Eagles Wrap Home Stand Against Central Michigan Tuesday

Men's Basketball vs. Central Michigan
Date	Tuesday, Feb. 26 \| 7 p.m.
Venue	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Convocation Center (8,754)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	WEMU 89.1 FM
Twitter	@EMUHoops \| @EMUAthletics
Tickets	Order Tickets Online or call 734.487.3669

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team wraps its three-game home stand against Mid-American Conference rival Central Michigan University Tuesday, Feb. 26, with a 7 p.m. tip inside the Convocation Center.
   EMU (13-14, 7-7 MAC) returns home after a thrilling 77-76 overtime victory over in-state foe Western Michigan University, Feb. 23, while CMU (19-8, 8-6 MAC) came back from a 14-point second half deficit at Ball State University to win, 64-57.
   The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Ryan Wooley on play-by-play and Justin Rose providing analysis. Eastern fans can also tune in to 89.1 WEMU to listen to Chad Bush and Matt Dery on the call. Additional coverage can be found by following @EMUHoops on Twitter, and through live stats at EMUEagles.com.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS NIGHT: Tuesday's showdown between rivals Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan is also Special Olympics Night in the Convocation Center.

SECOND HALF SURGE: For the second-straight game and third time this season Eastern Michigan erased a halftime deficit to top its opponent, taking down Western Michigan after trailing by one at the break, Feb. 23.
   The Eagles trailed by three with just five minutes remaining against the Broncos and were able to claw their way to even as regulation expired. Against Toledo, Feb. 19, EMU was behind by 12 as late as the 11:07 mark in the second stanza before going on a 22-0 run to climb ahead. The 12-point comeback ties for largest in a game this season with EMU's win at Ohio, Feb.12, when the Green and White erased a 12-0 Bobcat lead.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Eastern's slow start to MAC play in 2018-19 almost mirrors the start to conference action in 2017-18 exactly. Not only is its record after 14 games identical to last season's at 7-7, EMU also had the same record after five games (2-3), eight games (3-5), and 10 games (4-6).
   The Eagles went on to rattle off six straight wins to end the season to finish second in the MAC West and secure a first round bye in the MAC Tournament.

ANYTHING BUT FREE THROWS: EMU has struggled from the line all season, turning in the second-lowest free throw shooting percentage in the MAC at 62.3 percent. Saturday's narrow victory over Western Michigan was a new level of futility, however, as the Eagles shot just 42.1 percent (16-of-38) from the stripe. It marked the lowest free throw output since shooting 18 percent (3-of-17) at Rutgers, Nov. 19.

TURNING TURNOVERS TO POINTS: Eastern took advantage of 21 Western Michigan miscues in its Feb. 23 victory, scoring 29 points off the Broncos' turnovers. It sets a new high for points off turnovers on the season against a Division I opponent, passing its 27-point output against Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.

A WIN WOULD: Eastern Michigan currently sits in seventh place in the Mid-American Conference standings, tied with Akron at 7-7. A win over Central would put the two in a tie with just three games to go. It would also bring the Eagles closer to the top of the MAC West standings, as they currently trail Toledo by two games and Central Michigan by one.

TOUGHEST IN THE MAC: The Eagles' record of 13-14 comes against the 59th-hardest schedule in the country (according to KenPom), including three games against Associated Press Top-25 teams and two against opponents in the top-10. Ohio has the next-hardest strength of schedule with the 81st-ranked difficulty in the country.
   Diving deeper into the numbers shows that Eastern has also played more games against Quadrant One and Two opponents (11; five Q1, six Q2) than any other conference foe, with a record of 2-9. Western Michigan and Kent State are the next closest with 10 (five Q1, five Q2; three Q1, seven Q2) games. Central Michigan has played just five games (three Q1, two Q2) against top-tiered opponents, and is 0-5 in those games.

MURPHY'S 11: Eastern Michigan head coach Rob Murphy stuck with his 11th starting lineup of the season in its win over Western, Feb. 23. The Eagles used the combination of redshirt senior Paul Jackson, sophomore Kevin McAdoo, redshirt sophomore Ty Groce, senior James Thompson IV, and redshirt senior Elijah Minnie start a game for the third time this season.

