Eagles and Broncos Clash in a White Out at the Convocation Center

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Following a dominating, 76-40, victory over Ohio University the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team will host Western Michigan University Saturday, Jan. 31, as part of a doubleheader at the Convocation Center. The men's team will hit the floor at noon, with the women's game to follow at 2:30 p.m. The doubleheader will be a white out and fans are encouraged to wear white and cheer on the Eagles (13-7, 2-5 MAC), who will square off with the Broncos (13-7, 4-3 MAC) for the first time this season. Western Michigan comes to Ypsilanti on a two-game losing streak after dropping one at home versus Akron, 71-69, and on the road at Buffalo, 77-71. In addition to the games, Eagle fans will enjoy halftime performances from the King BMX Stunt Show at both the men's and women's contests.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eastern Michigan versus Western Michigan contest can be found on 89.1 FM WEMU and Eagle All-Access. Fans can dial into 89.1 FM or listen over the internet to the smooth sounds of veteran play-by-play voice, Chad Bush. Joining Bush on the call will be analyst Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director Sean Hostetter along with executive producer and Assistant Athletic Director Greg Steiner. Coverage of the game on 89.1 will begin at noon.
For those who prefer to watch the game, it will be broadcast on Eastern's live webstreaming service Eagle All-Access. Subscriptions for Eagle All-Access start at just $6.95 and can be purchased at EMUEagles.com/watch. The pregame show and analysis will begin at noon on Saturday.

ALL-TIME VERSUS WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Eagles trail in the series with WMU as Eastern looks at a tally of 57-45 in favor of the Broncos. Recent history shows that the Green and White typically split the season series with Western Michigan. In the last 10 meetings, EMU is 5-5 versus the Broncos. However, prior to that stretch the Eagles struggled against Western, going just 1-9 in the previous 10 contests.
Last season, Eastern and Western squared off twice, splitting the series. The Eagles took care of business at home, knocking off the Broncos in a convincing, 56-37, victory at the Convocation Center, holding WMU to its lowest offensive output of the season. In the return game, Eastern fell, 75-67, at University Arena.

LIKELY LOOK FOR THE BRONCOS...

#	Name	Pos.	Cl.	Ht.	Wt.	ppg	rpg	apg	Hometown-Previous School
1	Tucker Haymond	G/F	So.	6-6	220	13.0	4.7	2.3	Seattle, Wash.-Garfield
2	Connar Tava	F	Jr.	6-6	235	14.3	6.2	3.9	Macomb, Mich.-Warren De La Salle
5	David Brown	G	Sr.	6-4	205	15.8	3.8	2.5	Roscoe, Ill.-Hononegah
10	Thomas Wilder	G	Fr.	6-3	185	4.0	1.8	1.5	Montgomery, Ill.-Quakerdale Prep
42	Drake LaMont	C	Fr.	6-10	240	4.7	4.7	0.4	Plantation, Fla.-American Heritage

A LOOK AT THE BRONCOS: Western Michigan comes into Saturday's game as one of the premiere offenses in the Mid-American Conference. The Broncos average 73.3 points per game, while knocking down 46.8 percent of their field goal attempts. Western uses a four-headed scoring monster to take care of business. David Brown, a 2014 first team All-MAC award winner, leads the Broncos at 15.8 points per game, while Connar Tava and Tucker Haymond are not far behind with 14.3 and 13, respectively. Although he has not played in the last two games for WMU, Austin Richie is a sharp shooter who scores 11.4 points per game while knocking down three-point shots at a 47.6 percent mark. Defensively, the Broncos are in the bottom third of the MAC, allowing 69.4 points per game and allowing teams to shoot 43.8 percent against them.

SETS UP NICELY: The Eagles have been stout on the defensive end through MAC play, allowing just 61.7 points per game, but its their offense which has struggled at 62.6 points per game. On the upside, the Eagles will play the four-worst defenses in the conference, statistically, over the next four games which will help jumpstart the EMU offense. Western allows the 10th-most points per game, while Toledo allows the ninth-most, Ohio is in at 11th and Miami allows 70.2 points per game, ranking dead last in the MAC.

