CMU men's basketball stomps rivals in toilet paper toss game
Toilet paper is thrown from the stands for Central Michigan's Toilet Paper Toss/White Out at McGuirk Arena, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. This is CMU's third straight year hosting the tradition of tossing toilet paper before the game starts. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
With 13 minutes remaining in the first half, Central Michigan men's basketball trailed by two with its offense struggling to find any consistent looks against Western Michigan's defense.
That was until CMU guard Kyler VanderJagt knocked down a three that electrified McGuirk Arena and was the catalyst for a five-minute 14-0 run.
The run ignited the Chippewa offense which continued to heat up as the night progressed, which was more than enough to dominate the Broncos 73-52.
Central Michigan advances to 9-10 on the season and 3-4 in Mid-American Conference play.
"Your home crowd sets the environment, sets the tone and when McGuirk Arena is like that it's a 10- point advantage before the jump ball even happens on a normal crowd, but when its like this its a 20 point advantage," head coach Tony Barbee said. "And what did we win by? 20 points."
The night started with 5,361 people in attendance at McGuirk Arena heaving rolls of toilet paper onto the court in CMU's traditional toilet paper toss which has been played in its home game against WMU the previous two seasons since the tradition was renewed.
"If it's toilet paper that brings them out, I'll buy the toilet paper or everybody just bring one roll of toilet paper and buy those same tickets and come back and throw toilet paper," Barbee said.
Both offenses quickly got off to a hot start as the first half began with a back-and-forth that saw Western Michigan take an early 11-9 lead over the Chippewas with 14:34 left to play in the first half.
With 13:35 remaining in the half VanderJagt chucked up a shot from beyond the arc, drilling a three to start a 14-0 run that stretched the next 4 minutes, giving CMU a commanding 23-11 lead with 9 minutes left to play.
Western Michigan called a timeout, slowing the offensive momentum, but the Central Michigan defense continued to make it hard on WMU's offense which was struggling to respond.
"We wanted to make it hard on them," Barbee said. "We wanted to get into our aggressive full-court defense, our aggressive half-court defense we wanted to put the pressure on them and see if it would affect them."
The Chippewa defense has been among the best in the MAC and tonight was no exception, holding the Broncos to 23 points in the first half, tied for the teams lowest in a half this season. CMU led 34-23 going into halftime.
Coming out of halftime Western Michigan tried to get into an offensive rhythm, but the squad from Mount Pleasant seemed to have an answer for everything the defense threw at them. CMU extended its lead to 16, up 51-35 with 10:38 to play.
The defense for the Chippewas continued to thwart any attempts at a comeback as WMU struggled to find any consistent success outside of the free throw line, and the team in maroon and gold cruised to a 73-52 victory.
"They are a good team, winning on the road in this league is hard," Barbee said. "We have got to go back to them, but it was a good win for us and another step in the right direction as we try to, knock on wood, get healthy."
CMU forward Ugnius Jarusevicius was in street clothes tonight, missing back-to-back games with forward Quentin Heady filling the gap in the starting five. Heady notably scored a personal high 17 points in Tuesday's contest with Ball State while filling in for Jarusevicius.
"They did not promise me playing time when I came here, but they just told me to keep working and that's what happened," Heady said. "The game rewards toughness."
Heady lead the defense with two blocks and two rebounds while also recording seven points in his 22 minutes of play.
On the other side of the ball, the offense was spearheaded by guard Jakobi Heady who finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
The paint offense and defense continued to be dominant, due in part to Bryan Ndjonga's presence on both sides of the ball, finishing the game with 10 points, six rebounds and one block as Central Michigan outscored the Broncos 36-22 in the paint.
CMU men's basketball has a chance to continue its momentum at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, as it travels to New York to take on Buffalo.
