The Western Michigan Broncos play host to the Central Michigan Chippewas on Friday night in a regular-season finale from University Arena in Read Fieldhouse. The two come into this one sitting in the bottom three of the MAC standings, though that doesn't mean it won't be an exciting matchup. The first meeting in January saw Central Michigan come away with the one-point win, though it might be a challenge to find that same result on the road. With both teams riding lengthy losing streaks into this one, it won't have much fanfare, but the home fans will enjoy the finale.
It has been a lackluster season for Central Michigan but that doesn't mean that they won't want to end the season on a high note. With a 10-20 record, as well as sitting near the bottom of the MAC standings, there's little hope for them that this won't be the last game of their season. It would take a monumental series of events for the Chippewas to sneak into the eight seed for the MAC Tournament, including a handful of teams in front of them all losing. The good news is that they've already taken down Western Michigan once already this season and with that confidence coming into this one, it might just be all they need to take their game to the next level. With four losses in a row and three of those by double-digits, Central Michigan knows that it's now or never to change the fortunes of their season.
Central Michigan's struggles shouldn't come as a surprise this season, especially c onsidering they've continued to be without one of their top scorers. Kevin Miller (lower body) continues to miss time after only appearing in four games, though was averaging 18.5 ppg in those games. It's clear his offense has been missed this year.
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— CMU Men's Basketball (@CMUMensBBall) February 28, 2023
The struggles have been evident on both sides of the ball this season, though the good news is that they are playing a team who only ranks worse than them in a number of categories. On the offensive end, being without Miller was talked about earlier, which has contributed to having the country's 323rd-ranked scoring team. Adding in ranking in the 300s in most other offensive categories, they might be hard-pressed to suddenly find success in this one. Jesse Zarzuela (16.3 ppg) remains their most dangerous scorer, while the backcourt leads the way. Unless they can find a frontcourt scoring threat for the finale though, the offense will only be able to take them so far on the road.
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