Takeaways and breakdown from Central Michigan's 86-67 loss to Buffalo
Devontae Lane drives to the basket during Central Michigan's 86-67 loss to Buffalo Jan. 18 in McGuirk Arena.
Central Michigan opened its game tied at the top of the Mid-American Conference West Division with Ball State at 3-1.
Buffalo, on the other hand, found itself on the bottom half of the MAC East Division standings at 2-2 early in the conference season.
CMU and Buffalo battled in a cross-division showdown Saturday in McGuirk Arena and the Bulls showed took control of the game early in the second half and showed why they have won four-of-the-last-five conference championships.
"There are a lot of talented guys on that team," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "They lost a lot of guys from their championship team, there's still a lot of athleticism and a lot of talent and they played well to come here and get a win."
UB picked up the win, 86-67, and handed the Chippewas their first loss at home -- the Chippewas had previously been 9-0 in McGuirk Arena this season.
Here are three takeaways from the Chippewas' 86-67 loss to Buffalo.
Chippewas can keep up physically
Buffalo is one of the more physical teams in the MAC, that is why it is one of the toughest programs to beat -- especially in the postseason.
Central Michigan did all it could to work its way around the physicality the Bulls presented on their defensive end with ball screens and moving around to find and open look.
In the end, the Bulls were able to make a few more plays on both ends to get past the Chippewas.
While UB was able to outrebound CMU, 50-42, the Chippewas had more second-chance points because of their physicality.
"It's not where I would find fault," Davis said. "With some of our defensive things we need to work on, when a team shoots better than you from the field, it's tough to outrebound them. Sometimes, the rebounding mark is a little deceiving.
"We've got a team that can outrebound, can win games in that area. If we get better on the offensive and defensive end on some of the things we do, you'll see those numbers improve."
Turnovers turn out to be costly
Every team commits turnovers during a game, some more costly than others.
In the case for the Chippewas, they finished with 16 turnovers and 11 in the second half.
While the Bulls had almost as many turnovers, the timing of CMU's turnovers and the frequency of the miscues at one time were ultimately what allowed Buffalo to blow the game open.
In the early stages of the second half, the Chippewas committed a series of four turnovers in just over three minutes and again later in the half with three turnovers on consecutive possessions.
The miscues allowed Buffalo to score in transition and stretch the lead to as many as 24 points with 5:31 to play.
Senior forward Rob Montgomery, who had five points, six rebounds and a block against the Bulls, said the Chippewas were disrupted by the Bulls' defense and were not able to execute the offensive plan they had.
"We allowed them to speed us up and that's not the way we wanted to play," Montgomery said. "We want to play sped up, but at our own pace. They sped us up and forced us to be uncomfortable, that's when you see those turnovers."
Outside shooting the difference
In addition to the turnovers, the Chippewa offense struggled shooting the ball -- especially from 3-point range.
CMU hit five 3-pointers but took 22 attempts from beyond the arc to finish with a 22.7 percent 3-point shooting percentage.
Some of the shots CMU missed were contested heavily by the Bulls and did not have much of a chance find the bottom.
On the other end, Buffalo shot 40.0 percent from beyond the arc and the strong long-range shooting carried the Bulls to the big win on the road.
Statistical breakdown
Senior forward David DiLeo led the Chippewas with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Junior forwards Travon Broadway Jr. and Deschon Winston each scored 11 points for the Chippewas.
As a team, Central Michigan shot 34.2 percent from the field (25-of-73) and allowed 46 points in the paint and 14 on fast breaks. Offensively, the Chippewas scored 38 points in the paint and nine in fast-break situations.
Buffalo shot 45.2 percent from the field and 83 percent (10-of-12) from the free throw line. The Bulls also finished with more team assists than CMU, edging the Chippewas, 12-9.
Jeenathan Williams scored a game-high 18 points while Jayvon Graves scored 14 points and Davonta Jordan had 13. Ronaldo Segu and Antwain Johnson both scored 10 points.
Looking ahead
The Chippewas have a week off and will have the opportunity to focus on Ball State, which comes to town at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in McGuirk Arena.
Montgomery said the break is met with excitement to regain the energy the team needs to find success as it did against Toledo in its previous game.
"We didn't have the aggression that we usually do," Montgomery said. "Our main focus this week should be going back to being ourselves, which is playing hard no matter what it is."
