Friday, November 30, 2007

Eastern Michigan Preview

The Eagles of Eastern Michigan visit the Joyce Center tomorrow night.

Leading the way is top scorer Jesse Buckley. The 6'5" senior wing averages 15.4 a night with 2.5 rebounds in 31.2 minutes. He shoots 45% from beyond the arc, hitting 21 of 47. That seems to be his only way of scoring, as only four of his total buckets have come from inside.

The only other player with a double digit scoring average is Carlos Medlock. The junior guard averages 13.3 points per game, but shoots only 35% from the floor. We need to put some pressure on him and force him to take bad shots.

The top rebounder is Justin Dobbins (7.2 RPG). Wendale Farrow and Will Cooper round out the starting 5.

This is a struggling basketball team. 3-3 with wins over St. Bonaventure, Manhattan, and Radford, but they have suffered ugly losses at the hands of traditional powerhouses Brown and Oakland. Wednesday's 72-68 loss to Detroit Mercy came after the Eagles built a 10 point lead with 10 minutes to play in the 2nd half. Mercy outscored EMU 28-14 to close out the game. Medlock led the team with 21 points, while the Eagles were outshot 56% to 44%.

Eastern Michigan will be featured in the BracketBuster weekend February 23rd. Provided the Irish win, this could potentially turn into a surprisingly good victory if the Eagles upset someone in February. Or not.

Hopefully the Irish can control this game from start to finish. As EMU's premier opponent, it would be nice to get them out of their rhythm early to keep any upset dreams out of their minds.

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