Men's basketball prepares for senior day showdown with Eastern Michigan
Seniors reflect on careers
Senior night brings with it a flurry of emotion, reflection and a chance to end one’s home career on a high note.
Four members of the Central Michigan men’s basketball team will play their final games at McGuirk Arena Tuesday night when the Chippewas host Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m.
Seniors Braylon Rayson, Blake Hibbits and walk-ons Tanner Beachnau and Cole Israelson will all take the court for the final time in their CMU careers.
The four players joined the program in head coach Keno Davis’ second year and were a part of the rebuilding process before helping the program win its first Mid-American Conference Championship since 2003.
Davis said he credits the four for the hard work they put in and effort they’ve given the team over the four years.
“They’ve been a part of us for four years and not just the success,” he said. “They were apart of the rebuilding process where it was about trying to be able to be competitive. I give these guys a lot of credit. They were apart of the hard work that went into building this program to where we are now.”
Reflecting on Success
Rayson, who is averaging 20.5 points per game this season, said he is happy with all he has accomplished in his four years and will treasure the experience.
“I’m going to miss this place and miss college basketball as a whole,” the Dallas, Texas native said. “It’s fun. It was a great legacy and that’s how I’m going to leave it. It was very different coming here from Dallas but I loved it.”
Rayson broke the program record for career 3-pointers against Northern Illinois and is third in career points scored (1,800).
The 5-foot-9 guard said he’s made several fond memories at CMU and wants to end his career without any regrets.
“Being able to get on the bus with my teammates after wins and after losses and just creating a bond with those guys,” he said. “Coming in for shoot around and all the 3 a.m. workouts — it’s going to be missed.
“I’ll never be able to put on a uniform in this arena again, so I have to make sure I go out just like Kobe did — no regrets.”
Hibbits missed all of last season due to an ankle injury and decided to come back for a fifth-year. The 6-foot-7, Hudsonville native, has played in every game this season and is averaging 1.8 points per game off the bench.
Hibbits, a 35 percent 3-point shooter, said the reality that this is his final home game hasn’t set in yet, but he is focused on ending the Chippewas’ five-game losing streak.
“Hasn’t really hit me yet. It’s been special, so I think I’m just going to go out there and try and have fun for my last game here and try and get that win,” he said. “(My highlights are) definitely the MAC Championship and just building relationships with some of my best friends for life.”
Davis grinned when thinking back on the careers of Rayson and Hibbits and said each has had a lasting impact on the program.
“With Braylon, I’ll miss his smile and his attitude. It was rare to see him down. I'll miss his scoring ability too,” Davis said laughingly. “I’ll remember Blake for the triple overtime win (in 2014) where he hits three 3s in the final 30 seconds.”
Strength on Strength
CMU (16-10, 6-10 MAC) enters Tuesday’s match-up with the No. 3 offense in the country (88.2 points per game) and top in the MAC. Eastern Michigan (14-15, 6-10) comes in with its unique zone defense, which leads the MAC in steals (10.03) and blocks (4.38) per game.
The Eagles dominated the Chippewas 85-63 on Jan. 3 in Ypsilanti. EMU forced CMU into a season-high 17 turnovers and limited junior Marcus Keene and Rayson to 22 and 15 points apiece, respectively.
Davis said Eastern Michigan’s zone defense is hard to play against, but team’s that find a way to get the ball in the paint have a chance to attack it.
“Sometimes teams fall into the trap of just playing on the perimeter shooting 3-point shots,” he said. “You can’t just play on the outside, you have to be able to attack getting to the basket and the high-post. When we’ve been able to do that against them, we’ve been successful.”
Hibbits said a win Tuesday would go a long way in turning around the Chippewas’ season.
“We’ve been struggling lately and need a win,” he said. “We’re on the bubble right now and if we win these last couple games we could get a home game. Either way it’s nice to get some momentum heading into the MAC Tournament."
Davis said sending his senior’s out with a win would be nice, but mostly hoping they continue the attitude they brought with them four years ago.
“You’re always going to remember your last home game so it sure would be nice to do it with a win,” he said. “But more importantly for the most part this season, we’ve had great effort and great attitude and that’s what I want those guys to go out just like they came in — with our team playing as hard as they could.”
