5-9 Keene hits new heights at Central Michigan
Transfer guard is country’s leading scorer
When Central Michigan coach Keno Davis used his Texas connections to recruit Marcus Keene, he knew he was getting a point guard he could one day build his men’s basketball team around.
The fifth-year coach just didn’t realize how much more Keene would bring to the Chippewas.
Keene, who stands 5-9, leads the country in scoring, averaging 30.1 points per game.
Central Michigan (10-4) hopes the Youngstown State transfer can keep up that pace and continue leading the offense as a facilitator as it tries for its second consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division title.
Keene figures to have a huge say in where the Chippewas finish this season.
Two years ago, the San Antonio native didn’t have much of a say at all at Youngstown State. While his 15.6 points per game as a sophomore were a team high and sixth in the Horizon League, he was stuck playing shooting guard. He thought the Penguins’ best chance at winning was with the offense running through him at point guard. The coaching staff thought otherwise, and the team finished the 2014-15 season with an 11-21 mark.
Keene asked for a release from his scholarship shortly after the season. Central Michigan, which had beaten Youngstown State 7563 in November of that season, knew of his ability, and Davis quickly made a play for the sophomore.
“When we heard that Marcus Keene was leaving, we had a lot of ties, with Youngstown State having been on our schedule and us having played against him,” Davis said. “(Dallas native) Braylon Rayson, who’s on our team, knew him and was friends with him. We had that connection.
“With Jeff Smith, my assistant, having a lot of Texas ties and connections down there, it helped kind of bridge the gap to give us an opportunity to recruit him and see if that was the right fit.”
Davis sold Keene on Central Michigan’s playing style, which resembles an NBA offense that gets up and down the floor quickly and flows through the point guard, and Smith sold him on a reunion with Rayson, another 5-9 guard.
Keene was forced to sit out a season after transferring. Watching from the bench was tough on him during 2015-16, especially when the Chippewas lost games in which he thought he could have made a difference and helped them finish better than 1716. But a year away from basketball proved to be just what Keene needed to improve his game.
Davis wanted Keene to watch firsthand how seniors Chris Fowler and Rayshawn Simmons ran the offense so he would be ready to take over the team and replicate what they did on the court when he became eligible this season.
The other benefit of Keene sitting out was getting much-needed rest.
“I was able to work on my body and work on my feet, including my strength, to get ready and prepare myself for this year that I’m playing right now,” Keene said. “I used to deal with a lot of nagging injuries.
“But now my ankles are really healthy, and I just feel so much better, and I feel so much better about my body, which has given me the ability to play at this level.”
Keene’s development immediately showed on the court, and the Chippewas won eight of their first 10 games.
Through 14 games, Central Michigan’s average points per game are up nearly 14 points from last season (75.6 to 89.2), while Keene is averaging nearly 14 points a game more than last year’s leading scorer, Fowler (16.5).
Keene is shooting 47.4% from the floor and 38.6% from threepoint range.
But it hasn’t just been Keene’s scoring that has ignited the Chippewas.
“You’re also looking at somebody who can make his teammates better,” Davis said. “For instance, in our win against Green Bay, he had 11 assists vs. one turnover. When he sees another player open, he’s making that extra pass and making that extra play. He is about winning, and he is understanding that if we don’t win, that publicity (as the nation’s leading scorer) is a footnote.
“You look at the stat line and, all of a sudden, you see him as one of our leading rebounders at 5-9 in games where he gets eight, nine rebounds. Now you’re looking at somebody who does whatever it takes on the court to help you win, not just somebody who is playing one end of the court. When you have all that, and — if he continues to improve — you have somebody who could be playing this game for a long time.”
Davis says he hasn’t been around a dominant point guard who is as short as Keene since seeing John Bagley and Michael Adams play for his father, Tom Davis, at Boston College in the 1980s.
But Keene is just scratching the surface and hopes he can continue to develop and clean up some of the small mistakes in his game such as missing easy shots and turning over the ball.
He doesn’t doubt that he has the ability to overcome his height disadvantage and play in the NBA, especially after playing against former Oakland guard Kay Felder, who was taken in the second round of the NBA draft last season, and watching Boston Celtics star Isaiah Thomas excel in the NBA.
Felder and Thomas are also 5-9.
“I feel like I can play against anybody in this world,” Keene said, “so the main goal is to try and get drafted and make Central Michigan a name, so people can come here now (and be scouted by NBA teams).”