Image via Eastern Michigan Athletics
November is here, and so is basketball season. The two Eastern Michigan basketball teams split their season openers Monday in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.
The women, at home, lost 74-62 to Appalachian State. EMU missed 15 shots from the field in the first 10 minutes of action to see a 23-12 deficit, but muddied up the second quarter to take a 3-point lead at the half before App State ran the show in the second half.
The men, at Coastal Carolina, survived a 71-70 thriller. A tight game all the way to the finish, Mohammad Habhab’s 34 points (18 free throws) and 13 rebounds led EMU’s efforts on the day, and Jaiden Martin was 3-for-6 behind the 3-point line to add 17 points.
Some recaps from you, including this newsletter’s debut covering a women’s hoops game:
WBB: App State 74, EMU 62
Both teams had poor-shooting quarters in the first half. EMU missed its first eight shots of the game before an Owilia Pelka and-1 put the team’s first three points on the board. EMU shot 25% in the first 10 minutes, and App State did almost as poorly shooting in the second quarter at 27%.
But EMU (0-1) eventually shot worse later than it did early. By quarter, EMU’s field goal percentages went from 25% in the first (5-20) to 73% in the second (8-11), 35% in the third (6-17), then 20% in the fourth (3-15).
Sahar Nusseibeh, now in her third year as head coach of EMU’s women’s squad (47-104 record), said after the game that she just didn’t see App State’s defensive game plan coming.
“I'll take the blame in terms of the game plan. I don't think I anticipated them going match-up zone from wire to wire, and so that's on me,” Nusseibeh said after the game.
They didn't play a ton of it last year. They did sprinkle it in, but I think we were kind of caught on our heels early. We were down early, and then I thought we gained our composure in the second quarter.”
Then the second half crashed in on EMU. They turned the ball over 13 times in the second half, and App State got 11 points off of those.
Zoe Guice: disruptor
Eight minutes into her EMU career, starting point guard Zoe Guice (D2 Clarion transfer) had three steals. The first came immediately after Pelka’s first points of the season, which led to fast-break points (assist to Believe Tshibangu) to make it an early 7-5 game. The second, mismatched against App State’s tallest player in the paint (Feryal Defne Atli, 6’3”), Guice stole the obvious pass, and the new EMU possession turned into a foul against the visitors. On her third steal, she prevented an initial bucket in the paint, then swatted at Raven Preston’s pass to force a loose ball. Guice got the ball, but no score on the other end.
“Zoe's really tough,” Nusseibeh said. “When I saw her clips this off-season, we knew we needed to replace a tough point guard from last year (Ainhoa Cea, aka Noe), … but she's just really tough. She's gritty. She's hard-nosed. She's a coach's kid.
“Zoe's here to get maxed out and reach her potential, and so she's going to be challenged every day… You're going to continue to see a lot of gritty play on the defensive end and tough play on the offensive end from her all season.”
Three finished with double digits
Fernanda Ovalle (19, off the bench), Peyton Hill (15), and Pelka (13) led the scoring Monday.
Ovalle was 7 of 14 from the field, 2 of 6 from 3-point range, and was perfect at the free-throw line (3-3). Pelka, too, made all her free throws (3-3) and was 2 of 3 on corner 3-pointers. Hill, named the MAC’s top freshman last year, drew five fouls against App State, had eight rebounds, stole the ball three times, had three assists, and was 6 of 16 shooting from the field.
Though Nusseibeh believes that if Hill had, at times, paced herself a little bit more, then maybe she could’ve had an even bigger scoring night.
“I think she's gonna watch film back and see there were more moments where she could have kind of settled herself a little bit and made better decisions for herself and for her team, where I think that 6 of 16 goes to 11 of 16, and that's what I know she'll bring in the next game.”
More numbers
REBOUNDS: EMU out-rebounded App State, and even showed up on the offensive end with 17 (led by Beieve Tshibangu’s 7 offensive boards, 9 total) to App State’s 25 defensive rebounds. EMU got 16 second-chance points, but that’s not enough for as many put-back chances the team had.
GUICE: Guice led the entire floor with 38:31 of game time, but could only muster up 4 points in her EMU opener (1-6 FG, 2-2 FT). The point guard also had 5 assists to match her 5 turnovers, and 4 steals.
CLARK: Ni’Rah Clark, like Guice, was 1-of-6 from the field, and 2 points with 2 turnovers. Clark (Akron) and Guice are two of the three transfers to join EMU’s roster this year. The third is Chey McEvans (Nevada), a Detroit native who is still battling an injury.
FAST BREAK PTS: App State had 22; EMU finished with 6.
FREE THROWS: As a team, EMU only missed one free throw. It was 12 of 13 collectively; App State was 5 of 8.
Next up: the women have six straight road games before it sees another home game (in December). EMU goes to Purdue Thursday (last year’s record: 13-17).
MBB: EMU 71, Coastal Carolina 70
While big #4 wasn’t included in the team’s opening lineup, Habhab still dominated the men’s road opener at Coastal Carolina with 34 points and 13 rebounds.
Habhab had seven games last year where he had at least 20 points, but that was the first time he’s ever reached the 30-point game milestone.
Habhab commanded a lot of attention with the basketball (evidence: 21 free throw attempts), Martin, a transfer from Parkland C.C., added 17 points, and Kaden Johnson, in from NAIA-level Huntington, had five rebounds, two blocks, and three assists were key contributors in their first games with EMU.
Two weeks ago, Sencire Harris, a combo guard who transferred to EMU (1-0) from Cincinnati (and previously West Virginia), left the team. He was expected to be another new starter for this EMU lineup.
Without Harris and his defensive ability, EMU was still able to keep Coastal’s top offensive player, Trey Harris, to 20 points (8-19 FG, 2-2 FT).
EMU is off on the right foot with first-year head coach Billy Donlon. His team will hit the road again later this week with a game Friday at Xavier, coached by Rick Pitino (last year’s record: 15-18).
