec Peters of Valparaiso, by five points per game. Keene scored 23 points in the second half Tuesday, bolstering his average.
The San Antonio native has helped the Chippewas tally a 6-2 record to start the season.
“I honestly feel like I’m in a rhythm right now,” he said. “My teammates are finding me and I’m also creating for myself but right now it feels like I’m in a good rhythm and I’m going to stay with it.”
After playing high school basketball at Warren High School in San Antonio, Keene enrolled at Youngstown State, where he led the Penguins with 15.6 points per game in the 2014-15 season. He shot 167-of-372 from the field — good for 45 percent.
Following a physical altercation with a Youngstown State teammate, Keene decided to transfer to CMU after the 2015-16 season. He joined forces with former Texas high school opponent and senior guard Braylon Rayson of Dallas.
Rayson said he and Keene knew one of them would be the nation’s leading scorer this season — it was just a matter of who. Eight games into the season, Rayson said he is not jealous of his backcourt mate.
“It’s crazy he’s doing it,” Rayson said. “It’s like a dream come true.”
Keene was forced to sit out the entire 2015-16 season due to NCAA transfer rules. He was not allowed to travel with the team and could only participate in practice as a scout team player.
After watching CMU amass a 17-16 record from the sideline, Keene replaced former Mid-American Conference Player of the Year runner-up Chris Fowler at the point guard position.
He has been held below 30 points in only two games this year — a quarter of CMU’s games thus far. He scored 23 points in a win over Marygrove College on Nov. 17 before leaving with a lower body injury. He returned in the Chippewas’ next game against Pepperdine in the Lone Star Showcase in Cedar Park, Texas, and netted a career-high 36 point with family members in the audience.
While Keene has shown he is able to drive to the hoop against contact and knock down long-range 3-pointers, he said the key has not been changes to his game, but confidence in his ability.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself (and) in my shot to where I know I’m going to be shooting the ball a lot for our team. I know I can get going with a lot of shots like that,” Keene said. “It’s more just putting in a lot of work and confidence with me.”
Head Coach Keno Davis said he noticed in practice last season his squad had trouble defending Keene as a scout team player. However, as Keene’s name makes sound waves across the country, Davis said Keene can’t be expected to keep up at this pace every night.
“To be at the level that he’s at, it’s not even fair to think he can maintain that level,” Davis said. “He’s going to have great nights and he’s going to have subpar nights. That’s just a part of being a basketball player at any level, but it’s nice he’s been able to lead us to start out the season.”
Keene said he understands he has weapons such as Rayson and junior guard Josh Kozinski who can score as well.
“It’s not all about scoring with me,” Keene said. “I try to show people I can also play the point guard role. If teams start adjusting and not letting me score, (Rayson) is going to step up even more (and Kozinski) is going to step up even more. They can’t guard all of us. If they try to slow me down, they’re not going to slow (everybody else) down.”
Keene had chances to set his career high on Tuesday, but missed several free throws down the stretch. Keene said he wasn’t mad about missing out on a new career high, but for missing shots he knows he’ll need to make later in the season.
“I can’t miss those,” he said. “The reason why I can’t miss those (is) because when the games are closer and there’s one-and-one (free throws) that seal the deal, I’ve got to make those. That’s why I’m mad that I missed those free throws — for later on down the road.”
Keene is able to score, but he said his personality also separates him from the pack.
“I do get mad, but I also smile a lot because I feel like that makes the other team mad if I’m smiling and also scoring,” Keene said. “I like to smile but I do get mad sometimes too. That’s just me. I like to smile. I’m always smiling.”
Keene and the Chippewas face Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, at McGuirk Arena.
