3pm Central on ESPN3

At last an opponent with worse computer ranking. Chips are 2 -14 with wins against EIU (who has lost to everybody) and a road win at Kent State. That road win at KSU has me hesitant to call this a sure victory for the Huskies. Another worry is they have some bigs. Henderson, Stafl and Pavrette are 6'11" and Polk and Hodgson are 6'10". They rotate them but Henderson and Stafl play the most. Their 3pt shooters are Jackson (25 for 67 .373%) and Healy (43 for 86 .500% !). Team free throw % is .656. If we can defend the 3's we should win at home.

Sagarin CMU 333 NIU 315
KenPom CMU 335 NIU 298
NET CMU 341 NIU 292

I don't know how your weather is up there but, might be a good game to see in person.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Favored by 7 points!

A 'Have to Win' game. If you can't beat CMU you flat out suck.
A real test for Burno.

Haslametrics has it 72.96 - 64.06…….HUSKIES.

With NIU at 309 and CMU at 345.

Let’s hope.

(01-29-2022 10:06 AM)El Duderino Wrote:  Wow. Favored by 7 points!

A 'Have to Win' game. If you can't beat CMU you flat out suck.
A real test for Burno.

Love that a 2-14 team is a "real test" for Burno

Hope they get a decent crowd.

(01-29-2022 11:17 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  

(01-29-2022 10:06 AM)El Duderino Wrote:  Wow. Favored by 7 points!

A 'Have to Win' game. If you can't beat CMU you flat out suck.
A real test for Burno.

Love that a 2-14 team is a "real test" for Burno

Hope they get a decent crowd.

Yeah... I'm with you in that I'd disagree that "THIS" is the test for Burno.

For one, I'm not interested in testing him when the vast majority of the players getting minutes were recruited by a coach who was 1) a poor recruiter, 2) a poor developer of talent and 3) fired roughly 12 months ago.

Why consider this a test when he has 2 players getting significant minutes (Kon is starting to increase minutes but his minutes are minimal at this point)?

Oh yeah...consider who's deeming it a real test for the coach.

It's just dumb to put such a magnifying glass on any one game this season. IMO, let the season play out but play hard and emphasize work ethic and commitment to the system and continue to restock the system with new players for next year and the next (which is exactly what Burno is doing).

We have guys playing outside of an ideal role (Hankerson as the team leader and Makuoi/Okanu as the primary post players). Any expectation of this team being favorites or doing anything greater than sniffing .500 in this league is foolish and most people here recognize that but a one or two others always want to stir up crap and make proclamations based on nothing that actually matters.

15:31

NIU 11 - Chips 7

Huskies come out hot. Dunks, an alley-oop, steals, blocks...you name it, they've done it.

Williams is on the line for the And-1.

11:58

NIU 12 - Chips 13

A hot start turns into an Ice Age....

(01-29-2022 04:19 PM)Big Red Wrote:  11:58

NIU 12 - Chips 13

A hot start turns into an Ice Age....

That changed fast, but I see that Williams made that And-1.

8:07

NIU 18 - Chips 20

A few too many turnovers for my liking...(broken record, right?)

This game may come down to free throws. Both teams are terrible at that skill.

3:23

NIU 24 - Chips 25

I swear, out PbP guy (Dave something-or-other) keeps saying Makong instead of either Makuoi or Adong.

It's annoying.

1:48

NIU 26 - Chips 27

Williams is really fun to watch. Really glad he is only a sophomore. Hopefully, by his last year we will turn the corner and have an exciting team.

His attitude on the court is impressive- always working hard and looks positive with himself and his teammates.

24.2

NIU 28 - Chips 33

Makuoi has been getting taken advantage of the past few trips to the defensive end of the floor.

(01-29-2022 04:47 PM)Big Red Wrote:  24.2

NIU 28 - Chips 33

Makuoi has been getting taken advantage of the past few trips to the defensive end of the floor.

And that's our halftime score.

Our last possession of the half was less than encouraging. Williams had the ball and drove the lane and tried to force it to Makuoi. It was deflected out of bounds with about 3 seconds on the shot clock and game clock. Inbounded to Kueth who couldn't get a shot off...

Leading scorers

Central Michigan

Bissanthe - 9
Henderson - 9 (off the bench)
Miller - 6

NIU

Williams - 10
Makuoi - 6
Thornton - 4

The problem, as it has been lately, is turnovers and 3PT shooting. NIU has 9 turnovers and is shooting 1 of 8 from 3PT (12.5%):

Thornton - 0-1
Williams - 1-3
Hankerson 0-3 (0-5 from the floor)
Kueth - 0-1

I mentioned free throws would be important. CMU is 5 of 9 and NIU is 3 of 3. We just need to get to the line more (with the right guys...preferably Kueth, Williams, Thornton and Hankerson).

Foul trouble

CMU

Taylor - 2

NIU

Makuoi - 2
Crump - 2
Manuel - 2

So far, NIU has played 10 players. The starters are Williams, Hankerson, Thornton, Crump and Makuoi. Coming off the bench has been Kueth, Manuel, Okanu, Russell and Hunter.

Haven't seen Kon. I'm assuming Osten and Myrick are still hurt.

One other thing. Both teams are shooting 42% from the field but the difference has been the amount of free throws (a difference of 2 points) and three pointers.

CMU is shooting 50% from 3PT (4 of 8): Bissanthe (2-2), Miller (1-2), Henderson (1-3). As I said earlier, NIU is 1 of 8.

That's a difference of 3 more points.

Which equals 5 points...

Otherwise the game is pretty even (obviously).

Need to stop Henderson.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

15:41

NIU 35 - Chips 39

Williams is on the line for 2.

Outside of Williams (and some fun hustle stuff from Crump...) no one looks good. After an initial 5 minutes where the Huskies looked amazing, it's been a gradual slide in the negative direction.

Hankerson's shooting is literally terrible. He isn't coming close to making a shot. Williams is the only guy right now how can shoot a 3.

CMU is sitting in a tight 2-3 zone and we can't do anything because we can't shoot.

12:00

NIU 39 - Chips 47

We've been called for 3 moving screens. One (on Manuel) negated an alley-oop to Williams which would have tied the score (a while ago).

Btw, Miller (CMU) is super quick. He's going to be a handful for a real long time.

On more than one occasion, Carl Amato has said "Coach Bruno".

It's really frustrating when opposing or national announcers mispronounce names of your team. But when your own announcers do it...

It's infuriating.