Chippewas shut down nation’s leading scorer, remain undefeated at home with win over Howard
Sophomore forward DaRohn Scott saves the ball from going out of bounds during the game on Dec. 22, 2015 in McGuirk Arena. CMU defeated Howard 72-52.
Coming into Tuesday’s game, the Central Michigan men’s basketball coaches presented a challenge to their players: Hold James Daniel — the nation’s leading scorer — under his average of 29.3 points per game.
The Howard University junior scored 17 points in the first half, but went 0-for-6 with two points in the second half. Daniel finished with a season-low 19 points as the Chippewas (6-5) rolled over Howard (7-6) on Tuesday, 72-52.
“You look at a team that had seven wins coming in and the nation’s leading scorer, it wasn’t a recipe to have an easy game coming into break,” said Head Coach Keno Davis. “I think it’s a game our guys really were excited for. They knew the hype around their team and around Daniel and his scoring ability.”
Daniel displayed his moves early on, slipping by Chippewa defenders and knocking down contested jump shots.
Senior point guard Rayshawn Simmons said his team just wanted to continue making the 5-foot-11, 165-pound guard take tough shots.
“He has a lot of stuff to him, but you just (have to) sit down, look at his waist and keep your hands out,” Simmons said. “I’ve guarded a lot of guys over my career playing basketball, so I feel like I can guard pretty much anybody in the country, honestly.”
Senior guard Chris Fowler and Simmons, who recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists, spent the most time on Daniel.
“Going in, our thought was he couldn’t score if he didn’t have the ball,” Davis said. “(We tried) to deny him as much as we could. Although that might not have worked in the first half, it might have had a wearing-out affect on him, on his legs, to have to run to be able to get open, to bring the ball up against pressure.”
Getting rolling early
The Chippewas started both halves hot. They started the game with an alley-oop dunk from Simmons to sophomore forward Luke Meyer and a 7-0 run. The Chippewas knocked down back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in the beginning of the second half as part of an 11-0 start and a 27-7 run.
Meyer recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds — a career high. He also tallied two blocks and one steal in his 24 minutes.
“I’ve had a couple good ones, but this one definitely felt good in terms of the stat board,” Meyer said.
Refocusing on defense
Howard’s 52 points was a season-low. The Bison’s previous low was 55 points against No. 11 Purdue.
For the Chippewas, it was the second-lowest number of points they’ve allowed all season — four days after their worst defensive performance in an 98-85 loss to BYU.
“Coming off a game where defense was the one area where we didn’t play great at BYU, I knew our guys wanted to go into a few days (off) on a positive note,” Davis said. “Not just by winning the game, but coming out and maybe sending a little bit of a message that we can be a good defensive team this year.”
What's next
CMU has a week off before going on the road to play William & Mary (7-3) Dec. 29.
The Tribe are 5-0 at home while the Chippewas are 0-5 away from McGuirk Arena. William & Mary lost to Howard 79-77 on Nov. 28.
“(Today was) a big improvement from the BYU game and all the other games,” Simmons said. “We’re starting to put it together and starting to roll at the right time, which is good because we’re headed into conference. We’ll be alright.”
