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Game 29—@ Buffalo


clarkwgriswold

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The Zips look to rebound from a home OT loss to Miami when they head into Canada for Tuesday night's contest.  Buffalo leads the East with a 13-3 record in conference and 21-8 record overall.   The Bulls have had unexpected MAC losses to PCCC, NIU and Miami and beat the Zips at the JAR 87-65 in early January.  They have 4 scorers in the teens with CJ Massenburg leading the way at 17 ppg.  He also leads rebounding at 7.6 rpg.   Is it just me or does it feel like Massenburg should be in his 7th year of eligibility for Canada.  Akron St. Vincent St. Mary's Javon Graves averages 5.2 ppg in roughly 17 minutes per game.   

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I was just going to start this post when I saw your post so here is my take.  Even though we lost yesterday in a game that we led almost the entire time, there are a lot of positives going into Buffalo and the MAC tournament.  Zips fans, be happy:

 

Three weeks agp Groce did not like this team's effort, intensity or coachability.  In the post game he indicated he was happy with all 3.  Happy coach, happy team!

We have been competitive the last 5 games.  

Utomi is playing his best ball right now.

We finally have a road win so if we play on the road in the first round we have got that monkey off our back.

We led most of the game yesterday without 2 scholarship players that will hopefully return for the MAC tournament.

We played our best defense of the season yesterday according to the coach.

This is the MAC, playing well at the end of the season even with lesser talent can mean upset in the tourney.

Finally, for the small but vocal minority that is still is upset with KD leaving, the Dukes have lost 6 in a row.  

 

Go Zips!!

 

Edited by 1981 grad
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8 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

I was just going to start this post when I saw your post so here is my take.  Even though we lost yesterday in a game that we led almost the entire time, there are a lot of positives going into Buffalo and the MAC tournament.  Zips fans, be happy:

 

Three weeks agp Groce did not like this team's effort, intensity or coachability.  In the post game he indicated he was happy with all 3.  Happy coach, happy team!

We have been competitive the last 5 games.  

Utomi is playing his best ball right now.

We finally have a road win so if we play on the road in the first round we have got that monkey off our back.

We led most of the game yesterday without 2 scholarship players that will hopefully return for the MAC tournament.

We played our best defense of the season yesterday according to the coach.

This is the MAC, playing well at the end of the season even with lesser talent can mean upset in the tourney.

Finally, for the small but vocal minority that is still is upset with KD leaving, the Dukes have lost 6 in a row.  

 

Go Zips!!

 

 

There have certainly been some positives in the last 4 or 5 games, especially with regard to the Zips' intensity on defense.  That being said, they haven't exactly faced a murderer's row in that span as only one of the teams is over .500 in the MAC.  Progress certainly, but Tuesday night's against the best team in the MAC is a different story altogether and will give the Zips their biggest test.    Go Zips!

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  • Dr Z changed the title to Game 29—@ Buffalo

Broadcast ESPN3 – Paul Peck (Play by play) and Amy Audibert (Analyst)

 

Scouting the Bulls

Buffalo enters the contest with a 21-8 overall record, including a league-best 13-3 record in MAC play. The Bulls rattled off eight straight league wins to open MACtion, falling to Kent State on the road, 82-79. They bounced back with a pair of wins before dropping their second game at Northern Illinois, 90-88, in overtime. The Bulls have won the last 3-of-4 MAC games, including a 108-82 win against Ohio. Buffalo is 13-1 (8-0 MAC) at home, 7-5 (5-3 MAC) on the road, and 1-2 at neutral sites this season.

 

Four players are currently averaging double figures for the Bulls, led by C.J. Massinburg with 17.0 points per outing. He is shooting 46.6 percent from the floor (158-of-339), and 39.4 percent from long range with 69 made 3-point field goals (69-of-175). Massinburg also leads the squad at the free throw line (108-of-146, .740) and on the glass (220 rebs, 7.6 rebs/g). In addition, he is second in steals (33) and third in assists (73).

 

Nick Perkins is second in team scoring with 16.8 points per game. He makes 48.2 percent of his shots (175-of-363) with 31 made 3-pointers (31-of-92, .337). He ranks second on the team in rebounds (179), pulling down 6.2 per game.

 

Jeremy Harris follows with 15 points per game. Almost half of Harris’ shots come from long distance as he buried a team-high 74 trifectas with 158 total field goals made.He shoots 46.5 from the floor and 42.0 from deep.

 

Wes Clark rounds out the double-digit scoring with 14.9 points per night on 46.5 percent shooting (100-of-215). In 19 games, Clark has drained 35 long-distance shots (35-of-90, 389), dished out 107 assists, and swiped 24 passes. Davonta Jordan leads the Bulls with 124 assists and adds 7.7 ppg.