ALL-TIME VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The rivalry between Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan dates back over 113 years, with the two teams having first played one another in the 1906 season. EMU won that matchup, 24-19. Since then, the two teams have played the series tight, with CMU holding a 101-93 advantage.
   The Eagles saw their winning streak against the Chippewas snapped at six earlier this season, as Central topped Eastern, 86-82 in McGuirk Arena, Jan. 29. CMU knocked down 26-of-28 free throw attempts, including 21-of-22 in the second half.

AGAINST CENTRAL IN THE MURPHY ERA: Since Head Coach Rob Murphy began his head coaching career as the bench boss for Eastern Michigan in the 2011-12 season, he has accumulated an overall record of 10-6 against Central, and is 6-2 in the friendly confines of the Convocation Center. The Eagles last loss to the Chips at home was Feb. 24, 2015.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE CHIPPEWAS: The Green and White outshot the Central from the floor for the game (59.6 percent to 44.6 percent), but CMU held the advantage from downtown (40 percent to 33.3 percent). Redshirt senior Paul Jackson dropped 21 points and added four assists, while sophomore Kevin McAdoo poured in a season-high 20 points. Redshirt senior Elijah Minnie added 18 points and redshirt junior Boubacar Toure turned in a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

MILESTONE WATCH: Senior James Thompson IV is the NCAA's active career rebound leader with 1,380 during his three-plus seasons with Eastern. The Baton Rouge, La. native needs 47 boards to pass all-time EMU record holder Kennedy McIntosh.
   Eastern also has a pair of redshirt seniors trying to become members of the 1,000 point club, as both Paul Jackson and Elijah Minnie are within striking distance of the milestone. Jackson needs 105 points, or an average of 21.0 over the final five games, to reach the mark. Minnie has slightly less ground to cover, needing 63 points, or an average of 12.6 points per game, in that stretch.

#MACTION JACKSON: After redshirt senior Paul Jackson's 13-game double-digit scoring streak was snapped at Kent State, Feb. 16, the Stone Mountain, Ga. native came back with a vengence against Toledo and Western Michigan, scoring 19 and 18 points, respectively. The redshirt senior has averaged 14.8 points since MAC play began, and has also averaged 5.6 assists, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per contest.
   The 13-game streak streak falls one short of Jackson's best of 14 that he rattled off from Nov. 12 to Jan. 6 last season.

DOING IT ALL: Redshirt senior Paul Jackson notched his fourth game of the season scoring 20-or-more points and dishing out six-or-more assists in his 20-point, 7-assist performance against Western Michigan, Feb. 23.
   The feat has only been reached on 12 occasions during the Rob Murphy era of EMU basketball, with Jackson having done it eight times. Mike Talley accomplished it twice in his career, and Raven Lee and Willie Mangum IV each did it once. Jackson is the only player to have multiple 20+ point and 6+ assist performances in the same season since 2011-12.
   Eastern's all-time leader in 20+ point and 6+ assist games is Earl Boykins, who notched 20 such games in his illustrious EMU career.

WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY: The Eagles have slowly climbed to the top of the MAC when it comes to blocked shots this season. Not only is their 4.7 blocks per contest best in the league, but three players are inside the top eight: Boubacar Toure, 3rd - 1.5; Eljiah Minnie, 7th - 1.2; James Thompson IV, 8th - 1.1. No other team has more than two players in the top 15.

LEADING THE LEAGUE: Eastern Michigan leads league in blocked shots per contest at 4.7 per game and are third in the MAC in offensive rebounds per game (12.6), thanks in large part to senior James Thompson IV. The forward leads the league in offensive rebounding (3.9) this season, while also sitting in second in the league in field goal percentage (64.8) and rebounding (10.3). The forward also has the top rebounding mark in MAC-only action, pulling down 10.7 boards per contest.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern Michigan hits the road Saturday, March 2 when it travels west to take on Northern Illinois University for a 2 p.m. CT showdown in DeKalb, Ill.

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Players Mentioned

Ty Groce

Paul Jackson

Kevin McAdoo

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Boubacar Toure

Eastern Michigan Athletics