Central Michigan (5-5) at Arizona (5-5) | McKale Center | 2 p.m. Saturday | ESPN+ | 1290-AM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA
G Jaden Bradley (6-3 junior)
G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)
F Anthony Dell'Orso (6-6 junior)
F Trey Townsend (6-6 senior)
C Tobe Awaka (6-8 junior)
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
G Anthony Pritchard (6-2 senior)
G Kyler VanderJagt (6-4 junior)
F Cayden Vasko (6-6 soph.)
F Jakobi Heady (6-6 senior)
C Hunter Harding (7-0 soph.)
How they match up
The series: UA has never faced Central Michigan in men’s basketball.
Central Michigan overview: After surpassing expectations to finish fourth in the MAC last season, the Chippewas lost six of their top seven scorers but have managed a 5-5 record so far this season while playing seven of their 10 games away from home. They won at South Alabama to open the season and also won at George Mason, while playing competitively in road losses to Marquette (70-62) and Minnesota (68-65).
One major reason is that the one key returnee left is do-it-all point guard Anthony Pritchard, who averages 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game while shooting 37.5% from 3-point range.
CMU coach Tony Barbee, a former standout player at UMass who coached under John Calipari at Kentucky, managed to upgrade the roster talent by pulling in five D-I transfers, three juco transfers and three freshmen. Also a former head at Auburn and UTEP, Barbee said before the season that he now has the most talented team he’s had at Central Michigan.
The Chippewas’ leading scorer and rebounder is forward Jakobi Heady, a second-team all-SWAC pick at Bethune-Cookman last season. An aggressive scorer who shoots just 22.9% from 3-point range in all games (CMU has played three non Division I schools), Heady is a 51.0% shooter from two-point range against Division I teams and hits 82.4% of his free throws.
Central Michigan’s big men have been banged up, with Boston College transfer Armany Mighty out all season and Lithuanian center Ugnius Jarusevicius missing the Chippewas’ loss to Mississippi State on Tuesday. Jarusevicius, who played for Lithuanian’s U20 team in 2022 as UA center Motiejus Krivas did last summer, remains questionable for Saturday while 7-foooter Hunter Harding has also been limited by injury. Bryan Ndjonga, a versatile Cameroonian transfer from Cal State Northridge, has started five of seven games while playing both power forward and center.
On the wing, Belmont transfer Kyler VanderJagt hits 36.0% of his 3-pointers and juco transfer Damarion Bonds is shooting 38.5% from 3 in Division I games off the bench.
He said it: “They'll push it. They hunt 3s in transition. They’ll set drag screens. But overall, I think they're pretty half course set oriented.
“They’re a solid team. They have good pieces. Pritchard is the heart and soul of their team because he's the top scorer, he facilitates, he has a lot of responsibility. (Heady) is like a firecracker. He shoots some crazy shots but if they go in, it could get dangerous. He's ultra aggressive. He’ll break off plays and go iso. They have the big Lithuanian kid (Jarusevicius) that they run a couple sets for, looking for him inside. They’ve got a pretty good balance, with other role players, connectors, and good shooters.
“(Jarusevicius) is physical. He shoots five free throws a game and they get him in great spots, so he doesn't need to dribble and finish. But he's totally capable of making a move in post-up situations and ball screens. He’s popped a little bit. I’ve seen him shoot a couple shots on the pop and also just as a trail.
“(Ndjonga) is a mobile big. I've seen him grab rebounds and then push the ball up the floor. He can shoot a little bit. He’s had a couple assists at the top. Harding is more of a (low-post) 7-footer. He has a pretty good feel for the game.”
“(Bonds and VanderJagt) are kind of their snipers. We’ve got to make sure they don’t get off many 3s.
“They're tested. They’re definitely not going to come in here scared.” — UA assistant coach Ken Nakagawa, who scouted the Chippewas
Key players
Central Michigan – Anthony Pritchard
After mostly starting over his first two college seasons at Tulsa, Pritchard became the MAC’s Defensive Player of the Year last season at CMU and now, in his fourth year of college basketball, is the MACs preseason Player of the Year. Rated the No. 88 player overall in college basketball by Lindy’s, Pritchard is a solid, high IQ pass-first point guard who can score from all levels.
Central Michigan’s Anthony Pritchard has the 15th best steal percentage in Division I college basketball.
