Game 24, 2025-26: Central Michigan (2/3)

[MikeUMA]

Time to focus on the task at hand: beating Central Michigan, tomorrow at 7. Get to Mullins if you can, ESPN+ if you can't.

We've never faced CMU before, and unfortunately we just missed seeing our alum Tony Barbee at their helm.
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id=tony_barbee
Tony coached at CMU for four seasons, and was MAC Coach of the Year in 2023-24, but as they regressed in 2024-25, CMU leadership kicked him to the curb pretty quickly. They apparently bought out the last year of his 5-year deal.

CMU went with Andy Bronkema as their latest head coach. He hails from a tiny town in rural Michigan, and then went to religious Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids. He stayed in town as a professional, working at the community college and then at D-II's Ferris State (they're D-I only in hockey). He became the Ferris head coach in 2013, and won the D-II natty in 2018. They were usually 20+ win teams under his leadership.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Bronkema

With the coaching change, CMU turned over their entire roster from last season. (This is the second squad we've seen so far with an entirely new player roster, NIU being the other.)

As you might expect with an entirely new bench, they're struggling a bit this year, currently 7-15 / 3-7 (10th). Two of the non-con wins were over non-D-Is. They've been in the 300s in NET most of the season. They have a couple of Quad 3 wins, both at home, over Kent State (87-85) and Bowling Green (62-59) a couple days ago. And they destroyed EMU a week ago, 100-65, while we barely beat EMU.

In the good news department: CMU is winless in true away games, at 0-10.

CMU has run a lot of different starting combos, but for the past 6 they've gone with:

• Nathan Claerbaut (7-0 230 Sr C), with 12.8 points (24th best in MAC) / 6.2 rebs (11th) / 1.5 assists. His size could pose a problem for us as we don't start a traditional center. He came with Bronkema from Ferris, and he's putting up better numbers now than he did in D-II. This season, he's shooting .582 from 2, and playing 28.6 minutes per game. Last season, he was their named to their conference's (GLIAC) All Defensive Team, as he was by far the conference leader in blocks (2.3 per game, 78 overall). He's retaining that lead position this season, #1 in the MAC in BPG at 1.9.
• Tamario Adley (6-1 195 Sr G), 11.6 / 4.7 / 3.6 (14th). Bronkema saw him as an opponent in the GLIAC, at Wayne State in the past two seasons. He played JuCo his first. He's #15 in the MAC in steals at 1.4 per game.
• Phat Phat Brooks (6-2 190 So G), 10.3 / 2.4 / 3.4 (16th). The All-Name Team member was Michigan's Mr. Basketball as a HS senior, then went to the flagship to start his college career, but struggled to get off the bench. Not having a great shooting year, at .389 overall and .174 from 3, but he generates some points by getting to the line (a team leading) 4.6 times per game, and hits .743.
• Logan McIntire (6-4 205 Sr G), 9.2 / 2.7 / 1.5. Started at Evansville, only played 14 total minutes as a frosh, downshifted to D-II's Kentucky Wesleyan, and was All Conference last season. He hits 2.2 threes per game (10th in MAC), at a rate of .366.
• Keenan Garner (6-6 220 So F), 8.2 / 5.3 (22nd) / 1.5. Played about 20 mpg at IU Indy in the Horizon League last season, then left after a coaching change. Shooting .575 from 2, and can hit an occasional 3 (7-14 on the season).

None of their starters cracked the top 25 among the MAC in mpg. They play 8 guys every game, then it trails off.
Rodney Johnson Jr. was getting 17 minutes per game and putting up 8.9 points, but hasn't played since mid-December, not sure why.
Jalen Kampen started playing in mid-December and has been averaging 14.6 minutes and 3.8 points.

As a team, they're 11th in the league in PPG (72.4) and 10th in D (77.6 ppg allowed). They're the only sub-.300 team from 3 (.295), hit less than 6 per game, but they're disciplined enough not to try a lot (11th in attempts). Defensive rebounding is a weakness, as they're last in the league. They're meh at best in all other areas.

This is one we must win. Would be nice to get one with a little cushion, but a W is a W.

Game notes
UM https://umassathletics.com/news/2026/2/ ... on-tuesday
Chips https://cmuchippewas.com/gameday/mens-b ... bball/652/

As for their program history...
They've been a MAC member since upgrading from D-II in 1971.

MAC titles, regular season (outright or divisional): 10, last 2016 (West Div)
MAC tournament (began in 1980) titles: 2, last 2003

NCAA Tournament (D-I) appearances: 4, 3-4 record
Last bid: 2003 (upset Creighton in the first round, fell to Duke in the next)
Farthest run: Sweet 16 in 1975

Keith Dambrot, who we saw at Duquesne, was their coach for a couple seasons in the early 90s. Ended quickly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Dambrot

CMU had a few 20+ win seasons in the late 2010s, but only one winning season (Barbee's MAC COY) since 2019. Since the MAC adopted the "top 8 only" for the conference tournament in 2021, CMU has been DNQ three out of the five, and that was a factor in moving on from Barbee.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... higan/men/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_M ... basketball

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Maybe Frank will play Clerc tonight.

[Juice Stand]

^ With that 7' center CMU has, Clerc might be a decent matchup. He doesn't attempt many 3's (0-7 on the year), so he's probably more of a traditional throwback big man. I could see Clerc getting some time in this one since he's a little bigger and stronger than Luka.

