Be it his long, fro-like hair or his lanky, 6-foot-9, 222-pound frame on a men’s basketball team that’s biggest starter is 6-7 forward Will McClure. Whatever it is, Coimbra attracts the eye.

He had 9 minutes to do it Wednesday against Toledo — that’s all the time he got off the bench. But the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, native had no trouble stealing some of the spotlight, even with freshman teammate Trey Zeigler dropping 3-pointers like he was at practice facing no defense.

In the midst of a 16-3 CMU run, Coimbra’s two-handed dunk took the McGuirk Arena crowd to a new level. He found a seam in the lane, elevated and finished hard.

And as the Brazilian flag waved in the front row of an approving student section, a nod directly to the lone player on the team who grew up outside the United States, his teammates fed off it.

“Andre is just starting to scratch the surface, and he’s a guy who, even though he’s a junior college transfer and he’s not a typical freshman, he’s a first-year guy,” Ernie Zeigler said. “He’s definitely had his struggles with making the transition to Division I basketball and the demands that takes, and the demands that I have on him.

“He’s a guy that definitely can evolve and do much more than what we’ve even seen.”

Minutes after his dunk, the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M transfer followed the lead of Trey Zeigler and hit the tail end of back-to-back 3-pointers to cap off CMU’s run.

Forward starter Antonio Weary took his third foul with 14:25 remaining in the game, and Coimbra, who finished with a loud 7 points, and freshman Colin Voss added some necessary length to defend a taller Toledo frontcourt.

It’s bench contributions like this that may get CMU back to where it wants to be, somewhere north of their 4-11 start, and in contention to defend its Mid-American Conference West Division title.

The growth of Coimbra and Voss will allow senior forward Jalin Thomas to see time at small forward, a spot more fitting than his current duties matching up against other team’s bigs at power forward. That’s Ernie Zeigler’s plan, anyway.

But if depth is one issue, a suspect offense is another. Missed shots and a lack of ball movement have plagued CMU.

Senior point guard Amir Rashid did his best to jump-start the game plan against Toledo. His seven assists helped the Chippewas get 16 as a team; they haven’t reached that mark since Nov. 26 against South Alabama.

Ernie Zeigler took note.

“I thought Amir Rashid was absolutely excellent and really pushing the ball and putting guys in situations to be effective and score,” he said. “We hadn’t had 16 assists in probably the past three, four games combined.”

Even the star of the night, Trey Zeigler, was quick to dish the credit away.

“(My dad has) been stressing sharing the ball, and just making the right play,” he said. “You see Amir get seven assists and only three turnovers.”

But be cautious. Getting bench contributions — like the 23 minutes and three assists freshman guard Derek Jackson contributed — and some offensive success calls for only guarded optimism when its against 3-13 Toledo.

West leader Ball State (10-4) looms, as CMU plays the Cardinals on Sunday in Muncie, Ind.

Needless to say, a win is a win, and it was much needed for a team starving for something positive.

That positive energy came in a number of forms against the Rockets. It came in the form of Trey Zeigler’s career-high 30 points, and 16 assists as a team.

It also came in the form of a gigantic fro that garnered attention for 9 solid minutes.