Men's basketball takes on Kent State in first round of MAC Tournament
Win four games in six days — that is what the Central Michigan men’s basketball team must do to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament and make the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 11 seed Chippewas will take on No. 6 seed Kent State in the first round of the tournament Monday night at the Memorial Athletic Convocation Center in Kent, Ohio. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
The Chippewas won at KSU, 105-98 in overtime back on Jan. 28. Junior Marcus Keene scored a game-high 41 points and led Central Michigan to its third-straight win and fourth in five games.
Since then, however, the two teams have gone in completely different directions.
Central Michigan (16-15, 6-12 MAC) backed into the tournament, losing its last seven games and four straight at home. During the losing streak, CMU was out-scored by an average of 12.7 points and was seemingly dominated in every statistical category.
After being tied for first place in the MAC West Division just two weeks ago, CMU finished in sixth place — where it was predicted to finish in the preseason.
The Golden Flashes (18-13, 10-8 MAC) on the other hand enter winning five of their last six games and playing some of their best basketball of the season.
Kent State won at Akron, Buffalo and Bowling Green on its way to a fourth-place finish the in the MAC East.
KSU is led by senior forward Jimmy Hall, who averaged 18.2 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. The MAC’s fifth-highest scorer went for 28 points in the team’s only meeting this season.
The Chippewas bring in the MAC’s top scoring offense (87.7) and third in the nation, while the Golden Flashes enter with the top rebounding unit in the conference (40.6).
Kent State is a nine-point favorite over Central Michigan, per Oddshark.com.
If Central Michigan defeats Kent State Monday night, it advances to the quarterfinal round at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
The Chippewas would then play the No. 3 seed Buffalo Bulls, who swept CMU this season.
Last year, Central Michigan was upset by Bowling Green in the quarterfinals and went on to lose to Tennessee Martin in the First Round of the Collegeinsider.com Tournament.
The Chippewas fell to Buffalo in the MAC Tournament Championship in 2015 and haven’t won it since 2003.
