Chastain: Confidence is important, but men's basketball needs to execute in MAC Tournament
Kevin McKay takes the floor before Central Michigan's Jan. 4 game against Miami (Ohio) in McGuirk Arena.
Central Michigan had not won a basketball game in over a month heading into its season finale against Western Michigan.
The Chippewas endured a nine-game losing streak after taking down Bowling Green 92-82 on Feb. 4 in McGuirk Arena. The Falcons and Chippewas were at the top of the Mid-American Conference standings at the time and CMU was on a fast track to a shot at the regular-season championship.
That fast track was quickly filled with proverbial potholes.
Falling behind by as many as 18 points to Buffalo in the first half on Feb. 7, the Chippewas battled back to take a lead late in that game, before ultimately falling 65-60.
Miscues throughout the first half caused the deficit and a few compounded mistakes from CMU in the second half gave the Bulls the win on their home floor.
On Feb. 11 in McGuirk Arena against Eastern Michigan, the game was a proverbial roller coaster where the Chippewas took a double-digit lead in the first half and led by seven at the break.
In the second half, the Eagles, who had just two conference wins at the time, clawed their way through the second half. Again, miscues from CMU allowed the Eagles to come all the way back. The Chippewas cut the EMU lead to two twice in the final minute, but could not close the deal.
For the majority of the next seven games, outside of games at Miami (Ohio) and Ball State, the Chippewas showed signs of life and had chances to win games – only to have the train come off the tracks late in games.
"It's just a couple little things here and there where we had a couple lapses of focus," said senior forward David DiLeo. "Losing shooters and getting away from the scouting report. If we can stick to the scouting report and stick to playing Central Michigan basketball for a full 40 (minutes), I don't think there's anyone in this conference we can't beat."
The first half of the Western Michigan game on Friday had the makings of another tally in the loss column for CMU. Given how the team had played in the previous month, it would be tough to argue against the thought.
While the Chippewas had a 33-29 lead going into the break, CMU shot just 31 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range. The Broncos also shot 31 percent but just 12 percent from long range.
Defensively speaking, the Chippewas played well by forcing 12 turnovers and allowing just 29 points. CMU kept tabs on WMU's Brandon Johnson, Michael Flowers, B. Artis White and Titus Wright throughout the first half and did so in the second half.
Offensively, CMU struggled in the first half. Outside of the shooting woes, the Chippewas committed eight turnovers and were outrebounded 26-22.
The turnovers were a critical part of the struggle in the early stages. Coach Keno Davis said many of the miscues were forced passes in transition.
"I'm sure everyone thought the halftime speech was about turnovers on the fast break," Davis said. "We want to run and we want to attack and we want an up-tempo game but we were going so fast that the ball was going the other direction and Western was scoring off of our miscues."
But in the second half, the Chippewas committed just four turnovers and shot 58 percent from the field and 56 percent from 3-point range to put WMU away and earn a win for the first time in over a month.
Throughout the conference season, CMU did not win four-straight games at any point. The Chippewas will have to do just that to win the MAC Tournament, and it starts Monday in Athens, Ohio.
"We didn't take care of business to get the home game or go straight to Cleveland so you have to go on the road," Davis said. "But you can't look backward, you can only look forward."
In the first half of the conference season, CMU was the leader – the best record, the best offensive output – and was poised for a special regular season.
But the nine-game losing streak that was finally snapped in the regular-season finale crushed CMU's dreams of a MAC regular-season title, a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament and a home game in the first round.
Going back to the nonconference season, the Chippewas lost four-straight games to teams that had made the NCAA Tournament in recent years before heading into MAC play. Davis repeated he wanted to help his team improve in those games although they were losses.
Davis said he wanted the tough stretch at the end of the nonconference season to prepare the team for the tough conference season.
After a disappointing nine-game skid, putting the past in the rearview mirror is exactly what CMU is going to have to do.
"I've got a lot of faith in this team," DiLeo said. "The nine-game losing streak wasn't ideal, but we started off 6-2 and I don't think that was a fluke. We have a lot of talent and we can compete with anyone."
It's no secret, the MAC is one of the most competitive conferences in the country. Any of the eight teams that advance to the quarterfinals in Cleveland have a legitimate shot to win the title.
DiLeo's confidence in his team goes beyond winning and losing. The senior said the team has been close in almost every game it has played in the conference season. With the ultracompetitive nature of the conference, and the fact CMU led the league out of the gate, the confidence is booming.
"We can be the ones cutting down the nets Saturday night in Cleveland," DiLeo said. "We (have) the talent to do it, we just have to take it one game at a time. We can't look too far ahead, we can't get too high or too low, if the other team goes on a run, we go on a run, we just have to stick to our game plan and play a full 40 minutes."
Senior guard Dallas Morgan said he has similar confidence in the team but is taking it game-by-game.
"Everybody's confidence is sky-high right now," Morgan said. "Going into (Ohio), if we can execute the game plan Coach Keno gives us, we know we can come out with the win."
While confidence is important to success, CMU needs to find a way to execute for a full 40 minutes.
When the Chippewas and Bobcats faced off for the first time this season on Feb. 18, Ohio was able to put together a strong effort and outscore CMU 50-36 second half. Ohio went on to win the game 77-69.
Despite having a lead at halftime, CMU made just one 3-pointer in the first half of that game and made three more in the second. The Chippewas ended the night shooting 18 percent (4-of-22) from the outside.
During the losing streak, Davis said he thought the team forced a lot of 3-pointers and that was why the Chippewas struggled in those close games.
"What you can't get in to is taking bad 3-point shots," Davis said. "I feel like in the past month, we took some poor shots."
That didn't beat Ohio last time, and it won't beat Ohio on Monday, either.
CMU has struggled on the road this season, too. The Chippewas are 2-14 away from McGuirk Arena with a win at Toledo on Jan. 14 and Western Michigan on Feb. 1.
"Our record on the road isn't the best," Morgan said. "But we can beat anybody once we play together as a team."
Yes, confidence is going to help CMU and earning the win over Western Michigan on Friday helped. But execution is going to be of the utmost importance and it starts Monday night against the Bobcats.
After all, it's March. It's do or die.
