Eastern Takes On Toledo in MAC Tournament Semifinal Friday Night

#3 Eastern Michigan vs #2 Toledo
Date	Friday, March 9 \| 9 p.m.
Venue	Cleveland, Ohio \| Quicken Loans Arena (20,534)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	CBS Sports Network
Listen	WEMU (89.1 WEMU-FM) \| TuneIn Radio
Twitter	@EMUHoops \| @EMUAthletics

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team continues its trek in the Mid-American Conference Tournament with a semifinal matchup Friday, March 9, against the University of Toledo. Game time is scheduled for approximately 9 p.m. inside Quicken Loans Arena.
EMU (21-11, 11-7 MAC) follows up its exciting 19-point comeback victory versus the University of Akron in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals with a rematch against UT (22-10, 13-5 MAC), who narrowly defeated Miami University, 71-69, Thursday, March 8. It will mark the third time the Eagles and Rockets have played each other in a span of 17 days.
Chad Bush is set to call the game on WEMU (89.1 FM), with Kyler Ludlow joining as the analyst. The MAC Tournament Semifinals will be broadcast on CBSSports.com with Dave Ryan on the play-by-play, and Steve Wolf providing the analysis.

COMEBACK KIDS: Eastern trailed by 19 points at the 12:30 mark of the second half against Akron, but rallied on the strength of its pressure defense. A 21-1 run helped to get EMU its first win over the Zips in the MAC Tournament and push the winning streak to seven. Eastern avenged five season-ending setbacks to Akron, including twice in the last two seasons.
Redshirt junior Elijah Minnie scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, including his 1,000th career point (479 at Robert Morris, 541 at EMU), while also grabbing 14 rebounds and three steals. Fellow redshirt junior Paul Jackson added 15 points and five assists, while senior Tim Bond chipped in 15 points and grabbed eight boards.

MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: EMU has an all-time record of 30-32 in the MAC Tournament, dating back to the 1979-80 season. The Eagles have won the championship and automatic NCAA bid four times, most recently in 1997-98.
The Green and White are 9-6 under Rob Murphy during his tenure in Ypsilanti, with its best finish a trip to the 2013-14 semifinals, when the Eagles fell 59-44 to the second-seed Toledo.

MORE MAC TOURNAMENT FIGURES: The 2017-18 season marked the 19th time in program history that an Eagle squad has reached the 20-win plateau, but it is just the first time they've earned a first-round bye to the MAC Tournament under the current system.
Eastern has an all-time record of 5-8 in Quicken Loans Arena, dating back to March 7, 2007. Fortune has favored EMU when it has been the higher seed in the tournament, with a record of 24-5 as the favorite.

THIRD TIMES A CHARM?: Eastern Michigan has played an opponent for the third time in the MAC Tournament 10 times in its history, compiling a 5-5 record. Though having two chances, the Eagles have never beaten Toledo three times in a season.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE: After its season ending at the hands of Akron at Quicken Loans Arena in each of the past two seasons, EMU picked up its first win at "The Q" since March 11, 2015 when it defeated Bowling Green, 73-67.
Only one current Eagle, senior Tim Bond, was an active member of the 2014-15 squad, and he pulled down four rebounds and added two points in the win.

STREAKING: Seven wins matches the longest winning streak for Eastern Michigan in the Rob Murphy era. The first time the Eagles accomplished the feat was to begin the season in 2014-15.
During EMU's current seven-game streak, redshirt Elijah Minnie has been riding a hot streak. The forward has averaged 21.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, while shooting a blistering 49.5 percent from the floor and 39 percent from downtown. The Pittsburgh, Pa. native added his fourth double-double of the season in the Eagles' MAC Tournament opener, giving a 21-point, 14-rebound performance against Akron, March 8.
Eastern is also in the midst of a stretch in which they have won nine of its last 10 games.

ABOUT THE STREAK: Eastern's seven-game winning streak has come on the strength of the Mid-American Conference's best defense. The Eagles, who lead the league with a 66.9 scoring defense, have allowed just 63.0 points per contest during the streak. EMU has also held teams to just 41.1 percent from the floor during the stretch, forced 13.0 turnovers per game, and has come away with 8.7 steals per contest.
The offense has kicked its production up a notch as well. After averaging 65.2 points per game through the first 12 games of MAC play, the Green and White have averaged 72.7 points on the heals of 49.5 precent shooting from the floor over the last seven games. The Eagles have also seen their free throw percentage rise from 62.9 percent before the streak to a 80.9 mark during it. EMU has also taken better care of the ball, turning the ball over just 9.8 times per game during the streak.

LOCK DOWN D: Over the course of the last 10 games, Eastern's already stingy defense has gone to another level. The Eagles are allowing just 61.9 points per game and holding opponents to a 39.4 shooting percentage from the floor during that stretch, and they've also forced 139 turnovers, had 88 steals, and swatted 66 shots.
EMU has had especially tough defense in the opening half of its games. The Green and White have allowed fewer than 25 points in four of the nine games, and have held opponents to under 30 points in all but two matchups. Eastern Michigan most recently held Toledo, the MAC's second-most prolific scoring offense, to just 69 points, 11 lower than its season average (80.2).

QUARTET HONORED BY MAC: After its best Mid-American Conference season under Head Coach Rob Murphy, the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team was rewarded with three players named to the All-MAC teams, and a pair to the All-Defensive squad, the league office announced Monday, March 5.
Junior James Thompson IV earned spots on both the All-MAC First Team, as well as All-MAC Defensive Team. Joining Thompson on the defensive team was senior Tim Bond, who was selected one of the best defenders in the league for the third straight season. Redshirt junior Elijah Minnie was named to the All-MAC Third Team, and fellow redshirt junior Paul Jackson was named All-MAC Honorable Mention.

ON THE HORIZON: Should Eastern win its semi-final matchup, it will play the winner of No. 1 seed Buffalo and No. 5 seed Kent State, Saturday, March 10 at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

Eastern Takes On Toledo in MAC Tournament Semifinal Friday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Paul Jackson

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Eastern Michigan Athletics