Men's basketball opens with Princeton Saturday
The CMU men’s basketball team will face a familiar foe when it opens its regular season Saturday.
For the second consecutive season, the Chippewas will open their season against Princeton. The game starts at noon in Rose Arena.
The two teams played each other last season in Princeton, with CMU winning 55-53. Senior forward Chris Kellermann led the Chippewas with 28 points and 13 rebounds.
Princeton returns four of the five players that started last year against CMU and eight of the 10 players that played in that game.
“They just have a great nucleus of guys that understand their system,” said coach Ernie Zeigler. “We’re going to be playing against a veteran team that has similar aspirations as us — to compete for a conference title.”
Key returners for the Tigers are guards Douglas Davis and Dan Mavraides. Davis averaged 12.3 points per game last year and Mavraides averaged 10.3. Davis had 25 points against CMU in his first collegiate game. The team brings back its top nine scorers from last season.
“They have a very experience lineup, returning all their key players from last season,” Zeigler said.
CMU held Princeton to just 37.3 percent shooting in last year’s victory. But Zeigler said containing the Tigers will be a tough task. Princeton led the Ivy League last season in 3-point shooting (37 percent).
“Princeton presents a challenge because they are such a good 3-point shooting team,” Zeigler said.
CMU is coming off two defensive efforts where it held opponents to less than 30 percent shooting in each preseason game. The Chippewas held Marygrove to 27.5 percent shooting Nov. 1 and Indiana-South Bend to 27 percent Nov. 7.
Beyond all the statistics, Zeigler said he is hoping to have a significant home-court advantage this year when playing the Tigers.
“Hopefully, the friendly confines of the Rose Center will allow us to lean on the energy of our fans,” he said.
Kellermann, senior guards Robbie Harman and Jordan Bitzer, junior center Marko Spica and junior forward Jalin Thomas are expected to start Saturday.
Injuries
Just like last year, CMU will go into its game with Princeton with injuries. Sophomore guard Antonio Weary is out with a broken bone in his hand and junior guard Amir Rashid also will be out an extended period of time.
Freshman center Will McClure is day-to-day with an unspecified injury. Freshman center Sean Day left the program this week for personal reasons, Zeigler said.
