Central Michigan men’s basketball coach Keno Davis earned his 200th career win as a head coach on Saturday as his Chippewas rolled to a 106-60 nonconference victory over Trinity Christian at McGuirk Arena.
“I wasn’t very smart when I got to the locker room,” said Davis, who, in his eighth year at CMU, is 126-110 in charge of the Chippewas and 200-165 in 12 years as a head coach. “I saw everybody going to the water cooler and getting water cups. I just thought everybody was really thirsty, so I didn’t quite see that I was going to get drenched (with water) as I came into the locker room.
“(The win) means a lot because of the group that I’m coaching right now, as well as the teams and players that I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to coach in my entire career. But most importantly, at CMU, it’s been quality people that I’ve gotten to work with, work for, and to be able to coach those players (on my pervious teams). It’s meant more to me because of being here than being anywhere else I could have been.”
Davis’ Chippewas have won at least 20 games three times in his seven years in charge of the program, and last year went 23-12, tying for the second-most victories in program history. It marked the fifth-consecutive year that CMU has finished .500 or better.
“When you get a milestone like this, there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it and (nobody) has worked harder than those assistant coaches and those players that put in the time where as a program, we’ve been a consistent winner for the last five years,” Davis said.
How It Happened
A Kevin McKay layup sparked a 22-5 half-closing run that put the Chippewas firmly in charge, 53-29, at the break.
Senior David DiLeo hit back-to-back 3-pointers shots during the game-deciding run to tie Braylon Rayson for second in program history with 271 triples.
The Chippewas scored 68 points in the paint to offset their 4-for-23 (17.4 percent) performance from 3-point range. CMU made 67.8 percent of its two-point field goal attempts.
CMU forced 23 turnovers with 13 of them coming off steals.
Leaders
McKay scored 18 points to lead six Chippewas in double figures. He made seven of his 10 field goal attempts and also grabbed six rebounds and two steals, giving him 134 thefts for his career. He needs one to move into the top 10 in program history.
David DiLeo added 16 points and Rob Montgomery had 15 for the Chippewas. Devontae Lane, a junior guard in his first season at CMU after transferring from Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College, posted career highs with seven assists and nine rebounds.
“We brought a lot of energy and ran the lane,” CMU guard Deschon Winston said. “We had a lot of open runouts with our big men running down the court, which is great, I love that.”
Said McKay: “We have a variety of different ways to score points. The 3 wasn’t falling, but we have a lot of guys who can push and penetrate (on) the fastbreak. We also drew a lot of fouls. We did a good job of getting to the line today and finishing layups.”
Silver Lining
The Chippewas’ struggles from the outside allowed Davis a look at an important aspect of his team’s performance, he said.
“Surprisingly, I’m glad that we didn’t make shots from the perimeter because I wanted to see how we would respond with our defensive energy,” he said. “I’ve had teams when they don’t make shots, they take more of them. We had guys like David DiLeo and other guys turning down shot opportunities to put the ball on the floor and make extra passes.”
Win No. 200
McKay has been a starter or key reserve since his arrival at CMU in 2016-17. He has played in 65 of Davis’ coaching victories.
“I’ve been here for four years now,” McKay said. “I’ve been a part of a lot of wins. He’s been coaching for a long time so to be a part of the team where he reached his 200th win is an honor.”
https://cmuchippewas.com/news/2019/11/23/mens-basketball-chippewas-deliver-win-no-200-for-davis.aspx
