Northern Illinois hands men's basketball worst loss in MAC play, 89-66
Northern Illinois proved Tuesday night why it is known as one of the top defensive teams in the Mid-American Conference.
Coming in on a three-game losing streak, the Central Michigan men’s basketball team had a chance to rebound against the visiting Huskies.
CMU, however, was out-hustled, out-manned and out-played from the start and lost, 89-66 to NIU in front of 2,531 fans at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas fell to 16-12 on the season and 6-9 in MAC play. Its fourth-straight loss pushes CMU to fifth place in the MAC West Division and eliminates it from any chance at a third-straight division title.
The Chippewas appeared physically drained from the get-go, especially after going to overtime just three days ago against Ball State.
Head coach Keno Davis didn’t acknowledge if there was a correlation between the two and said he is unsure what led to the team’s performance.
“I don’t have an answer for it, only that I have the belief that it isn’t something that is going to lapse into our next game," Davis said. "It wasn’t our best showing by far, but we know there’s more basketball to be played. We've got to be able to move past this. I know it was a tough couple losses before this game, but our guys are excited about the post-season.”
The 23-point defeat was the largest margin of defeat of the season and largest home loss since falling by 19 to Eastern Michigan Jan. 6, 2016.
Shots Not Falling
Central Michigan shot a mere 26 percent in the first half and shot 3-of-20 from the field. Ten minutes in and the Huskies were already up 32-16.
The Chippewas continued to play catch-up after that and could never get the deficit down to single digits. CMU shot 35 percent for the game and only 24 percent beyond the 3-point line. NIU dominated the paint — outscoring CMU 50-20 — on its way to a 55 percent shooting night.
“I feel like we just weren’t ourselves tonight," said senior guard Braylon Rayson. "We just didn’t make any shots and we didn’t hit the ones we usually make. Tonight was just a punch in the mouth and we need to wake up.”
Rayson struggled on the night, only scoring 10 points on 2-of-8 shooting, but broke the CMU 3-point career record in the first half. The record was previously set by former Chippewa John Simons last season.
After notching his six 40-point game of the season against Ball State Saturday, junior Marcus Keene scored 18 points Tuesday night on 4-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 from 3-point range. The nation’s leading scorer shot 9-for-10 from the free throw line and added four rebounds and two assists.
Junior Cecil Williams had his second straight strong performance with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The junior college transfer was arguably the most aggressive CMU player as he continuously attacked the glass and got to the free throw line five times — shooting 6 -of-10.
“I feel like I’m getting more comfortable in my role and just trying to play hard and take what the defense give me,” Williams said. “I try to focus more on defense first. Coming from (Moberly Area Community College), you really have to focus on defense and I’ve tried to come up here and do the same thing.”
What’s Next
The Chippewas take on Toledo at 6 p.m. Friday in Ohio.
