This is the first game of a DH with the men playing EMU. Of course, either a men’s or women’s ticket gets you in for both games. Central Michigan is 4-14 ( 2-5) while Miami is 7-13 ( 2-5). Central is a rebuilding team and starts 3 freshman. 6-1 F Sydney Harris is a candidate for MAC FOY averaging 16.8 ppg and has 60 threes in her 18 games. 5-7 Bridgett Utberg is the point guard and averages 11.1ppg and has 35 threes. 5-10 Taylor Anderson is the third Freshman starter. Wednesday night Central beat Ohio by 3 points at home, something we failed to do. OU sophomore Yaya Felder, who had 28 points against us, had 40 vs Central, but it was not enough. Central is 0-8 on the road.
Miami struggled mightily against Toledo Wednesday night, trailing by 38 points early in the third quarter. This came after losing to OU at home in OT who had been 0-10 in the MAC. Our backs are kind of up against the wall in the effort to get to the MAC tournament in Cleveland for the first time since Coach Duffy left. Here are the records of the bottom 6 teams in the MAC. 8 teams make the MAC tourney, so we need to finish ahead of 4 of the 5 other teams to finish 8th, or all 5 to finish 7th. We probably need to win all the games left against these teams.
EMU 3-4
UB 3-4
NIU 2-5
Miami 2-5
CMU 2-5
Ohio 1-6
Miami is led by Ivy Wolf, who is 3rd in the MAC in scoring, averaging 18.9 ppg. She is also 8th in the nation if free throw shooting at 91.6%. Slumping Maddie Cluse is 12th in the MAC in scoring at 14.4 and leads Miami in rebounding. Peyton Scott is 15th in the MAC in scoring at 13.6ppg and is 79th in the nation in ft% at 84.1% She is also currently the top career scorer in the MAC with over 1600 points.
Central has 3 really good freshmen, their 3 best players. Almost no older experienced girls. So they lost the game the same way we have lost games over the Hendrix era. Way too many turnovers and fouls. Scott and Wolf were 14 out of 14 from the line and Central had 3 girls foul out.
Early in the game we looked poorly prepared for the game. Central’s best player, Harris, who had 60 threes coming into the game, was left wide open early and had 3 of her 5 threes and 14 points in the first quarter. I have seen our scouting reports and I don’t think that is the issue. They are well written and thorough. However, something is going wrong, either with the way it is being taught or the lack of time and attention by the girls. As the game progressed we did better and today that was good enough, but we are never going to get to Cleveland if the girls don’t come out better prepared.
Peyton Scott and Maddie Cluse both played better than they have recently which was big because Central really concentrated on stopping Wolf and held her to only 3 field goals, but as good players do, she still found a way to get 16 points.
Our game Wednesday night at home against Buffalo is a big one as they are one of the teams just ahead of us that we have to beat to get up to 7th or 8th and make it to Cleveland.
Dick, Central is a bad team with some hope for the future. We had to play one of our better games to beat them on our home floor. We had fewer turnovers by far than normal but the fact they didn’t have players to pressure us well was a major factor. We are a bad team and I honestly see little hope for the future without a major change.
Yes, but they are still fighting and struggling to achieve some goals and get better and since they are my team I will continue to support them although I have been very frustrated with them.
Oh, I will support them. I can see they are still fighting. They are just not talented enough. I will support them but still asking for a change of staff. Saying they are not very good in no way diminishes my support, it is just a fact.
I spoke to a former player prior to yesterday’s game. Often the alumni will support the staff no matter what. I asked what she would do about the program. Her answer was unequivocal, “Fire her.”