KENT: It is a little early in Mid-American Conference men’s basketball play to start thinking along the lines of must-win games.
Just don’t tell Kent State’s players that. The Golden Flashes have two tough divisional games in four days.
To make matters more difficult, both are on the road.
Kent State (12-4 overall, 2-1 in MAC) plays tonight at Ohio University (13-4, 1-2) and Saturday at the University of Akron (11-6, 3-0).
It’s a feat so difficult in the MAC, only the Zips have managed to pull it off so far in the East Division with road victories against Bowling Green and Miami. The rest of the MAC teams are 0-7 away from home in league play.
The Flashes contributed to that when they let a late second-half lead slip away in a one-point loss Jan. 7 at Buffalo.
“[This week] is real big for us,” Flashes junior forward Chris Evans said. “We’re trying to repeat in the MAC, and we know we got to win on the road to do so.
“We let one get away from us at Buffalo, so this is like our chance to bounce back on the road. And from what I’ve heard and what I know, it’s tough to play at both Ohio’s and Akron’s gym’s. We’re looking forward to the challenge, but we know it’s going to be a tough one.”
It’s going to be tough enough given the play of Ohio’s skilled guards. So the Flashes simply can’t make it harder on themselves with the kind of erratic play they displayed Saturday against Bowling Green.
Against the Falcons, KSU overcame a slow offensive start with a furious first-half comeback, only to take their foot off the pedal and allow the Falcons to almost come from behind and erase a double-digit deficit thanks to a 60-point second half.
“I don’t think we can give up 60 points in the second half of either of these two games [this week] and win,” KSU coach Rob Senderoff said. “I hope we don’t give up 60 in a whole game.”
Pulling back on their defensive effort instead of finishing off an opponent has been a bad pattern established by the Flashes since league play began earlier this month.
“Coming into league play, we were the best defensive team in the league statistically … according to the computer rankings,” Senderoff said. “In our three league games, I would venture to guess that after [Saturday], we’re probably 12th. Our team is built on defense and we’re going to have to get back to that grind mentality, especially this week on the road.”
The players understand that another slip away from home could cost them dearly in the long run.
“Going to OU is going to be tough,” senior point guard Michael Porrini said. “Every road game in the MAC, or any conference, is tough. But we just have to keep on playing. Play like we did in Buffalo for a majority of the game, but step it up another notch.”
Despite such a daunting task, winning on the road is something Senderoff knows his veteran-laden group can handle.
“We’ve been pretty good on the road for the most part this year at 4-2,” he said. “So our kids won’t lack confidence.”
Greene giant
Spun in a positive way, it appears that Kent State senior forward Justin Greene was just saving himself for MAC play.
Last season,/ he came out of the gate so fast on offense, he was physically and mentally worn down by the end of the season. This year, Greene’s numbers were down before recently picking up his offense in league play.
Senderoff isn’t so sure he’s buying that idea as the reason why Greene, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, has started playing a lot better.
And after a slow start at Buffalo, in which Greene fouled out in the second half of a 66-65 loss, Greene has led the way offensively for KSU in last week’s games.
For his efforts, the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Greene picked up his 10th Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week honor Monday after averaging 23 points against Miami and Bowling Green.
Greene is averaging a league-best 20.7 points in his three league games. He is the only active league player with more than 1,000 points, 100 blocks and 100 steals in a career, after becoming just the ninth player in Kent State history to score more than 1,300 career points. Heading into tonight’s game, Greene’s 1,311 points are the most by a Flashes player since Trevor Huffman (1998-02).
Stephanie Storm can be reached at sstorm@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Stephanie on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sstorm13. Follow Beacon Journal sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
