MAC men's basketball update: Chippewas face uphill climb to reach Cleveland


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Miami, FL senior guard Travon Broadway Jr. sits on the bench in the fourth quarter of a 93-65 loss against Bowling Green at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant, MI.

With March quickly approaching, the road to Cleveland, Ohio for the 2021 Mid-American Conference Tournament is reaching an exhilarating climax.

For the Chippewas, however, the journey for their first MAC Tournament title since 2003 has been dicey. The team currently sits in 10th place with a five-game losing skid while dropping seven of their last eight conference games.

CMU last saw action on Feb. 6, a 67-65 loss to arch rival Western Michigan in McGuirk Arena that carries potential implications for the Chippewas quest for Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The Chippewas have just nine games left to play with only five set games set in stone, including a Feb. 28 showdown with Ball State in Muncie, Indiana and home games against Toledo and Northern Illinois in the first week of March. 

Rescheduled games

CMU hosts Miami (Ohio) at 5 p.m. Feb. 23 and make the multi-state road trip to New York to clash with Buffalo at 2 p.m. Feb. 25. Four games are currently postponed with dates to be determined include second meetings with NIU, Ball State, Ohio and the Bulls. 

The Chippewas currently trail the Cardinals and RedHawks by three games to claim a spot in the conference tournament. The Broncos, currently ninth in the MAC, trail both teams by two games and own a tiebreaker over CMU after sweeping the season series.

Despite being three games back with only nine games to go, CMU clashes three times with the two teams which possess the final two spots. They also clash three times with the two teams in a dead heat for fourth place, one game against a team tied for the tournament's top seed and play the last place team twice. 

If the Chippewas can get hot during the final stretch against opponents within striking distance in the standings, the team has a realistic and optimistic opportunity to punch their ticket to Cleveland.

Finding morale

Following a loss to Ohio on Feb. 2, junior guard Matt Beachler noted that CMU’s morale is still high despite being 10th in the conference standings.

“I don’t think (morale) is as down as people think,” Beachler said. “We know we’ve played a lot of the top teams so far and played more road games than home games. Going into the second half of the season you’re going to see us get a few more wins.”

With five of their final nine games currently scheduled, the Chippewas will play a unique schedule to conclude the 2020-21 campaign. With the MAC regular season currently scheduled to conclude March 5th against NIU, CMU will squeeze at least five games into a 14-day window before the remaining four games are given set dates and times. 

Potentially playing nine games in two weeks, the Chippewas could run into a fatigue issue when wins weigh heaviest. On top of the high volume of games in a short period and roster issues, CMU has a 34-48 record against their remaining opponents under Keno Davis.

The Chippewas will have to climb up the standings with only three members of the 2019-20 squad on this season's roster, with the remaining players either transferring in or enrolling straight from high school.

“Without the summer and fall workouts we’re kind of using games as our experience,” said head coach Keno Davis. “We’re not really getting a whole lot of repetitions in practice because of the reduction in our roster size.”

MAC standings

TEAM -- MAC -- OVERALL

Toledo -- 12-3 -- 17-6
Akron -- 11-3 -- 13-4
Kent State -- 10-4 -- 13-5
Ohio -- 7-4 -- 11-6
Buffalo -- 7-4 -- 9-6
Bowling Green -- 8-7 -- 12-9
Miami -- 5-7 -- 8-9
Ball State -- 5-7 -- 7-10
--
Western Michigan -- 3-9 -- 4-13
Central Michigan -- 2-9 -- 5-12
Eastern Michigan -- 1-7 -- 4-8
Northern Illinois -- 1-8 -- 2-12

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