This week in Mid-American Conference play (MAC), there was lots of good, lots of bad, and a heck of a lot of ugly. Teams suffered their first losses of conference play, teams earned their first wins of conference play, and one team looks to have separated themselves from the rest. 

Here’s how all 12 teams fared this week: 

Akron (14-5, 7-0 MAC) 

The Zips extended their win streak to a league-high seven games, knocking off Buffalo on the road and handing Miami a 27-point loss in the 330, the RedHawks’ first of conference play, behind 15 points from Tavari Johnson and five other double-digit scorers.  

Akron shot 55.4% from the field and 44.1% from deep in Saturday’s home win.  

Akron has now given four teams their first conference loss: Bowling Green, Toledo, Ohio, and now Miami. 

Miami (14-5, 6-1 MAC) 

As previously mentioned, Miami dropped their first conference game of the season to Akron on Saturday, but they were able to win a close one over Bowling Green down in Oxford, 84-76.  

BG actually led heading into the halftime break, but six double-digit scorers helped the RedHawks pull away in the second despite shooting 21.4% from three in the half.  

Peter Suder led Miami in scoring for the week, with 11 against Bowling Green and 18 against Akron. 

Ohio (11-8, 5-2 MAC) 

Despite losing two of their top players in Aidan Hadaway and AJ Clayton, Ohio was able to salvage the week, splitting their two games.

They fell on the road to Eastern Michigan 94-87 on Tuesday. They were able to edge past Kent State, picking up a 61-59 win on Friday, thanks to 15 points each from AJ Brown and Jackson Paveletzke.  

Toledo (11-8, 5-2 MAC) 

After losing by nearly 20 to Kent State on Tuesday, Toledo redeemed themselves in the first leg of the Battle of I-75, taking down Bowling Green 84-71 at the Stroh Center.  

Both Sonny Wilson and Isaiah Adams put up 18 points. Wilson had an extremely efficient 7-of-9 shooting performance, paired with five assists and rebounds.  

Eastern Michigan (10-9, 4-3 MAC) 

The Eagles are putting on a run of their own, winning each of their last three games, including a 94-87 victory over Ohio on Tuesday and a 13-point win over Buffalo on Saturday.  

Eastern has two scorers in the top 12 in the conference, and the Eagles are already two wins away from tying their conference win total from 2023-24 with six.  

Da’Sean Nelson and Jalen Terry, who both came in from DePaul prior to this season, are averaging north of 15 points per game. 

Kent State (12-7, 3-4 MAC) 

Kent State has dropped three of their last four games, with their only win in the stretch coming on Tuesday. While they did drop a close one to Ohio in Athens, they went and blew out Toledo at Savage Arena, 83-64.  

Cian Medley broke out in Tuesday’s contest, scoring a season and career-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He also added seven assists.  

Ball State (9-10, 3-4 MAC) 

Ball State won a tough game on Tuesday, beating CMU on the road 82-80 before falling to NIU in DeKalb, giving the Huskies their first victory of the season. 

In Tuesday’s win, the Cardinals got all of their scoring from just six players, who all scored at least 10 points – Mickey Pearson Jr. led the team with 16 in the win.  

In Saturday’s loss to NIU, the Cards made just 46.4% of their free throws and shot 38.6% from the field.  

Central Michigan (9-10, 3-4 MAC) 

Like many other teams this week, CMU split their games, losing a close midweek home contest to Ball State, 82-80. On Saturday, however, they came back firing, beating Western Michigan 73-52 in the school’s third annual “Toilet Paper Toss” game.  

The fired-up Chips have won three of their last four games, led by senior Bethune-Cookman transfer Jakobi Heady, who averages 13.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and has only scored less than 10 points two times this season.  

Bowling Green (7-12, 2-5 MAC) 

Fewer squads have had a tougher week than the Falcons, being six points away from handing Miami their would’ve-been first loss of the season on Tuesday, then dropping the home leg of the Battle of I-75, 84-71.  

Despite the losses, Marcus Johnson has been playing out of his mind, dropping a season-high 28 points on Toledo on 50% shooting, bringing his season average up to 17.1 points a night, tops in the conference. 

Bowling Green currently has the longest losing streak in the conference with three straight losses. 

Western Michigan (5-14, 2-5 MAC) 

Western Michigan beat NIU on Tuesday, winning a nailbiter in Kalamazoo, 72-70. The Broncos nearly blew a 15-point lead in the second half, allowing NIU to hang around and even take a one-point lead with just under three minutes to play in the game.  

On Saturday, they lost by 21 to Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant, falling 73-52 despite 14 points from Markhi Strickland.  

Buffalo (6-13, 1-6 MAC) 

The Bulls have lost two straight games, which is the second-longest streak in the MAC behind BG. Both of their losses have come on their home court, losing 90-58 to Akron on Tuesday and 90-77 to Eastern Michigan on Saturday.  

Despite the team’s struggles, Ryan Sabol has been elite, averaging 16.2 points per game this season, good enough for second in the conference.  

The sophomore led the team with 25 against Eastern Michigan, and was the only Bull to score in double figures against Akron, dropping 15 points on the Zips.  

Northern Illinois (5-14, 1-6 MAC) 

NIU finally did it – they won their first game of MAC play, taking down Ball State by 10 on Saturday in DeKalb, snapping their six-game skid.  

Two Huskies chipped in identical triple-doubles, with both James Dent Jr. and Quaran McPherson both putting up 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Nasir Muhammad led the game in scoring with 19 points.