The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team continues its road trip against Radford University Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
EMU (4-6) is on a five-game losing streak that includes tough road losses to Syracuse and Purdue. Radford (3-8) is on a seven-game losing streak.
Senior guard Darrell Lampley is the top scorer for the Eagles with 15.9 points per game, which is good for seventh in Mid-American Conference. Lampley scored a career-high 37 points while he played all 40 minutes in the Eagles’ 74-70 loss against Colgate.
Junior forward Jamell Harris is the leading rebounder for EMU with 65 total rebounds.
Despite the five-game skid, the team has tried to remain upbeat and hopes to get back on track.
“We’re feeling down, but everyone is working extremely hard and trying to get some confidence,” junior center Matt Balkema said.
One key for EMU to stop the skid is to improve on its shooting percentage from the three-point line (.272), as it is ranked last in the Mid-American Conference. A key is trying to stop Radford from getting offensive rebounds because the Highlanders lead their conference (Big South) with 14.3 per game. But Balkema said the team needs to keep playing to the best of its abilities.
“Playing on the road is tough, but we need to stick to our principles and go out and play,” Balkema said.
Radfords last win came at home versus Central Penn College on Nov. 16. The Highlanders were defeated by Kentucky in Lexington 88-40 and lost to George Mason 76-61. Radford shows up last in the Big South Conference in scoring offense (59.5 PPG), assists (9.2 assists per game) and field goal percentage (.360).
The leading scorer for Radford is senior forward Johnathan Edwards, who has 9.9 points per game and also leads the team in total rebounds (75). Freshman guard R.J. Price is the team leader in assists (2.8 assists per game).
Like Eastern Michigan, Radford is coached under a first-year coach in Mike Jones, who was previously an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth during its Final Four run last season.
Jones said the team is going through the period of learning a new system from the new coach.
“We’re such a new team to each other that every opportunity is a chance to learn,” Jones said.
After the game against Radford, EMU has four more road games, including Virginia Tech. After that, the team will travel to California for the Santa Clara Cable Car Classic with games versus Santa Clara and either Wagner or Air Force.
EMU starts the MAC schedule Jan. 7 at Northern Illinois. The next home game for EMU is against rival Central Michigan Jan. 11 at the Convocation Center with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Material from the Radford University athletics website was used for this article.
