EMU 10-2 at home and 0-8 on the road.  

65-56

EMU is annoying. They're not good enough to be a contender, but they're good enough to win a game or two against contenders. Just ask last year's Ohio Bobcats. They play at a glacial pace (less than 60 possessions per 40 minutes) and sit in a very effective 2-3 zone the whole game. The Eagles are long and anchored by some big bodies in the middle. They have the length to disrupt passes, prevent drives and extend the zone out pretty far. The Bobcats must be patient and unselfish. If DJ approaches this the right way, he can carve up that zone. If EMU makes DJ think he has to do this all himself, it's going to be a long night.

On the plus side, they have no real offense.

Gotta say; I like EMU's style of play.  They do the best they can with what they have and make teams pay for mistakes (Purdue, us last year.)  I hate that it's a style used against us though.  We're either going to be cold or we're going to carve them up; I doubt it'll be an in between.

Agreed. DJ needs to carve them up and I feel like our quicker players need to slash to the basket early and try to draw fouls on their inside players to make some space in the lanes.

I think Ivo will be critical in our offensive sets. Whenever I watch 2-3 zones, they often crumble if the offense is able get the ball to a high post player around the free throw line. That's when you have options - one dribble to the hoop, pass outside as the defense collapses, or rise for a jumper. I think Ivo's game can fit all of those roles well.

The easiest way to beat a team like EMU:  press the heck out of them.

Sure. I just didn't want to frame it that way.

Funny thing is...even though Eastern likes to keep the pace slow, they are capable of getting out in transition when they want to.

Which is almost never. Hope we induce this out of them. Rather have that than them sitting in the zone.

I get nervous anytime I see a zone came at this team.  In my humble opinion they don't seem to handle it that well, like when Kent threw the 2-3 at them late in the game on Saturday.  I'd love to see a confident Nick Kellogg make them pay with some deep bombs, but if he misses a couple early he may get scared like he did late against Kent and not pull the trigger.  That's one guy I wish would never stop shooting when he's got good looks.  I agree that Ivo flashing to the foul line would be a great way to combat the zone, but I'm not sure if Big Reg has the hands to be the one handling the ball that much away from the block.  

Eastern can't score, from what I can see in their results from this season.  It looks like they have topped 70 points just one time.  My biggest concern about this game is don't get caught looking ahead to Akron.  After the Winthrop debacle, we can't take anyone lightly.  My gut tells me it's an easy double digit win.  I'd like to see a solid game from Nick and I think either TJ or Ricardo could have a good game off the bench.  Bottom line, enjoy the game in the Convo because we don't get many here this month! 

Yes.  In the meantime, it's great that we've been finding ways to win these MAC games both at home and on the road UNTIL that big roll starts.