LoyalZIP

No way in hell LCJ comes back. My guess is Groce and Maishe kind of see he isn’t really working out and he moves on. Reece? No clue

Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck. 4 straight sh*t halves. First time that's happened in a couple years. There's really not much more to say than this team is not fun to watch right now. At all. A month ago it was poetry in motion, go figure. And no LCJ is not being too selfish. This was actually one of his better games as far as shot selection, he just didn't hit the 3s he normally does. He had a ton of good looks that didn't fall. As for the two high major transfers, that's their collective worst performance since St. Bonaventure. Maishe made a hell of a Euro step finish early and Trimble made his only 3s very early. Then? Maishe is Maishe of course, but then Trimble was taking awful shots and missing badly. And then he bricked his most wide open shot of his life. Then once the team collectively felt it was out of reach (it wasn't yet), effort went straight down the toilet. BG isn't overtly talented, but they play like Akron did at one point. Use hard defense to create offense. They shut down Akron and in turn played loose and played smart basketball, props to them. I'm jealous. The sky is a lot closer to the ground than it was last week, but I still have faith. BG has rattled off 4 great road wins in a row after dropping I believe 6 in a row, teams can be up and down, Lord knows we have. At the end of the day, I will officially retire my hopes of this team developing the toughness and swagger of last year's team, my hope for a slasher/finisher died a while back too. If this team is to do anything special, it comes largely down to execution. The pieces are there, the effort is usually there, just execute. It'll be a long 3 days off before Buffalo, that's for sure.

First half deficit trend continues

Tribble starting tonight in place of Dailey

BG has really picked it up since that disastrous stretch a few weeks ago, and considering how the Zips have been playing I'm much more concerned than usual going into a game against BG. Akron hasn't lost to BG at the JAR since I believe 2009. I love Akron on paper against BG (and most teams in the MAC for that matter), but we all know that means very little. Star power goes to Akron with LCJ > Turner. Post play Freeman/Reece > Whatever BG trots out. The things in the middle are pretty close, with Akron's supporting cast having a far higher ceiling. This is a good matchup for Akron, as is a team like Kent. I'd like to see the Zips go back to their formula from their best play of the season. LCJ playing his game and hitting shots he always hits, Trimble making every open look, Ali hitting perimeter shots but not as the focus of the offense, Freeman grabbing boards, 1-2 really good contributions from Maishe, and then 3-4 really solid contributions from Dawson/Wynn/Clarke. Of course, it's much more difficult than just saying "HEY GUYS, PLAY GOOD" but if the guys focus on playing their asses off on defense and simply making smart plays (aka being an NBA All-Star in their own roles), the pieces should fall into place. I think a lot of the recent struggles come from LCJ being off, similar to how he regularly played in his first season as a Zip. Obviously, Akron basketball is poetry in motion when he's playing well and the room for error becomes enormous. But the talent level on this roster is such that he shouldn't have to do that every game for Akron to play at a very high level. That's where a guy like Maishe could have made the most impact this year. In the past, these are games that Akron tends to come back strong in and look good. I trust Groce and LCJ to get the most out of this team. I'm excited to see what happens! Go Zips!

Agree on Tribble. He should be the Tyler Cheese of this team, slashing D guy who can hit a three every once in a while. Instead, his abilities are still as limited as last season but Akron needs more out of him. I think that’s what makes it feel like he’s regressed.

In true EMU fashion

After taking some time to cool down, I have a few final thoughts. The defensive effort is in disrepair and has been for a few weeks now. Players are penetrating the top and there are blown coverages allowing for open looks out there as well. I'm not schematically gifted as a lot of people so I don't know the reason for this, but it is very frustrating, especially by a Groce team. Last year's team rarely had breakdowns like this, now they are the regular. And earlier on in MAC play, this team was just as good as that one. It's very curious. On the post game, Groce alluded to shooting 71% in the second half at Ball State Friday as a reason the guys are becoming too reliant on trying to win shootouts. After Ali missed a bunch of open looks to start the day, panic may have set in for the group. You could tell, everyone was just off. It happens, but when it does, you can't allow it to creep to the other side of the floor. Look at the game @BG. Shots weren't falling early, but the defensive intensity led to some easy buckets and the rest was history. I'd much rather watch that Akron team than the one I've seen lately. Defense travels, this team needs to keep that in mind. There's no reason Akron should ever lose the game they did today, especially the way they did. Unfortunately, they have followed their own trend to where they are. It's time to peak and they're doing the opposite. Another thing I thought about as the bench guys made it in late, this trend of uninspiring play has also come with guys like Dawson and Clarke becoming a bit more invisible on the bench. Their valuable minutes have pretty much vanished, and Marshall plays about once a month. The front line guys are hurting themselves with poor defense by forcing themselves to take more minutes from the bench to make up for offensive production. Not a good recipe for the upcoming tournament. I feel bad for Maishe. He's clearly an able-bodied and gifted athlete. He has handles and has a pretty stroke. He just can't figure it out. I don't think he hurts this team, I just have a hard time finding his value. All in all, each loss this season has felt like 2 considering how well Toledo has played all year. And Akron's performance has been trending toward what we saw today. Now is the time for LCJ to be the MVP leader he is and for Groce to be the world-class MAC coach we all know he is. Time to step up!! GO ZIPS!!!!

And BG is trailing EMU 29-10 with 5 minutes left before half time.

Team leadership needs to step up. The big difference between these last two seasons is I think last years squad was tougher. The leaders stepped up and carried the team when they were struggling, and they kept their cool. This team has done that a lot this year, but failed to do so today and back against EMU a long time ago. Maybe this is what they needed. Time will tell.

The sh*tty play of the last month is catching up. Against a team without its 2 best players too.

Good looks not falling for the Zips

Dominate.

We're at a time where Akron, who has very little history of success, especially in the postseason, who also does not have its own separate practice facility, is a better job than Ohio. Pretty remarkable.

This one should be a battle. The Zips had their best half in a couple weeks to put away Ball State. Hopefully that woke them up a bit. Ohio is going to put up much more of a fight than they did in December, that one is ancient history. Though it was so long ago, the defensive approach on Preston is something I would love to see again. LCJ was right up in his grill for almost that entire game and that forced the supporting cast to beat the Zips. We saw how that went. Of course, those guys are all playing better than that now and Akron's been struggling defensively, so that will be interesting to watch. As I do some research after watching the late game before I call it a night, this 12-3 MAC record for Akron is their best 15-game start in league play since 2017. And that 2017 team started out 12-1 before falling to 12-3 in MAC play which then led to the biggest collapse to end a season in the history of the program. The Zips have won 9 of 10 but it really doesn't feel like it to me. I don't know if I should be worried or not. But as I alluded to earlier, the second half today made me much more optimistic moving forward. Tuesday will not be easy. Hell, not many are easy. But I'd like a nice relaxing celebratory Tuesday evening after burying the Kittens in the back yard, that's for sure.