4B || Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011 || Central Michigan Life
Bench must step up
men’s basketball
Thomas unlikely to play Thursday Senior suffered Grade 2 ankle sprain at Ball State By Aaron McMann Sports Editor
Ernie Zeigler could see it on his players’ faces. Holding onto a one-possession lead in the second half at Ball State on Saturday, any sense of momentum came to a grinding halt when Jalin Thomas fell to the floor at Worthern Arena reeling in pain. On a layup that gave CMU a 5-point lead with less than 11 minutes to play, Thomas landed wrong on his left ankle and had to come out of the game. “We had momentum,” Zeigler said. “We had been in control of the game for the first 30 minutes or so and when he went down, guys unexpectedly saw themselves in a new role.” A new role that put each of them in a position to try and make up for the lost offense Thomas provided. Up until his injury, he scored all of the team’s 12 second-half points. But now the Central Michigan men’s basketball team faces uncertainty heading into its game Thursday against Northern Illinois at McGuirk Arena. While Thomas didn’t suffer a fracture, as some had feared, the injury was a Grade 2 ankle sprain. With it comes a suggested 10-14 day recovery period. In the team’s first practice back on Monday, he sat out with a boot on his leg. Regardless, both he and Zeigler are hopeful he can give it a go Thursday. “Everybody feels differently,” Thomas said. “I try to look at it positively and, hopefully, maybe something will happen and I’m able to play.” If he’s unable to play, the more likely scenario, then CMU will
jake may/photo editor
Senior forward Jalin Thomas went down with a left ankle sprain Saturday at Ball State. He did not practice earlier in the week and is doubtful for Thursday’s game against NIU.
be faced with playing the Huskies (6-9, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) without one of its two scoring options. Thomas was averaging 15.1 points per game, second to freshman Trey Zeigler’s 17 points per game mark. Behind those two? Derek Jackson, Andre Coimbra and Amir Rashid – all averaging less than six points per game. With very few individuals capable to putting up numbers similar to Thomas’, Zeigler said he’s looking to get more production out of several guys rather just one. “I don’t think it’s just putting it on one guy to take the place of Jalin’s potential 18-20 points and 5-8 rebounds per game,” Zeigler said. “We have to get more effort and different guys stepping up. It’s something that has to be collectively dispersed through the next guy in and throughout the lineup.” Silas a scoring threat While freshman Trey will be expected to carry a lot of the load offensively, he will face his
toughest task of the season defensively. The Huskies boast one of the premier guards in the country in Xavier Silas, and Trey and senior Antonio Weary have been tasked the duty of trying to guard Silas. The 6-foot-5, 198pounder currently leads the MAC in scoring and is fourth in the country with 23.6 points per game. He also leads the conference in free throw shooting at 87.7 percent. “It’s going to be a challenge for me and Antonio,” Trey said. “We just have to step up to the plate, limit his touches and slow him down a little bit.” NIU is coming off a pair of conference wins last week against Eastern Michigan and Toledo. In the game against EMU, Silas scored 31 on 11-of14 shooting, including a cool 6-for-6 from behind the 3-point line. “He’s an absolute load,” Ernie Zeigler said. “Trey and Antonio are going up against the best player they’ve seen all year long.” sports@cm-life.com
football
CMU hires new QB coach By Aaron McMann Sports Editor
CMU has hired former Miami (OH) offensive coordinator Morris Watts as its new quarterbacks coach, a source confirmed to Central Michigan Life on Monday. The move was first reported by ChippewasInsider.com Sunday. An announcement is expected to be made later in the week. Watts, 74, has more than 40 years of coaching experience. He spent the last two seasons at Miami, serving as quarterbacks coach in 2009 and offensive coordinator in 2010. Under Mike Haywood, he helped turn the RedHawks around from a 1-11 record in 2009 to 10-4 and a Mid-American Conference championship this season. Watts comes to the Chip-
pewas as a byproduct of Haywood’s issues at Pittsburgh. He was tabbed to be the Panthers new ofMorris Watts fensive coordinator until Haywood was arrested on a domestic violence charge and subsequently fired by the university. Before his time at Miami, Watts bounced around the college and pro ranks, even coaching at the high school level in 2007 and 2008. He was head coach Dan Enos’ offensive coordinator at Michigan State from 1987-90. Watts replaces Jay Johnson, who left CMU on Jan. 3 to become the offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette.