Arizona — Carter Bryant
In another shift due to Krivas' injury, the Wildcats are now giving some minutes at power forward to Bryant, who has played and practiced mostly at small forward this season. UA coach Tommy Lloyd says in his system, that’s a big difference to adjust to — especially for a freshman. Saturday's game should give him more time to acclimate.
Arizona forward Carter Bryant (9) shoots the ball over Southern Utah guard Jamir Simpson (3) during a game at McKale Center, Dec. 7, 2024.
Sidelines
T-P tradition
If you had trouble finding toilet paper in the Central Michigan University bathrooms during the early 1980s, chances were that the Chippewas were having a bad season.
According to a 2023 story by local NPR affiliate WCMU, a few frustrated fans tried bringing more life into games by throwing toilet paper on the floor during a game against Toledo in February 1983. Then they accelerated the trend against Kent State in the next game.
“It ignited the fans,” Grant Skomski, then a director of the Thorpe Hall residence, told WCMU. “It caught on for the students at the arena and on campus like wildfire. Everybody was talking about it. I was getting phone calls 'Hey, can we join in?' I said, 'It's not for me to say. You really shouldn't be doing that.’
“What it started was a run on toilet paper (at Thorpe) and other residence halls.”
What became a frequent occurrence peaked in 1986-87, when a stronger Chippewas team featured eventual Suns star Dan Majerle. Thousands of rolls were tossed on to the floor after the Chippewas scored their first basket against rival Western Michigan that season, and a photo of the moment made it into a two-page spread in People Magazine.
Fans threw thousands of rolls of toilet paper on the floor at a Central Michigan basketball game in 1986-87.
In 2023, CMU revived the tradition and began holding annual Toilet Paper Toss games, though they are now much more structured affairs.
Fans attending this season’s TP Toss, to be held on Jan. 25 against Western Michigan, will be given toilet paper rolls as they enter the arena and a planned pre-game time for the toss will be determined.
CMU says that all toilet paper tossed now will be recycled, too.
Tribe OK with CMU nickname
While many teams have changed nicknames and/or logos tied to Native Americans in recent decades, Central Michigan has stuck with the Chippewas.
The reason is that the actual Chippewas living nearby seem to be fine with it.
Even though CMU was on an NCAA list of 18 schools with mascots or nicknames deemed offensive, it was also one of five granted a waiver, along with Utah (Utes), Florida State (Seminoles), Catawba (Indians) and Mississippi College (Choctaws).
Citing a relationship that goes back decades, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe chief Anthony Davis said in a statement that he saw “the value in education and outreach opportunities in sharing the nickname,” according to a 2020 Detroit Free Press story.
CMU president Bob Davies, who worked for Indiana University of Pennsylvania when criticism of its “Indians” nickname led to a switch to “Crimson Hawks,” indicated CMU had a partnership with the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, based near CMU outside Mount Pleasant, Mich.
“The tribe is the one that determines how we use it," Davies said. "At any point in time, that can change. That's the tribe's decision, not necessarily our decision."
According to the Free Press, freshmen CMU athletes are required to learn from local tribal leaders about the past and present of Indigenous people, while the university partners with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe for a number of community events.
Eyes on the video
While Saturday’s game is the first that UA assistant coach Ken Nakagawa is serving as the Wildcats’ lead game scout, he said it hasn’t changed his routine much. Since arriving with UA coach Tommy Lloyd from Gonzaga in 2021, Nakagawa has helped veteran assistant Steve Robinson with his scouting assignments.
“When I was helping coach Rob, I always prepped for it like it was mine,” Nakagawa said. “I'm still putting in the same work, the same time and the same energy into it.”
Having previously worked on the Long Beach State and Gonzaga staffs, Nakagawa was UA’s director of advanced scouting until an NCAA rule change before last season allowed staffs to add two more assistants. UA coach Tommy Lloyd responded by promoting Nakagawa and Rem Bakamus, formerly UA’s director of athlete development, into assistant roles.
But Nakagawa said the title change didn't alter his job much, either.
“My responsibilities have mostly been the same,” he said. “I’m still learning a lot every day so I'm very, very thankful.”
Nakagawa
Numbers game
5.2: Percent of CMU Division I opponents’ possessions that end in a steal by Anthony Pritchard when he’s on the floor, giving him the 15th best steal percentage nationally.
292: Arizona’s ranking in 3-point shooting percentage (30.2)
313: CMU’s ranking in 3-point shooting percentage (29.5) against Division I opponents.
341: Central Michigan’s rank in offensive turnover percentage (21.5) in Division I games.
— Bruce Pascoe
