KSU’s Nila Blackford leads the team in scoring at 15.6 points per game and rebounding at 10.2 per game. She’s has 11 double-doubles in KSU’s 19 games and is one of three MAC players averaging a double-double. (File photo by Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)
Kent State’s fate in the Mid-American Conference Tournament likely is tied to how well the Flashes put the ball in the basket.
Fifth-seeded KSU plays fourth-seeded Buffalo at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage Arena in Cleveland. The game is on ESPN+ and the Kent State Radio Network.
Kent State has won four of its last six games. But in five of them, the Flashes scored fewer than 70 points. In two of their last three games, they made only two 3-point baskets and shot less than 17% from distance. Earlier in the season, Kent made a school-record 16 three-pointers and shot 57% from distance against Ohio. The Flashes still rank third in the MAC in 3-point percentage.
Searching for offense
“It would be nice for us to start making some shots,” coach Todd Starkey said after KSU’s 64-58 win over Akron Saturday. “Defensively, we’ve found our niche over the last couple of weeks. But other than the second NIU game (which KSU won 73-58), we’ve kind of struggled to make shots.
“I think part of that has to do with how long the season has been and playing six of our last eight games on the road. It wears you down.”
Blackford, Thall, Shumate earn postseason MAC honors
Finding a defense
Kent’s defense is playing as well as it has all season.
After the team gave up 84 points and lost by 13 to 10th-place Western Michigan in February, Starkey said, coaches challenged the players, saying:
“Hey, you’re not going to win any games if you defend like this down the stretch. And I think they took that to heart.”
The team also made some technical adjustments to its defense.
“We’ve gotten back to what we’re capable of,” Starkey said. “I think this team is close to being where it needs to be.
“The whole thing comes down to our offensive flow and ability to make shots. If we do and continue to defend like we’ve been defending, I think we have as good a chance as anybody winning the tournament.”
Buffalo again (and again and again)
This will be the fourth-straight year the Flashes and Buffalo have met in the tournament quarterfinals.
In 2018 and 2019, the Bulls beat KSU handily and went on to win the tournament, then won at least one game in the NCAA. The 2018 team reached the Sweet 16.
Last season third-seeded Kent State won 72-66. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds had lost in the quarterfinals, and KSU looked poised to make a run at first NCAA bid in 18 years.
But COVID wiped out the rest of the season the next day.
Starkey shook his head when he talked about always playing Buffalo.
“It’s just kind of crazy that it’s worked out that way,” he said. “But here we are.”
Buffalo has been a tough opponent for Kent State for many years. The Flashes were 2-18 against UB between February 2012 and last year’s quarterfinals.
But KSU beat the Bulls 65-62 in Kent on Feb. 24.
Starkey calls Buffalo “a very talented, physical, athletic team.”
“They’ve got one of the most dynamic scorers in the country in Dayaisha Fair,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of really good supporting pieces. They can really take you out of a rhythm offensively with their defensive pressure.”
Buffalo ranks 10th in the country in offensive rebounds (16.2 per game) and averages 14.1 second-chance points. Kent State is second to the Bulls in the MAC in rebounding. When the teams met two weeks ago, Buffalo outrebounded the Flashes 37-31; KSU had more offensive rebounds, 13-12.
But Fair makes the Bulls go. She averages 24.5 points a game, second in the MAC and sixth in the country. She is second in the MAC in assists, third in steals and fourth in 3-point baskets per game. Ten days ago she scored her 1,000-point scorer after just 44 games, the 14th fastest ever in Division I.
Fair scored 23 points against Kent State earlier this season, but she missed 12 of her 21 shots against tough defense, especially by KSU guard Katie Shumate. In last season’s quarterfinals, she scored 36 against the Flashes. But no other Buffalo player scored more than six.
Buffalo senior center Summer Hemphill is playing again after missing most of the last two seasons with injuries. Hemphill made her first appearance in two months against Kent State two weeks ago, not scoring in 11 minutes. But last week she averaged 10 points, 7.5 rebounds and 28 minutes in two Buffalo victories. Hemphill was a preseason all-MAC selection.
The state of the Flashes
Starting guard Clare Kelly has missed the last two games with an injured foot, and reserve center Lexi Jackson missed Saturday’s game with a high ankle sprain.
“They’re better than they were yesterday, which was better than the day before,” Starkey said on Monday. “But are they ready to play a game? We won’t know definitively until game time.”
Starkey rested Shumate, who had off-season knee surgery, last Wednesday, and she responded with a strong game against Akron.
Leading scorer and rebounder Nila Blackford also had been wearing down. But because planned rest and foul trouble, she has averaged just 23 minutes over the last two games. She still scored 21 points in 21 minutes against Akron.
The rest of the field
The tournament is as wide open as it’s been in many years. Bowling Green, picked 11th in the coaches’ preseason poll, unexpected won the conference. But the Falcons lost in overtime to Buffalo on Saturday.
Every other team in the league lost at least six games. No team goes into the tournament with more than a two-game winning streak. Several schools have had recent COVID-19 problems.
Here’s a quick look at Wedneday’s games:
No. 1 seed BOWLING GREEN (14-4 MAC, 18-5 overall) vs. No. 8 EASTERN MICHIGAN (7-7, 10-9). BG had won five in a row before it lost to Buffalo Saturday. Eastern, which had serious COVID problems in February, lost its last three games. Bowling Green beat EMU 71-64 when the teams met in December.
