Central Michigan's fast break plan shocks Nate Oats, nearly upsets top-tier Buffalo
Nate Oats left his seat, jumped through the air and screamed as his Buffalo team pulled down an offensive rebound, a task that took three players against an undersized Central Michigan group.
"Great job, great job," Oats yelled.
The ball was corralled in by guard Jayvon Graves, who got fouled and went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to trim the deficit to 63-60 with 10:54 remaining in the game.
From that point on, Oats never sat. Usually, he has the ability to relax in his chair, as No. 18 Buffalo often rolls over opponents night in and night out.
That didn't happen Friday night. The Chippewas, led by coach Keno Davis, were heavy underdogs in it for war – much like the 1980 U.S. hockey team, Buster Douglas in 1990, the 2002 Oakland Athletics or the classic David vs. Goliath.
While all of those examples carried much greater weight than a Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal game, the point is that Central Michigan wasn't supposed to get close to a victory, but it almost pulled off a miraculous upset.
"The staff and players at Central were obviously ready to go," Oats, the MAC Coach of the Year, said. "They were more ready than we were and got a bunch of transition buckets on us."
Senior guard Larry Austin Jr. attacked the basket and knocked over his defender. Immediately following was an offensive foul, handing the ball back to Buffalo.
"Bullshit," Davis barked at the referee, asking for an explanation.
Graves scored a layup on the other end. At this point, the Chippewas were up by just one.
A lot of teams aim to defeat Buffalo by slowing down the entire pace of play, much like Akron attempted in its 82-46 loss to Buffalo in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. However, CMU ran with them to help keep things close.
"Their game plan was nice," Oats said of CMU. "Their transition offense was really good. We adjusted in the second half and kind of stopped their transition better than we did in the first half."
With 7:46 to go, guard Jeremy Harris sprayed a triple from the corner for Buffalo to go up by two points, 72-70. It was a rare 3-point make, as the Bulls finished a mere 6-of-32 from deep.
"Just like last year, Chippewas," said a member of Buffalo's fan section following the shot, referencing CMU's 89-74 loss to the Bulls in the 2018 MAC Tournament quarterfinals.
The quickness of Austin and fellow guard Shawn Roundtree Jr. were too much for the Bulls to handle at times, so the coaching staff decided to switch on everything, buckle down and play 1-on-1.
"Central Michigan guards are really, really quick, and sometimes they could really be trouble on the ball screen," said Buffalo star CJ Massinburg.
Poor defense left Buffalo senior guard Dontay Caruthers a wide open lane for a layup, taking a 74-72 edge. Junior forward David DiLeo launched an airball on a quickly shot 3-point attempt on the other end. Davis, in pure frustration, stared at the rafters as if he knew the battle was beginning to slip.
CMU kept fighting.
The Chippewas made it 76-76 on two free throws from Roundtree before a shot clock violation call, or lack thereof, hurt CMU's chance at an upset. The officials didn’t issue a violation on Massinburg’s missed shot, which resulted in an offensive rebound, foul and free throw.
However, many at Quicken Loans Arena, including Davis, thought the ball was still in Massinburg's hands when the shot clock sounded. If a call was made, CMU would've taken possession – negating Massinburg's free throw for a 77-76 margin with 2:23 to play.
"The explanation I got was that it was not a reviewable call unless the ball went in the basket, even though you see that reviewed all the time," Davis said. "So technically, the way it's written in the rule book, unless the ball goes through the basket, they can't technically look.
"What officials will say is we're looking for a timing error, and they'll always review it."
Buffalo fans, littered everywhere at the arena, were on their feet at the 1:36 mark. They aren't used to seeing the Bulls struggle to close out games.
Right after Buffalo fans started to go wild, DiLeo silenced them by drawing a charge on 6-foot-8, 250-pound Nick Perkins. Roundtree stole a floor mop from a kid underneath the basket to clean up the mess made by DiLeo's sweat, aiming to get the game going as quickly as possible to keep CMU's momentum rolling.
Layups from forward Rob Montgomery and Austin cut CMU's deficit to one-point at the 58-second and 23-second mark, respectively, but it wasn't enough.
Massinburg scored Buffalo's final nine points, including late free throws, to jump to the MAC Tournament championship with an 85-81 victory over the Chippewas.
"I thought CJ was huge," Oats said. "He doesn't miss many free throws, especially late in the game."
Montgomery led CMU with 17 points, followed by Austin (16), Roundtree (16), junior guard Kevin McKay (14) and DiLeo (10). The Chippewas shot a combined 10-of-26 from downtown but were outrebounded by 17.
When the final buzzer sounded, Massinburg embraced Caruthers and Perkins.
It's a game of surviving and advancing in March, and that's exactly what the Bulls did despite a run for their money.