cm-life.com/category/sports
[Sports]
Daoust departs With one change comes another. Defensive line coach Tim Daoust has left the program to become an assistant coach at Syracuse University. The move was confirmed Monday by Syracuse. The move happened in the last week as CMU posted an opening for a defensive line coach on the NCAA job search website Friday. Daoust spent one season with the Chippewas, heading a defensive line that ranked 10th in the Mid-American Conference in rush defense, giving up 171.9 yards per game. Before arriving in Mount Pleasant, Daoust was defensive backs coach (2007-09) and defensive line coach (2006) at Western Michigan. sports@cm-life.com
Let’s call a spade a spade. Jalin Thomas will not play tomorrow as the Central Michigan men’s basketball team plays Northern Illinois. Is it official? No. Coach Ernie Zeigler is taking the “wait-and-see” approach in hopes of a miracle return to the lineup from a Grade-2 ankle sprain — one that usually takes significantly longer than the five days CMU’s 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior forward has taken to rest. Actually, he’s officially listed as “probable.” But nobody should get their hopes up of seeing Thomas on the floor, not when he’s wearing a boot to start the week. If he starts, he will be limited. And for a team that has just two real scoring threats — Thomas and freshman guard Trey Zeigler — the injury creates problems. It creates lineup problems. It creates scoring problems. It creates defensive problems. There’s a steep decline from Thomas’ 15.1 points per game, which is second only to Zeigler’s 17 per game, to CMU’s next best scorer. That next best scorer, freshman guard Derek Jackson, comes off the bench. His 5.6 points-per-game average is just ahead of senior starting guard Amir Rashid and junior reserve forward Andre Coimbra, who score 5.3 per game, respectively. But Rashid is not a pure scorer. Really, he’s not a scorer at all. In the words of CMU playby-play man Don Chiodo during CMU’s 64-55 loss to Ball State: “Amir takes a wideopen 14-footer! Oh, just off the mark.” That’s paraphrasing. The exact words were something similar. The end result was the same. Rashid: 0-for-5 from the field in 30 minutes playing time. Zero points. He did lead CMU with four assists, though, but that’s what CMU needs Rashid to be. Like
Andrew Stover Senior Reporter when he led the Chippewas with seven assists in their 65-52 win against Toledo, CMU needs Rashid to be a ball mover — a pace setter. Never do they expect their point guard to lead their team in shooting percentage. Coimbra is an energy guy and a big man. He is brought in for his length and spunk, rather than the ability to dominate. He topped out at 12 points in the season opener against Cal State Fullerton. He has yet to match that total, and only one other time did he reach double digits (10 points against Detroit on Dec. 18). Coimbra likely will be one of the key beneficiaries, as his minutes will go up if Thomas is not in the front court. But Jackson is the wild card, at least in regards to scoring. CMU went to a small lineup with Thomas out; Jackson saw 32 minutes of playing time. Jackson only put up nine shots, but they were third-most
on the team, behind Zeigler’s 20 attempts and Thomas’ 12. He seems to be the next guy in line that can help, possibly taking advantage of extensive playing and more open looks. But Ernie Zeigler stressed not letting the bigger workload fall on one person. Surely, Thomas’ defense would be missed in the front court if he doesn’t suit up. He routinely is matched up against other team’s bigs. Who takes that role now? Senior Antonio Weary is just 6-3, so does Coimbra and freshman Colin Voss see minutes at the expense of a better scoring threat in Jackson? We all will find out a lot about CMU’s depth and strategy on Thursday. Thomas may shock us and play; he wouldn’t be the same Jalin Thomas, though. The confidence in his ankle may be shaky. The amount of wear-and-tear he could take would be limited. The depth will be tested regardless if he plays, and someone will have to respond. Whether that’s Rashid, or maybe Coimbra or Jackson off the bench, it doesn’t matter. It has to be more than the Jalin and Trey show. Thursday would be a nice night to shed that label. sports@cm-life.com