Game 1- Malone University Pioneers

[zippy5]

Is this technically a game or an exhibition?

[Let'sGoZips94]

Who is standing out?

[clarkwgriswold]

Nobody really, but X and Reece seem to be the real deal. Cheese is leading scorer.

Edited November 6, 2019 by clarkwgriswold

[zipdiehard]

Ali hasn’t looked too bad either.  

Edited November 6, 2019 by zipdiehard

[clarkwgriswold]

58-39, 11:53 left.

[clarkwgriswold]

63-43, 9:10.

[clarkwgriswold]

8 minutes ago, zipdiehard said:

Ali hasn’t looked too bad either.  

Very raw but not afraid while not pressing.  Good showing.

[clarkwgriswold]

X now leading scorer with 13.

[clarkwgriswold]

I like how Reece always goes up strong with the ball.

[clarkwgriswold]

Sayles finally got in.

[clarkwgriswold]

Some awful sloppy play right now.

 

66-51, 5:34.

[AyYo]

43 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Is this technically a game or an exhibition?

It's a regular season game for Akron and an exhibition for Malone. 

[zippy5]

6 minutes ago, AyYo said:

It's a regular season game for Akron and an exhibition for Malone. 

Thanks. Is Ali playing a bit of a surprise then? The word on here was that he'd redshirt. I think

[Let'sGoZips94]

15 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Thanks. Is Ali playing a bit of a surprise then? The word on here was that he'd redshirt. I think

 

There really wasn't much on him. Very little-to-no recruiting activity, limited press, and his highlights were largely from earlier in his high school career. I think the general census on the board was that he might be a diamond in the rough, but that he was raw and would need developing - both physically and skill wise. 

[clarkwgriswold]

I see Ali playing as similar to Deji starting for KD early in his career in a first game years back.  Not a permanent thing but more of a test.

 

I thought they looked sloppy and disjointed at times, but they looked to be trying a lot of things out.  X and Reece look like they will be welcome additions.  Banks seems to have his shot back.  Riak is the same player as last year.  Surprised by the lack of time for Sayles.

[Illini Zip]

I listened to the game, but appreciate everyone's play by play and insight.

 

I don't expect to see Ali Ali starting against Press Virginia (Their full-court press crushed an Illini team a few years back. It was brutal). But who knows, it sounds like Ali is a good passer and the offense moves well with him in there. It's more likely Ali won defensive drills this week. Groce rewards effort in practice. Or Groce might have wanted to balance out the rosters between experienced players and the new comers for this first one. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Illini Zip

[NWAkron]

18 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I see Ali playing as similar to Deji starting for KD early in his career in a first game years back.  Not a permanent thing but more of a test.

 

I thought they looked sloppy and disjointed at times, but they looked to be trying a lot of things out.  X and Reece look like they will be welcome additions.  Banks seems to have his shot back.  Riak is the same player as last year.  Surprised by the lack of time for Sayles.

pretty much my thoughts.  had some great moments but really lacked inside play.  wish we had that 7 foot guy.  whatever happened to him?

[clarkwgriswold]

18 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

pretty much my thoughts.  had some great moments but really lacked inside play.  wish we had that 7 foot guy.  whatever happened to him?

The victim or the perp?

 

I was not impressed with the rebounding.  Recce seems to be the only person at this point getting his body on someone when the ball goes up.  We also see the continued decay of the mid-range game in college hoops.  Everything is at the basket or at the 3 point line.

[NWAkron]

5 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

The victim or the perp?

 

I was not impressed with the rebounding.  Recce seems to be the only person at this point getting his body on someone when the ball goes up.  We also see the continued decay of the mid-range game in college hoops.  Everything is at the basket or at the 3 point line.

The perp.  when they went up by 19 mid-half they were on fire and exciting.   Then they started clanking from the 3 line.  Malone's big guys were better.

[akronzips71]

Question for the guys who actually saw the game:

 

They have already surpassed football (they won a game), but SERIOUSLY:

 

How do we look? Do we look like a contender this year?