No. 2 CENTRAL MICHIGAN (13-6 MAC, 15-8) vs. No. 7 NORTHERN ILLINOIS (10-8, 12-11). The teams just played at Central Michigan Saturday, and the Chippewas rallied from 10 points down at halftime to win 74-68. Earlier in the season, NIU had beaten Central 104-73.
No. 3 OHIO (11-6 MAC, 13-7) VS. No. 6 BALL STATE (12-8, 14-10). Ohio had four games canceled because of COVID before it lost to 11th-place Akron and beat last-place Miami last week. Ball State won three of its last four games, the loss coming in double overtime to Central Michigan. Ohio and BSU split their regular-season games.
Team comparisons
All statistics are conference games only, which are more current and reflect similar competition.
- Records: Kent State 11-8 (MAC 10-6 and fifth place.) Buffalo 12-9 (MAC 11-6 and fourth place.) Kent State is 5-5 over its last 10 games and beat 11th-place Akron 64-58 on Saturday. Buffalo is 6-4 over its last 10 games and has won two straight. It beat first-place Bowling Green 69-68 in overtime at BG on Saturday.
- NET ranking: Kent State is 153rd of 343 Division I teams. Buffalo 96th. New this season, the NET is the NCAA’s mathematical ranking system and helps make decisions on tournament invitations and seedings. It emphasizes wins over quality opponents, especially on the road. It takes into account offensive and defensive “efficiency,” which it figures by a team’s and its opponents’ points per possession. It then adjusts for the quality of opponent and where the game was played. NET is short for NCAA Evaluation Tool.
- Strength of schedule: Kent State 109th of 343 teams. Buffalo 179th. (According to WarrenNolan.com)
- Scoring average: KSU seventh in MAC at 69.9 points per game. Buffalo fifth at 74.6.
- Defensive average: KSU third at 70.1. Buffalo sixth at 71.2.
- Field-goal percentage: KSU ninth at 39.9 (third on 3-pointers at 35.2%). Buffalo sixth at 41.4 (ninth on 3s at 31.0).
- Field-goal defense: KSU eighth at 42.5 (eighth on 3s at 33.2%, averaging 8.0 3s a game). Buffalo second at 39.4 (seventh on 3s at 32.9, averaging 5.8).
- Free throw shooting: Kent State 11th at 67.6%. Buffalo fifth at 73.7.
- Rebounding margin: KSU second at +8.1. Buffalo third at +3.8. Buffalo leads MAC in offensive rebounding at 15.1 per game. Kent is second at 13.9.
- Turnover margin: KSU 10th at -2.7. Buffalo fifth at +2,0. KSU 11th in steals at 5.8. Buffalo sixth at 8.1.
- Assists: Kent State 10th at 11.3. Buffalo fourth at 13.4.
- Blocked shots: Kent State first at 3.2. Buffalo fifth at 2.7.
Top players
Kent State
- 6-2 sophomore forward Nila Blackford. 14th in MAC at 15.6 points per game. Fifth with 50.0% field-goal percentage. Third in rebounding at 10.2. Just named to the all-MAC second team.
- 5-11 sophomore guard Katie Shumate. 12.8 points per game. 10th in MAC in 3-point percentage at 37.7%. Fourth in free-throw percentage at 84.5%. Just named all-MAC honorable mention.
- 6-2 junior forward Lindsey Thall. 10.6 points. 12th in MAC in 3-point percentage at 37.2%. 14th in 3-pointers per game at 1.7. First in blocked shots at 1.5 per game. Just named to MAC all-defensive team for the second year in a row and all MAC honorable mention.
- 5-8 sophomore guard Clare Kelly. 10.6 points. 11th in MAC in 3-point percentage at 37.3%. 14th in 3-pointers per game at 1.8.
- 5-1 junior guard Mariah Modkins. 6.6 points. 16th in MAC in 3-point percentage at 36.4%. 15th in assists per game at 2.8.
- 5-4 freshman guard Casey Santoro. 7.8 points, 2.5 assists.
- 5-10 junior guard Hannah Young. 4.1 points, 4.3 rebounds.
- 6-4 freshman center Lexi Jackson. 2.6 points, 3.2 rebounds.
Buffalo
- 5-5 sophomore guard Dayaisha Fai. (24.1 points, second in MAC and sixth in Division I. Second in assists at 5.2. Third in steals at 2.8. Fourth in 3-pointers per game at 2.5. Just named to all-MAC first team.
- 5- freshman guard Cheyenne McEvans (11.3 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists). Just named to the MAC all-freshman team.
- 6-3 sophomore center Elea Gaba (7.4 points, 4.1 rebounds).
We will have fans in the stands
Quarterfinal attendance is restricted to a limited number of fans invited by players and coaches.
But you can buy tickets for Friday’s semifinals and Saturday’s finals.
Only about 6,000 of the 19,000 seats at Rocket Mortgage Arena will be available because of COVID restrictions.
MAC Tournament Central
You can find ticket information, the tournament bracket, links to ESPN+ for all games, statistics, rosters and more on the MAC tournament website.
Following the game from home
Video stream on ESPN+ starts at about 1:30 p.m. (or 30 minutes after preview game ends). Service costs $5.99 a month and includes all women’s tournament games except finals, which are on the CBS Sports Network. It also includes men’s quarterfinals, other mid-major tournaments and many spring sports.
Online radio starts at about 1:15 p.m. on the Kent State Radio Network. David Wilson is the announcer.
Live statistics will be on the MAC website during the game.
Links
Preview from Kent State website, including links t roster, statistics, schedule and more.
Detailed media game notes from Kent State.
Preview from Buffalo website, with links.