Akron at Central Michigan, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3
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Mount Pleasant, Michigan is the home of the Central Michigan Chippewas and the home of tonight’s Under the Radar Game of the Day. CMU, sitting at 10-5 overall (though 0-2 in MAC play) will be playing host to the Akron Zips, our current projected MAC champion. The Chippewas are undefeated at home this season, having won all six contests at McGuirk Arena. They are led by Marcus Keene, one of the nation’s most prolific scorers. Keene has struggled over his last three games, scoring 16, 22 and 14 points respectively. Although those numbers would be great for many players, they are his three lowest totals on the season so far. If he is able to bring back the form that had him scoring 40 points to go with 11 assists and 7 rebounds against Green Bay back in December, Akron will be in a lot of trouble tonight.
Akron currently sits at 12-3 overall and 2-0 in MAC play, tied with Ohio for first play in the MAC East Division. Isaiah Johnson continues to be a force down low for the Zips, having picked up his third double-double of the season last time out against Western Michigan. In that game, Johnson scored 16 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. Also keep an eye on Jimond Ivey, who has scored in double figures in 6 of the Zips’ last 7 games. Ivey scored a career high 23 points in his team’s conference opening win over Bowling Green last week. If Johnson, Ivey and the rest of the Zips can continue to play as well as they have so far this season, they have a great chance to make it back to the Big Dance for the first time since 2013.