CMU MBB Redux

Central Michigan is the clear surprise team in the MAC.  CMU was picked last in the MAC before the season and they are #3 and holding.  They have a bad loss to UB, but their other losses are @UA and @OU. They have beaten UT. They destroyed WMU in their last game and they won their Sun Belt game.  Three of their best players have missed at least one game in the last couple weeks and yet the beat goes on.

They were terrible last year...Kevin Miller transferred to Wake Forest.  Jesse Zarzuela went to Oregon.  MAC FOY Reggie Bass went to Kent.

And here we are.

We played a couple weeks ago and it was a double OT thriller that CMU gutted out without Harding and Pritchard.  BG had the ball with 1 minute left in OT and up 4, and yet the game went to a second OT.  And BG had the ball down 1 at the end of the 2nd OT and failed to get a decent shot.

Look at this.  BG was ridiculously outshot for a game that went into 2 OT.  But, they took excellent care of the ball and got to the line more, ending up +11.  CMU held BG to 43% 2FG and 21% 3FG shooting and that's not a winning position to be in.

CMU is the 2nd best defensive team in the MAC.  They allow .95 points per possession for the entire year and BG has never reached that level on defense for any MAC game.  They are the hardest team to shoot against in the MAC overall, hardest on 2FG and #2 on the 3FG.  BG meanwhile is the #7 shooting team in the MAC.  They also lead the MAC in not giving up FTs, which is something BG relies on.

They are 8th in offense, which makes that result in BG all the more disappointing.  Anthony Pritchard leads them with 14 PPG and 4.3 APG.  Taylor, Harding and Butler score 11 PPG each.  Harding is really good on 2FG (2nd in MAC) and Butler on 3FG (5th in MAC).  Aidan Rubio is #2 in MAC from 3FG.  Taylor is 6'6" and leads the team in rebounds and is #9 in block%.

This is a rough patch in the BG schedule.  They are clearly skidding and have played two clunkers in a row.  They are going to need to rally or this week could get pretty ugly.