Kentucky basketball: Five things to know about the Central Michigan Chippewas
Five things to know about Kentucky basketball’s Monday night opponent, the Central Michigan Chippewas:
1. Central Michigan is coached by Tony Barbee
Former Kentucky assistant coach Tony Barbee is in his first season as the men’s basketball coach at Central Michigan. The 50-year-old Barbee is a native of Indianapolis who played for John Calipari at UMass from 1989-1993 and served as a grad assistant at UMass from 1995-1998.
This is Barbee’s third head coaching job. He was an assistant at Wyoming under Steve McClain in 1998-99 before joining Bruiser Flint at UMass in 1999-2000. He rejoined Calipari at Memphis from 2000-2006 before being named head coach at UTEP, following Doc Sadler, who had followed Billy Gillispie.
Barbee went 85-23 in four seasons as head coach of the Miners, who went 26-7 and made the NCAA Tournament in 2010. Barbee was named head coach at Auburn in 2011, replacing Jeff Lebo, but went just 49-75 in four seasons with the Tigers. After being replaced by Bruce Pearl, Barbee rejoined Calipari for the 2014-15 season.
2. Barbee took over a rebuilding job
Barbee’s predecessor as Central Michigan coach was Keno Davis, who compiled a 142-143 record in nine years as coach of the Chippewas. The son of former Boston College and Iowa coach Tom Davis, Davis had gone 46-50 in three seasons at Providence before becoming CMU’s coach in 2012.
Davis’ best season at Central Michigan was 2014-15 when CMU went 23-9, but the program never made the NCAA Tournament under its former coach. After falling to 14-18 in 2019-20 and 7-16 last season, Davis was let go on April 5.
Davis had replaced Ernie Ziegler, who went 75-111 as Central Michigan’s coach from 2006-07 through the 2011-12 season. Ziegler never posted a winning record at CMU, though his 2009-10 team was 9-7 in the MAC. Ziegler is now on Ben Howland’s staff at Mississippi State.
3. Central Michigan brings a 1-4 record to Rupp Arena
The Mid-American Conference team opened the season with a 78-68 loss at Missouri on Nov. 9. The Chippewas lost 99-66 at DePaul on Nov. 13. (DePaul is 6-0 right now, making DeWayne Peevy a happy man.) The Chippewas rallied from a 32-12 first-half deficit to win 62-61 at Eastern Illinois on Nov. 15. They then lost 107-54 to then No. 1-ranked Gonzaga and 76-69 to Scott Davenport and Bellarmine in the Empire Classic in Las Vegas on Nov. 22-23.
Central Michigan is ranked No. 315 in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted efficiency rankings. According to Pomeroy, CMU is 277th in adjusted offensive efficiency, 330rd in adjusted defensive efficiency. Pomeroy has UK at No. 14. The Cats are 13th offensively and 29th defensively.
Jeff Sagarin’s computer ranks Central Michigan at No. 309, with CMU’s strength of schedule ranked 61st. Sagarin has Kentucky’s strength of schedule at No. 329. His computer ranks UK at No. 15 overall.
4. Central Michigan has had trouble rebounding
The Chippewas rank No. 353 nationally in offensive rebound percentage at 17.6. They are not much better on the defensive glass either, ranking No. 326 at 34.9 percent. Meanwhile, Kentucky is No. 2 nationally in offensive rebound percentage (48.0) and 47th in defensive rebound percentage (23.2).
Central Michigan was outrebounded 44-31 by Missouri; 46-27 by DePaul; 42-36 by Eastern Illinois; 51-23 by Gonzaga and 32-28 by Bellarmine.
The rebounding numbers should improve now that Ralph Bissainthe is back in the lineup. The 6-foot-7 senior from North Miami, Fla., missed the first three games of the season. Since his return, Bissainthe has 18 rebounds in two games. Harrison Henderson, a 6-11 senior from Dallas, is averaging five rebounds a game. Brian Taylor, a 6-6 guard from Detroit, is averaging 5.2 rebounds per game.
5. Jermaine Jackson is Central Michigan’s leading scorer
Jermaine Jackson, a 6-foot senior from Shelby Township, Mich., leads the team in scoring at 13.6 points per game. Jackson is off to a terrific start from three-point range, hitting 15 of 34 attempts for 44.1 percent. He’s also at 87.5 percent from the foul line.
Jackson scored 17 points in Central Michigan’s last game, the loss to Bellarmine in Vegas. He went 4-of-9 from three-point range and was 6-of-11 from the floor overall. Jackson hit five of his 10 three-point shots in the loss at Missouri on Nov. 9.
[Central Michigan basketball statistics]
Harrison Henderson is the only other CMU player averaging double figures. A 6-11 senior from Dallas, Henderson is averaging 10.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He scored 21 points against Bellarmine, going 7-of-13 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.
As a team, Central Michigan ranks 111th nationally in three-point percentage at 35.4. It is 15th nationally in percentage of its points that come from three-pointers at 43.3 percent.
This story was originally published November 29, 2021 at 11:15 AM.
