A weekly notebook on the Mid-American Conference men's basketball.
Mid-American Conference basketball is in full swing and one-third of the way through the conference schedule, four teams are starting to separate themselves from the rest.
In the MAC East, Kent State is riding a five-game winning streak and sits atop the division with a 6-1 record in conference, with its lone loss at home to Buffalo on Jan. 8. Redshirt junior Jimmy Hall leads all Golden Flash players in scoring, with 16 points per game, and rebounds, with seven per game.
Kent will look to extend its win streak to six when the Flashes head to Athens to face the Bobcats in a nationally televised game Friday night.
Akron is once again near the top of the MAC East, as it seems it is every year.
This season the Zips are 16-4 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Akron is led by junior center Isaiah Johnson, who is averaging 12.3 points and eight rebounds per game, and sophomore guard Antino Jackson, who is averaging 11.4 points and four assists per contest.
The Zips are currently ranked fourth in points scored per game among MAC schools with 77 points per game. They are also ranked third in scoring defense, only allowing 66 points per game this season.
Over in the MAC West division, Northern Illinois continues its surprising run atop the division with a 5-2 record in conference and a 16-4 record overall. The 16 victories for Northern Illinois this season are already two more victories than the Huskies had last season.
Northern Illinois has four players that average double figure scoring in the MAC and its top scorer is sophomore center Marin Maric, who is scoring 12.7 points a game and is also pulling down eight rebounds per game.
The Huskies conference schedule will begin to get tougher as two of their next four games will be on the road, with stops at Ohio and Kent.
Ball State is currently sitting in second place in the MAC West. The Cardinals are 4-3 in MAC play so far and 13-7 overall. Just like Northern Illinois, Ball State bounced back after only winning two conference games last year and finished with just seven total victories in 2014-15.
As for the Bobcats, they are in fifth place in the MAC East with a 3-4 conference record. Ohio had been winless on the road in conference play until Tuesday night’s game in Toledo when the Bobcats hung on to defeat the Rockets, 81-79.
Kenny Kaminski and Jaaron Simmons have been a welcome addition to Ohio this season. Simmons is averaging 15 points and eight assists per game while Kaminski is averaging 13 points and four rebounds per game. Simmons and Kaminski are also both shooting more than 36 percent from beyond the arc.
With consecutive home games coming up against Kent State and Akron, Ohio will be looking to get back in the MAC East race.
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