Central Michigan faces Buffalo, look to remain undefeated at home
Central Michigan guard Dallas Morgan exits the tunnel before a game against Northern Illinois Jan. 7 at McGuirk Arena.
Arena lights cascaded the court at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, the site of last season's Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Central Michigan and Buffalo dueled in the tournament's semifinal for the right to play in the next night's championship game. Guards Shawn Roundtree Jr. and Larry Austin Jr. led the charge for the No. 5-seeded Chippewas against the top-seeded and No. 18-ranked Bulls.
Buffalo won the tightly-contested game, 85-81, and eventually defeated Bowling Green to secure its second consecutive conference title and earn the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Bulls advanced to the second round before falling to national runner-up, Texas Tech.
The Bulls also defeated the Chippewas in the regular season, 90-76, in Buffalo after the Chippewas took as much as an 18-point lead in the first half.
CMU and Buffalo square off at 2 p.m. Saturday in McGuirk Arena.
So far this season, the Bulls are 11-6 and opened up the conference season with a 73-72 loss to Northern Illinois, a team Central Michigan defeated by one point, at home. UB then suffered a 20-point loss at Ball State before winning two-straight games at Miami (Ohio) and a 76-73 win over Ohio at home. At this point in the season, the Bulls are 2-2 on the road.
Each of the Bulls' starters average above 10 points per game. Jayvon Grimes leads the team with 16.7 points per game and shoots a team-best 70 percent from the free throw line.
Davonta Jordan scores 12.8 points per game shoots 47 percent from the field while Jeenathan Williams averages 11.8 points per game and shoots 45 percent from the field. Antwain Johnson scores 10.2 points per game for the Bulls.
Josh Mballa leads the team averaging 9.1 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 56 percent from the field and scores 10.4 points on average.
Ronaldo Segu is the team's sixth-man and he shoots 41 percent from 3-point range while scoring 8.8 points per game.
As a team, Buffalo averages 79.4 points per game, shoots 44 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point range. UB moves the ball well, too. The team averages 16.3 assists per game with Jordan leading the way with 94 assists.
Conversely, the Bulls commit 14.1 turnovers per game, second-highest average in the MAC. Eastern Michigan commits the most with 15.6 turnovers per contest.
Central Michigan is 10-7, 3-1 in MAC play and tied with Ball State at the top of the MAC West Division standings.
The Chippewas have not beaten the Bulls since earning a season sweep in 2015 — Buffalo has won seven straight games over CMU.
In terms of scoring, the Chippewa offense leads the MAC and is third in the country with 83.8 points per game due, in large part, to the team's senior leaders.
Guard Kevin McKay is leading the team with 15.4 points per game and shooting 66 percent from the field and 75 percent at the free throw line. That said, McKay missed the last two games with an injury he tweaked in practice last week.
Forward David DiLeo and guard Dallas Morgan average 13.9 and 13.7 points per game, respectively. Morgan shoots 38 percent from beyond the arc and DiLeo shoots 36 percent from 3-point range. Some of the trends the two have is DiLeo starts the game strong and Morgan takes over in the second half.
Rob Montgomery, a forward, leads the team with 99 total rebounds. McKay leads the team by averaging 6.1 rebounds per game and Montgomery has 5.8.
CMU's three transfer guards — Devontae Lane, Travon Broadway Jr. and Deschon Winston — have stepped into the lineup and worked with the returning seniors to put together one of the best scoring offenses in the country.
Lane, the starting point guard, leads the team with 64 total assists while scoring 9.6 points per game. Broadway shoots 43 percent from the field to help supplement the offense. Winston, who usually checks into the game at the first opportunity, shoots triples at 33 percent and helps distribute the basketball with 40 assists.
The Chippewas are coming off two road games — a loss at Kent State and their first road win at Toledo — and are undefeated in McGuirk Arena so far this season. CMU shoots 45 percent from the field, 34 percent from 3-point range and 72 percent from the free throw line.
Central Michigan and Buffalo began their series in 1975 and have played 36 times in program history. The Bulls lead the all-time series, 22-14.