A DOMINATING PERFORMANCE: Eastern Michigan never played from behind, leading for 39 of the 40 minutes in a dominating 76-40 victory over Ohio Tuesday night, Jan. 27, at the Convocation Center. It was the largest margin of victory over an NCAA Division I opponent in the Rob Murphy era. In addition, it was the largest conference victory since EMU cruised to a 104-67 decision over Central Michigan University 18 years ago, Jan. 8, 1997, while also marking the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent since Eastern downed Navy, 99-52, on Jan. 7, 2004. The cherry on top is that the Eagles held Ohio to just a 22.8 shooting percentage, the lowest of any NCAA Division I opponent this season and the best field goal percent defense since the Green and White held NIU to a 13.1 percent clip in the Eagles 42-25 victory back on Jan. 26, 2013.

THERE'S THE OFFENSE: Heading into the Eagles' win over Ohio, Eastern Michigan had broken the 40 percent shooting marker just one time in Mid-American Conference play. Finally, the Eagles broke out for a 50 percent shooting effort, while having nearly their worst night from beyond the arc this season, shooting just 17.6 percent from the floor. Heading into the contest, Eastern had been shooting just 35.5 percent from the floor in MAC games.
The Green and White went 32-of-64 from the floor and the 32 field goals are the second-most EMU has converted on this season, with their 33 against Concordia as the only game with more.

THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER: Despite not having a clear-cut go-to guy in the middle, the "three-headed monster" of Olalekan Ajayi, Jerome Hunter and Mike Samuels have been productive for EMU. The trio has combined for eight points and 11.2 rebounds per game.

MURPHY VERSUS THE MAC: Fourth-year Head Men's Basketball Coach Rob Murphy holds a 28-29 all-time record against Mid-American Conference opponents in his third MAC season. The Detroit, Mich. native won the MAC-West Division Title in 2011-12 during his first season as the head man at EMU, before going 7-9 in 2012-13. Last season, his squad reached their highest win total of 10, after going 10-8 in MAC play. Murphy and his squads have seen most of their success against teams from their own division, going 20-13, while they are just 8-16 against the East.

IMPRESSIVE DEFENSIVE EFFORT: Although the final tally was not what the Eagles had hoped for in the 65-51 loss at Central Michigan, EMU did a solid job neutralizing the CMU offense. The Chippewas came into the contest scoring over 85 points per game, while the Green and White held them to just 65. Central shot just 36.5 percent against Eastern Michigan, while the Chips were shooting over 50 percent prior to the start of the game.

BOND BREAKS OUT: EMU "true" freshman Tim Bond did not play in the first 13 games of the season due to injury. However, since recovering, Bond has appeared in all five Mid-American Conference games. Bond's best game came against Bowling Green, Jan. 21, when the Baltimore, Md. native went off for career-highs in nearly every category. Bond scored 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting, including knocking down his only three-point try of the season. The 6-foot-6 combo guard went 4-of-6 from the free throw line, while recording the first two assists of his career. On the defensive side, Bond rejected the Falcons on three times, while picking BGSU's pocket on one occasion.

IS 60 THE KEY?: In Mid-American Conference play, it looks as though the Eagles will need to continue their stout defensive play if they wish to work their way up the standings. In each of EMU's five MAC losses, it has allowed the opposition to score at least 60 points. In both of their victories, the Eagles have held Northern Illinois to 46 and Ohio to 40. It looks as if the Eagles hold the opposition to 60-or-less, their chances of winning increase significantly.

Eagles and Broncos Clash in a White Out at the Convocation Center

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Players Mentioned

Olalekan Ajayi

Tim Bond

Jerome Hunter

Mike Samuels

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Eagles and Broncos Clash in a White Out at the Convocation Center

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Olalekan Ajayi

Tim Bond

Jerome Hunter

Mike Samuels

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