CMU men's basketball loses second straight to Louisiana-Monroe
Sophomore Aidan Rubio drained a three on Central Michigan men's basketball's opening possession to heat things up early for the Chippewas.
Despite CMU going up by eight points in the first half, Louisiana-Monroe took the lead with eight minutes left before halftime and never looked back.
The Chippewas lost to the Warhawks, 74-64 as part of the Mid-American Conference and Sun Belt Conference challenge in McGuirk Arena on Saturday.
“We’ve got a young team we’ve got to continue to make these guys cohesive and get them to play for each other on both ends of the floor,” head coach Tony Barbee said.
Overall, CMU racked up 19 turnovers and Louisiana-Monroe was able to capitalize converting 21 points off the Chippewas’ mistakes.
“It’s decision making in the half court, just awful,” Barbee said. “On the defensive end of the floor, you got to do it for 40 minutes consistently. We’re not getting enough consistent play out of our defense.”
The Chippewas were out rebounded by the Warhawks 34-31 and only had 13 points coming off the bench.
“We’re not physically tough enough," Barbee said. "We’re not mentally tough enough. We’re not aware, we’re not alert. We don’t communicate right now defensively and we’re making a lot of mistakes that are self-inflicted. Give Monroe credit they made shots, they made plays at the end of the day that we didn’t make.”
Leading in points for the Chippewas was junior Tulsa transfer Anthony Pritchard with 15 points. Junior veteran Markus Harding was right behind Pritchard with 14 points.
“Your veteran players have got to carry you while these young guys are trying to figure this out at this level and we’re not getting near enough production and consistent play out of veteran players,” Barbee said.
Graduate student Brian Taylor has been quiet so far this season on the scoring side but added eight points and led in rebounds with nine for the Chippewas.
Although CMU was able to get the score within two after a three from Taylor with nine minutes left in the second half, the Warhawks did not let up as they expanded the lead to nine with a little over five minutes left.
“Our team, we’ve just been okay, okay and good enough,” Barbee said.
The team will travel to Florida for the Sunshine Slam starting on Monday against Florida State at 7 p.m. in Tallahassee.
