Keno Davis, veteran frontcourt leads Central Michigan into 2019-20 season
Losing starting guards Larry Austin Jr. and Shawn Roundtree Jr. would hurt almost any team in the Mid-American Conference.
Austin scored 17.5 points per game while Roundtree had 16.6 points per game. They were the offensive catalysts last year.
While the void left by the two guards will assuredly be felt by the Central Michigan men's basketball team in the 2019-20 season, the returners are set to carry the proverbial torch in their senior year.
Forwards David DiLeo and Rob Montgomery, along with guard Kevin McKay, return to the starting lineup, and they all bring a double digit scoring average.
DiLeo led the group with 12.1 points per game, McKay 11.3 and Montgomery 10.8.
Coming off the bench, Central Michigan returns senior guard Dallas Morgan. He averaged 8.1 points per game and hit 64 3-pointers acting as the sixth man for the Chippewas.
Junior guard Matt Beachler came in and made momentum-changing 3-pointers for CMU, especially towards the end of the season.
Eighth-year coach Keno Davis has been known to bring a heavy crop of transfers to the program and has done so again this season.
Junior guards Travon Broadway Jr. and Devontae Lane come in from the community college ranks.
Broadway played at two different community colleges, most recently at Iowa Western Community College after averaging 16.6 points per game and shooting 73.3% from the free throw line.
Lane comes from Indian Hills Community College, the same school as Montgomery, after playing two seasons for the Warriors. He shot 43.4% from the field, 33.8% from outside and 72.4% from the free throw line.
Both Broadway and Lane will start for the Chippewas.
A third junior guard, Deschon Winston, comes to Mount Pleasant from playing in two schools in California.
Winston started his career at Cal, appearing in 25 games for the Golden Bears.
Last season, he led City College of San Francisco to a state championship appearance. He averaged 13.1 points and shot 40.8% from the field and 75.5% from the free throw line.
Davis has 121 wins in seven years at CMU and made a run at the MAC Tournament last season before falling to Buffalo in the semifinals.
The coach said that a winning tradition of Chippewa basketball is what brings people in.
"We've got a style of basketball that's attractive for recruits to come and play," Davis said. "I think you're going to see us continue to become better year in and year out."
Central Michigan opens the season with four-straight home games in McGuirk Arena, beginning with Michigan-Dearborn (Nov. 5). I
n their nonconference schedule, the Chippewas travel to multiple NCAA Tournament regulars.
After the first four games, CMU heads to Minnesota (Nov. 21), Texas (Dec. 14), Robert Morris (Dec. 17) and Purdue (Dec. 28) just before the Chippewas open Mid-American Conference play.
"I'm looking forward to that," Montgomery said of the matchups. "It'll give us a good test and show us where we are. I'm just ready to get back playing.
"I'm excited for the whole season, there's nothing I'm not looking forward to."
