| Tuesday, February 10 2009 |
Al Fisher & Kent State travel to NIU
A pair of games are slated for tip-off tonight in the MAC with divsional cross-over play continuing. Miami visits Central Michigan while Kent State travels to Northern Illinois. The MAC East has won twelve straight against the MAC West and 22 of 24 contests so far this year. Get a preview of each game here.
Miami (14-7, 7-2 MAC) at Central Michigan (6-15, 3-6 MAC)
7 p.m. Miami leads series 45-16
Miami continues a two-game road stretch at Central Michigan when the RedHawks battle the Chippewas at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Miami has won four straight and seeks a season-long fifth straight win. The RedHawks also try to improve their MAC road record to 5-0. Central Michigan looks to halt a three-game losing streakAfter averaging a double-double of 13.5 ppg and 10.0 rpg two weeks ago as Miami picked up wins against Northern Illinois and at Eastern Michigan, senior forward/center Tyler Dierkers responded by again averaging a double-double as he helped Miami to wins against Ball State and at Toledo. Last week, Dierkers averaged 11.0 ppg and 10.5 rpg. Over Miami's last four games, Dierkers has averaged 12.3 ppg and 10.3 rpgCentral Michigan leads the league in steals per game, with 8.66 takeaways per game in MAC play. Bitzer leads the MAC in league games in steals, averaging 2.67 per gameThe game features the top two three-point shooters in the MAC as CMU's Robbie Harman ranks first with 2.43 treys per game while Miami's Michael Bramos is second with 2.33.
Kent State (12-11, 5-4 MAC) at Northern Illinois (6-15, 2-7 MAC)
8 p.m. Kent State leads series 26-17
On the heels of a four game winning streak KentState travels to Northern Illinois on Tuesday for its final MAC West road game of the season. The Golden Flashes are also looking to win three straight MAC road games for the first time since a five game streak in the 2005-06 seasonKSU is holding a 21-8 edge in points scored off turnovers and has forced at least 17 turnovers in each of the last four games with a +7.8 advantage in turnover margin during the stretchLed by Tyree Evans with a team best 13.3 ppg, the Golden Flashes hold a 26.0 to 8.3 edge in bench points during the four game win streakNorthern Illinois has lost five straight after a 68-46 defeat at Buffalo on Tuesday. Last seasons MAC Rookie of the Year, Darion Anderson leads the team with 16.3 points and 5.4 reboundsFor the third-consecutive season, Northern Illinois has suffered at least a five-game losing streak in MAC playIn the Huskies' current five-game skid, NIU has been out-scored by its opponents, 72.8-52.6, and has been out-rebounded by seven caroms per game (37.8-30.8). The Huskies' opponents have dished out 13.2 assists per game during the stretch, compared to just 9.4 helpers for NIU.
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