MAC Basketball Review: Color Scheme Factions

Notes from last night in MAC basketball:

Minnesota 76, CMU 56 — I hope every one of us here make color an issue. As in, your school colors are better than others'. It must be difficult for a school to understand which team is theirs if they haven't been paying attention. Both Minnesota and CMU boast maroon and gold colors, so perhaps it was a little helpful for the Chips to play at a Big Ten school with familiar hues surrounding their collective.

Nah, probably not. I mean, they did hold a narrow lead early in the first quarter on an ESPN-televised game, but doesn't everybody? Big Ten depth and stamina eventually wore out, and on defense every time I looked up I saw a CMU defender slow to rotate to the open man.

It's kind of amazing that it was only a 20-point loss despite a 5-for-5 night by Austin McBroom on 3-point shooting. Trey Zeigler also showcased his potential on national television as well, finishing with 19 points on 15 shots in one of his better games. Derek Jackson dunked (in the picture above) and finished with 15 points and three steals. What they did correctly was to take advantage of some sloppy Gopher ball handling, resulting in 10 steals and 18 turnovers. T'was about it, though.

Women's games:

Miami 70, Wright State 63 — The Lady RedHawks fared better than their male counterparts this past weekend against WSU. Thank Courtney Osborn for that: she had a season (but not career-best) 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and seven steals.

OHIO 50, Niagara 40 — Niagara did shoot 40 percent from the field but only mustered two offensive rebounds, which was the difference. They enjoyed about a double-digit lead all game and held the Purple Eagles to a mere 12 points at halftime. Tenishia Benson led the way with 15 points and six rebounds. A nice finish to their homestand as they prepare for a tournament in Vegas against some name teams: Oklahoma, Xavier, Syracuse.

Today's men's games:

7:00 p.m. — Marietta College (Division III) at OHIO
9:00 p.m. — DePaul at NIU

Today's women's games:

3:30 p.m. — CMU at Ole Miss
6:30 p.m. — Illinois-Chicago at NIU
7:00 p.m. — Akron at Duquesne