Behind Enemy Lines: Western Michigan men's basketball beat writer Seth Berry discusses CMU matchup
Central Michigan Life's Christian Booher spoke with Seth Berry of the Western Herald to preview Central Michigan's game against the Broncos at 2 p.m. Feb. 1 in Read Fieldhouse.
Western Michigan is 9-11 on the season and holds a 2-5 record in the Mid-American Conference. The team's two conference wins have come against Ohio (77-65) and Kent State (67-63).
The Broncos currently sit in fifth place in the MAC West Division, while the Chippewas are in first with a 4-2 conference record.
Berry discussed notable players, the Broncos' style of play, freshman guard B. Artis White and much more in this exclusive Q&A.
What is the rundown on Western Michigan's season to this point?
Seth Berry: This year, they're 9-11, which is one more win than they had all of last year. The returns of Brandon Johnson, from a knee injury, and Jason Whitens from a season-ending knee injury has really helped their cause. Johnson's been a guy whose been really key to the team. He can face up and score, he can shoot from outside, he can take it down low, back to the basket and he's also one of the better rebounders. He's helped in that regard.
You have B. Artis White, coming in as a true freshman, who helps push the pace and takes pressure off of Michael Flowers, who had to do way too much last year. (Flowers) being able to play off the ball, play off of White. Titus Wright, another freshman inside, starts at the center (position). He's trying to work his way in and find himself but he's had some flashes of excellence in there.
Off the bench they've had Rafael Cruz, whose a transfer, come in and play really well off the bench when he wasn't getting a lot of minutes early on. He's come in and contributed which is something they really needed to be able to sustain any success at all.
Overall, they're kind of like Central, they've struggled on the road. In home games, they've played really competitive against good competition. They lost to Bowling Green by three in an 85-82 game they had every chance to win at the end. Battled back against a good Kent State team at home and ended up winning that game. There've been some positive things in a year where we really didn't know what to expect coming in for Western on the year.
With Western featuring a pair of 6-foot-8 forwards, how does it utilize its frontcourt?
It's not a lot of low post touches, they still like their guards and their wings. They'll definitely try to get Brandon Johnson in some isolation situations, whether it's away from the basket or back to the basket, and he's a physical player. He's one of those guys who'll take you down inside and if he misses a shot, he's going right back up and looking to get a putback or get the offensive rebound.
Brandon Johnson has been great in transition. You have Flowers and White pushing it up the floor and Johnson running the middle of the floor, it's hard for teams to keep up with that. Johnson's overall physicality is something that a lot of teams in the MAC struggle with.
With Wright, depending on the matchup, they like to get the ball to him down low at times. It's not one of those things where they totally trust him to get him a bunch of touches a game but depending on the situation they will look for him and he's capable of scoring down there as well.
What has freshman guard B. Artis White brought to the table this season? How big of an addition has he been this year?
He's been huge. The one thing that doesn't play to his strengths is Western's lack of rebounding. Sometimes (coach Steve) Hawkins will go to Cruz and Flowers in the backcourt and get a little more size overall to team rebound, so that will diminish White's minutes. When he's out there, he's the one initiating the transition offense. He can pull up and hit the three on a dime or hit the mid-range jumper at full speed.
He's one of those players that's looking to score, when he goes up to shoot he sees nothing but the target. He's quick in transition, he's fast, he has a good sense of the game for a true freshman. He's been huge in every regard, especially on the offensive side of the ball and he looks like he has a really good future ahead of him.
The Broncos have been competitive in just about every conference game this season. What element of their game allows them to be so competitive?
From last year, they have a more complete roster that allows them to maximize their potential with Johnson and Whitens back. The bigger thing is their resiliency. It's been really impressive, coming back from 10 down in a game against Kent State in a game where it looked like they were dead in the water. They missed 10 or 12 shots in a row and still ended up being able to fight back into the game.
Even games earlier in the year at Oklahoma State and Ole Miss, where they led early in the game and were in it at halftime but lost it in the second half, they've been competitive all around. When you have players like Michael Flowers who can get on a roll and get hot, players who can make plays late in the game, you're going be able to stay in the game.
Defensively, when they get set on defense and don't let anyone run around them in transition, they can be a good defensive team, as well. I think the overall resiliency of being able to stay in the games and the leadership as well.
Central Michigan won all three matchups last season. What has changed this year that will allow the Broncos to compete with the Chippewas?
What they've been able to and prove on the floor. They haven't accomplished what they've needed to, they're under .500. Just the different elements that they've been able to get from different players, the contributions, contributions from Cruz and White.
Having a guy like Jason Whitens back, he doesn't do a whole lot scoring-wise and sometimes you don't always notice him on the floor, but he's one of those glue guys that you want on the court because he's going to make the right play and the smartest play at the right time.
Just the combination of having a combination of a bunch of smart guys on the floor and being able to push the pace and staying connected as a team has helped them. They're competitive in these games and as they progress toward the end of the year, if they get hot near the MAC Tournament they could sneak up on some people — even as a lower seed.
What are some areas in the matchup where Western Michigan holds an advantage? How can they exploit those areas?
One thing Central Michigan needs to do to shut Western down is to keep them out of transition. Central Michigan likes to play the fast-pace and it's up and down the floor but at the same time, that's when Western's at it's best. If it's an up-and-down game, that's not something Western will shy away from. It could be a high scoring game even though Western struggles to shoot the ball.
Also, there's Brandon Johnson. If he gets on a roll, get him in some isolation situations and he takes Central Michigan down inside and gets some guys in foul trouble, that could be something that plays to the Broncos' advantage as well.
Score prediction: Central Michigan 75, Western Michigan 73
