CMU men's basketball needs winning road record in MAC to get over hump
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — People don’t often look at going 1-1 in a two-game stretch as entirely positive.
But for CMU men’s basketball, it is just what it needed to stay on course.
The Chippewas’ win Saturday in Bowling Green splits the team’s two-game road trip against the Falcons and the Miami RedHawks, who they lost to Thursday. Saturday’s win helped the team maintain its lead in the MAC West and pushed its MAC road record to 2-2.
Playing on the road in college basketball is often a death sentence. In the Mid-American Conference, only two teams have winning conference records on the road. CMU is one of five MAC teams with a .500 record on the road in MAC play.
But a .500 record on the road for CMU means a lot more because it plays in the MAC West.
Only Northern Illinois has a winning conference record on the road in the MAC West, and CMU and BSU are the only other schools in the division with a .500 or better record on the road in league play.
Adding to the mix is the conference’s crossover play right now, where each MAC West team plays each MAC East team. Last season, the MAC West went 1-17 on the road against the East.
CMU went 0-3 on the road during that time and ended up tying for the MAC West divisional title, something it could have won outright if it won just one MAC East road game.
The team has shown improvements. Last year, the team went 2-6 on the road in the MAC and 0-3 against the East. The team has already won two MAC road games (2-2) and has already won a road game against a MAC East school.
The team’s ability to win on the road will be the deciding factor in whether it wins the MAC West this year, and the team knows that.
“It’s going to put us in position to continue to fight to be at the top of the conference and the division,” said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler after Saturday’s victory.
Zeigler credits his veterans, such as seniors Jordan Bitzer, Robbie Harman and Chris Kellermann, for keeping the team together when playing in hostile environments.
“It’s a different type of focus you have to have on the road because it’s just you against everybody else in the arena, and you kind of have to create your own energy,” Bitzer said.
The team can take care of business at home (and they will have to on this upcoming three-game home stretch against MAC East teams). The team has had winning conference home records the past two seasons and is 3-0 in the conference this season.
What will make the difference will be if it can have a winning record on the road, something the team has not done in Zeigler’s tenure at CMU. The team went 4-4, 2-6 and 2-6 in Zeigler’s first three seasons.
A winning road record this year will be the deciding factor to whether CMU can get over the hump.
