Chicago State travels to Richmond to take on the Colonels, the first place team in the ASun right now.

Here’s a game preview from EKU.
https://ekusports.com/news/2024/2/12/men...s-day.aspx

Since losing at Purdue, they have gone 9-2 in the new year. EKU is about 80 spots ahead of CSU in the NET. The team have 2 opponents in common. They both lost to Tennessee-Martin. EKU lost in their last game to Stetson, a team Chicago State has beaten twice this season. And Stetson ranks ahead of EKU in the NET.

This is a winnable game for the Cougars, but as always, it all depends on how Chicago State plays on Wednesday.

Chicago State fell apart early and doesn’t have anything going at all. EKU looks to be clicking on all cylinders and putting the Cougars away, with 5 minutes left in the first half.

Just bad…

I feel like the missed 3 pointer that would have cut it to 10 was a game changer, and probably the point at which the game was likely lost. After EKU scored, it was 15 again.

And Chicago isn’t playing well inside and has fouled way too much. EKU has been at the line a lot.

I have to give some big props to Cam Jernigan for being tied for Chicago States high scorer. This is a big thing for him, for his game, and for going into next season. He had major fouling issues that kept him from getting more playing time for much of the season. He seems to have gotten that mostly under control now.

One of the issues (for many players on this team) is not playing good defense because they are afraid to foul. And with such a short bench, I get that. But as soon as a team sees that they just go to the same move time after time.

I feel like Corbett plays pretty good D, right up until the point where he’s beaten, and he wisely backs off rather than give them a pointless “and 1.” I think Cardet does a little less. Sometimes as soon as it looks like they may get by him, he gives up on the play.

So for Jernigan even to make it thru a big part of the game with few fouls is good, but he does have to play some solid defense at the same time. But this could be seen as a break thru game for him. 16 points and leading scorer is big. Now the Cougars have had 3 different leading scorers this season, and that type of depth will be needed next year. They’ve done a lot of diversify away from all Cardet all of the time.