[Floyd]

Use 'em all. 15 fouls to use up between Leo, Luka. & Clerc to keep out of the paint & off the boards. Well, if they all practiced well

[devildawg3010]

BetMgm has UMass as -10.5 favorites. O/U 151.5 and a 75.8 win probability.

Chippewa's are struggling on the road as has been said, O-11 in last 11 road games. Either we blow them out or yet another close MAC game. Enjoying these close games, but would like to see a convincing win.

[MikeUMA]

Maybe Frank will play Clerc tonight.

I don't know why some of y'all are all bent out of shape about Clerc's lack of PT.

In Clerc's last two games:
1 minute of PT vs Ball State (1/10), 1 foul and a -2
3 minutes of PT vs Toledo (1/20), -5

Luka's last two games
16 minutes of PT vs EMU (1/31), 7 pts, 3-3 FG, 3 boards, a steal, -6 (not great, but a better ratio than Clerc's
15 minutes of PT at Miami (1/27), 6 pts, 3-3 FG, 1 reb, a steal, no +/- in that box score, but SideArm calculated a positive efficiency rating

Luka has a year advantage over Clerc, and maybe Clerc isn't responding to Frank's style. Frank also talks regularly about guys doing the right things in practice and that leads to game PT.

Would it be nice if we knew exactly what was going on? Of course, but unless you're in the room where it happens, you're not gonna know.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Maybe Frank will play Clerc tonight.

I don't know why some of y'all are all bent out of shape about Clerc's lack of PT.

Because he was moving in the right direction and starting to contribute. Then he sorta just vanished. I recognize it could be a multitude of things that have caused this, but it's not like Luca is setting the world on fire here.

It doesn't help that we have next to no one in the media to ask these types of questions, and as such you get people here asking instead.

[bobolink]

it's hard to know what to expect in this one. CMU has been close in most conference games, only losing by a lot to Akron and Miami. Winning their last 2, most recently blowing out EMU by 35 makes me nervous. UMass only beat EMU by 3, so going by just this past week's games, CMU should be favored. With some of the home games vs. D2 and road games like @Wisconsin and @St. Louis, it's hard to say road vs. home is what it's all about. I watched a little of their recent game and that 7' center looked like the real deal. The rest of the team, not so much. Then again, UMass shot 1 for 13 on 3s most recently. Not gonna win with that.

[Floyd]

Maybe Frank will play Clerc tonight.

I don't know why some of y'all are all bent out of shape about Clerc's lack of PT.

In Clerc's last two games:
1 minute of PT vs Ball State (1/10), 1 foul and a -2
3 minutes of PT vs Toledo (1/20), -5

Luka's last two games
16 minutes of PT vs EMU (1/31), 7 pts, 3-3 FG, 3 boards, a steal, -6 (not great, but a better ratio than Clerc's
15 minutes of PT at Miami (1/27), 6 pts, 3-3 FG, 1 reb, a steal, no +/- in that box score, but SideArm calculated a positive efficiency rating

Luka has a year advantage over Clerc, and maybe Clerc isn't responding to Frank's style. Frank also talks regularly about guys doing the right things in practice and that leads to game PT.

Would it be nice if we knew exactly what was going on? Of course, but unless you're in the room where it happens, you're not gonna know.

He had a couple good games contributing off the bench Mike and the other players were hyping him up. Then he made a bad play(s) and has been MIA since except for a couple very short appearances. Nobody is clamoring for him to be starting, just trying to understand what happened that is making him invisible. But I get it, we're not supposed to ask any questions

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Maybe Frank will play Clerc tonight.

I don't know why some of y'all are all bent out of shape about Clerc's lack of PT.

In Clerc's last two games:
1 minute of PT vs Ball State (1/10), 1 foul and a -2
3 minutes of PT vs Toledo (1/20), -5

Luka's last two games
16 minutes of PT vs EMU (1/31), 7 pts, 3-3 FG, 3 boards, a steal, -6 (not great, but a better ratio than Clerc's
15 minutes of PT at Miami (1/27), 6 pts, 3-3 FG, 1 reb, a steal, no +/- in that box score, but SideArm calculated a positive efficiency rating

Luka has a year advantage over Clerc, and maybe Clerc isn't responding to Frank's style. Frank also talks regularly about guys doing the right things in practice and that leads to game PT.

Would it be nice if we knew exactly what was going on? Of course, but unless you're in the room where it happens, you're not gonna know.

He had a couple good games contributing off the bench Mike and the other players were hyping him up. Then he made a bad play(s) and has been MIA since except for a couple very short appearances. Nobody is clamoring for him to be starting, just trying to understand what happened that is making him invisible. But I get it, we're not supposed to ask any questions

Even Jay brought it up during a broadcast a few games ago. But hey, we're all bent out of shape!

[MikeUMA]

But I get it, we're not supposed to ask any questions

I can't always detect sarcasm from text, so not sure if you're serious or not.

I don't mean don't ask questions, I just disagree. And yes, we need more and better questions from our limited press corps.

Related: I'd love to know why Josh Engel is on the official roster again this year, but he seems to be redshirting again. He travels to road games and has been relegated to managerial duties. I've been following this team since '91 and can't recall consecutive seasons of redshirting.

[inthescoop]

Thank you Bettiol for keeping us in the game!

I can’t imagine that he does not get First Team All-MAC

[bunkerhill87]

Need to figure out that kid dropping the 3s. We seem to give every team a career night for one of their guys. Love seeing Clerc in the game

[inthescoop]

Another game, Another player with a career high against us.. this time in the first half

[Berkman]

Need to start playing defense.