 

Defensively, Buffalo allows opponents to score 77.2 points a night on 43.3 percent shooting from the field and 34.1 percent from deep with 6.8 triples per game. The Bulls caused 409 turnovers (14.1 tpg) while collecting 171 steals (5.9 stl/g) and 109 blocked shots (3.8 blk/g). On the glass, Buffalo outrebounds its opponents 1126-1060 for a +2.3 margin.

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ABJ: Zips coach John Groce looks to ease key players' minutes as regular season winds down

 

The team is showing a great attitude in this article.  Though they haven't been winning, Coach Groce is blaming himself for playing Utomi, Ivey & Duvivier too many minutes, while the players are taking responsibility upon themselves to be more productive while on the court & not complaining about playing too many minutes.  No fingers being pointed, or, I guess, everyone pointing at the man in the mirror.  I like it.

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22 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Though they haven't been winning, Coach Groce is blaming himself for playing Utomi, Ivey & Duvivier too many minutes

 

He might be blaming himself, but I don't see this as some kind of coaching error.  Lets face it.  Were not loaded with high-production players.  ANY team in that situations is going to be playing their top guys for major minutes, to give themselves the best chance to win.  

 

No need to "save" anyone at this point.  Try to win games however we need to win them.  It's not as if we're going to play our usual extra 4 or 5 more games after next Friday.   

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I don't see that Groce had many options other than to ride his horses.  They were pressuring the ball being brought up by Duvivier, Cotton was out, and Gbadebo was a bad option aganst the pressure given his inexperience: Patton disappeared despite getting the start leaving Parrish as the only other alternative at wing and he played 27 minutes.  Sure, it would have been great for Duvivier, Ivey and Utomi to be fresh late in the game and in OT, but the team just can't be afforded that opportunity given their present composition.

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33 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

He might be blaming himself, but I don't see this as some kind of coaching error.  Lets face it.  Were not loaded with high-production players.  ANY team in that situations is going to be playing their top guys for major minutes, to give themselves the best chance to win.  

 

No need to "save" anyone at this point.  Try to win games however we need to win them.  It's not as if we're going to play our usual extra 4 or 5 more games after next Friday.   

 

In general, I agree. Groce may be thinking on different terms now that any chance of a Mon home game is gone and having a depleted team. What would define some "success?" at this point for this season and "progress?" (or as some may argue...fewer steps back for the program)? A win at Buffalo? Beat Kent at home? or at least getting to Cleveland on Thursday? Maybe for Groce and the team, it is the latter and the best chance at a Monday win is to have some reasonable minutes (35?) for the key players and maybe as important some role players feeling more comfortable in possibly contributing on Monday....Thursday....well Mon and Thurs. With the way the Zips have been playing lately, Groce may not care who he plays away in the 5-8 seeds and knows that playing kids 40 again is going to end ugly on Monday. This is not NBA type tanking but maybe he realized that his competitiveness and overplaying guys hurt the development of the walk-ons (trying to keep a straight face, they just played a combined full game). I don't think he really has had much of choice. There are only so many bodies for all these minutes.

 

IMO, I'd still like to go to Cleveland.  If we limped out of the season and yet somehow won on Monday, would people have a little better feeling about the season?  Buffalo should be ugly tonight no matter who plays (they are flat out more athletic, talented and a bad matchup for any shorthanded team), Kent toss-up game depends on which Walker plays and then maybe we have some magic left on Mon versus an average MAC team on the road. This all sounds like the regular versus tournament season importance threads.

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1 hour ago, Z-Pouch said:

Groce may be thinking on different terms now that any chance of a Mon home game is gone and having a depleted team. What would define some "success?" at this point for this season and "progress?" (or as some may argue...fewer steps back for the program)? A win at Buffalo? Beat Kent at home? or at least getting to Cleveland on Thursday? Maybe for Groce and the team, it is the latter and the best chance at a Monday win is to have some reasonable minutes (35?) for the key players

I think some success can be gained by giving the young guys a taste of what the tournament in Cleveland is about. Just getting them there, and getting them comfortable with the logistics of the tournament would be a good step IMO. 

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Just now, UAZippers said:

I mean a shot counts as loss of possession. That's why every defensive rebound doesn't count as a steal.

 

So if we shoot a 3, miss it, and KLac tips it all the way back into the backcourt, that's not over and back? I never realized that. I always thought the team on offense has possession until the defense shows they have controlled possession. 

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2 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

So if we shoot a 3, miss it, and KLac tips it all the way back into the backcourt, that's not over and back? I never realized that. I always thought the team on offense has possession until the defense shows they have controlled possession. 

No, that would be allowed. Its also why you can throw an inbounds pass into the back court. You do not have possession unless you hold the ball inbounds.

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