Men's basketball shows bench depth in early season
Freshman guard Matt Beachler drives to basket on Dec. 5 in McGuirk Arena.
Keno Davis will be the first to tell you his starters in game one will start the remainder of the season.
However, the 2018-19 group of bench players may shake things up. With the depth of the 2018-19 team, Davis has a few different options off of the bench — something that he is not always used to.
For past three seasons — barring injuries — Davis’ starting five remained the starters for the entire season. This year, he said, things could go differently.
“We can win with the guys who are nine, ten and eleven on our depth chart,” Davis said. “The big leads aren’t the only reason we’re putting guys off the bench in, we want them getting experience with the top group so when their number is called they can be ready.”
In the Chippewas (2-0) 101-60 win over Chicago State, more than 50 percent of their scoring came from the bench.
Matt Beachler found himself open in transition, which led to a career-high 16 points. Transfer forward Romelo Burrell went 4-of-7 from the field and added 11 points. Transfer guard Dallas Morgan knocked home a pair of 3-pointers while adding 10 points. Redshirt sophomore Innocent Nwoko added seven points with four rebounds.
All of them totaled 10 minutes or more of game action.
“A lot of nights we can have five players scoring in double figures but good luck guessing who they will be,” Davis said. “You might figure it’s our top scorers but (against CSU) it’s three guys off the bench. They are continuously developing their game.”
In the 2017-18 season, junior guard Kevin McKay (27.1) and former transfer guard Gavin Peppers (13.3) averaged double figures in minutes per contest. While it’s early in the year, four players off the Chippewas bench have more than 10 minutes per outing.
Leading that group is Beachler who is averaging 20 minutes and 10.5 points per game. Beachler averaged only nine minutes per game last season.
Beachler said the depth of CMU allows the entire to team to play to its full ability the entire game.
“Defensively we’re able to apply more pressure and the overall energy level is so high right now,” Beachler said. “Knowing we have guys behind (the starters) who can come in and play really helps.”
Even with transfer forward Kevin Hamlet sidelined due to an ankle injury, CMU is rotating in three forwards with starter Rob Montgomery, Burrell and Nwoko. Hamlet is expected to be added in the mix when healthy.
Nwoko feels that having a rotation like they do keeps them fresh.
“We really work well together every week at practice and it’s showing in games,” Nwoko said. “It makes less pressure on us. I’ve been able to work a lot on my own game and make it better every day with them from my jump hook on offense to boxing out on defense.”
Junior guard Matty Smith, who backed up high-scorer Marcus Keene, said the whole team feels very connected. He’s willing to do whatever is asked of him.
“If coach wants me to go in for 15 minutes and make passes I’m going to do that, if he needs to me to score I’ll score,” Smith said. “I feel like we are a more complete team than we’ve had in the past.”
Davis said everyday in practice the backups get a chance to show how they can earn more minutes. So far, they’ve done nothing but fight for more of them which is a good thing in his eyes.
“They are getting their feet wet and when we have close games they have been in before which is what we need,” Davis said. “You can expect these guys to fight for more playing time every week which can only lead to better things.”