Many players that none of us have seen play since there was no feed.

[clarkwgriswold]

2 minutes ago, akronzips71 said:

Question for the guys who actually saw the game:

 

They have already surpassed football (they won a game), but SERIOUSLY:

 

How do we look? Do we look like a contender this year?

Many players that none of us have seen play since there was no feed.

 

As far as guys we haven't seen before, X, Reece, Ali and Tribble.  As far as vets, we saw LCJ, Banks, Cheese, Riak, Roscoe and Sayles.  I think they'll be better than last year.  They'll certainly score more points as they're pushing the ball much more.  As for the new guys, X is really a stretch 4.  He shot quite a bit from outside, though he was able to put the ball on the floor and go to the hoop.  Reece was strong inside.  I think we'll grow to like him as he's a real blue collar guy.  Tribble and Ali did a good job of assimilating themselves and didn't hurt themselves by trying too hard.

 

On the down side, they could be in trouble on the nights the 3 point shot isn't falling and the rebounding was really sketchy.  Each team ended up with 26 rebounds, which shouldn't happen given the disparity in talent.  

[akronzips71]

By the way, when Tribble came in Frenchy said "He has a black eye".

I guess he never saw him before either.

[Blue & Gold]

Glad to see Channel Banks get his shot back.  That could win a number of games for us this season.

 

Surprised me to see Ali Ali with the start.  As mentioned above, he's an unknown commodity due to the lack of recruiting information on him/video of him.  He's quite composed for a true frosh & obviously has the proverbial 'high basketball I.Q."  He's long & athletic & can handle the ball well for someone 6'6" - 6'7".

 

Looks like Tre Edwards will be the redshirt of the class.

 

Personally, I was also surprised to see Camron Reece with the start over Riak.  But Cam Reece is a beast.  Not to put too much pressure on him and say he's our next Tree, but... he kinda reminds me of Tree.

 

Deng Riak, as someone mentioned above, is precisely the same player we saw last year.

 

Next to no PT for Jayden Sayles.

 

Greg Tribble is very athletic.  He's going to have to work on his 3-point shot.

 

LePear Toles in street clothes.  Sad to see.  Looks like his playing days are completely over.  I was looking forward to possibly seeing him get a little PT last night.

 

Tyler Cheese is still the best player on the floor.

 

Check that.  Best player on the floor is probably X.  Man, is he smooth for someone 6'9".  Has a nice 3-ball.  Cool, clam & collected.  He plays like a senior.

 

LCJ, Banks, Cheese, Reece, X.  When that group starts to gel after Christmas, man, that'll be a handful for anyone.

 

Malone had a really good forward named Sehill Mouliom from Paris, France.  There has to be an interesting story there as to how he wound up at Malone.  He finished with, I think, 23 points.  But that was one aspect of the game where it was obvious Akron's coaching staff was treating this game more as a scrimmage; they refused to double-team Mouliom on the block, allowing him 4-5 dribbles to get his shots off.  If Akron were concerned with making defensive adjustments during this game, I'd have to assume they'd instantly double down on Mouliom & get the ball out of his hands on the block.  But Malone ran a really nice offense, looked well-coached, and, IMHO, acquitted themselves quite well.  It was a fun game.  

 

It's always difficult to get an accurate read on the team during that annual first game (typically against Malone, Walsh, Mount Union, etc.).  I usually enjoy those first games because everyone gets to play.  But 1) you can tell the Akron players aren't 100% engaged, and 2) it looks like Groce is hoping to play the entire bench anyway.  I'm excited about going 10-deep, but doing so will probably mean it'll take a bit longer for the team to gel & for the coaching staff to find the right on-court combinations.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Blue & Gold

[clarkwgriswold]

49 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Glad to see Channel Banks get his shot back.  That could win a number of games for us this season.

 

Surprised me to see Ali Ali with the start.  As mentioned above, he's an unknown commodity due to the lack of recruiting information on him/video of him.  He's quite composed for a true frosh & obviously has the proverbial 'high basketball I.Q."  He's long & athletic & can handle the ball well for someone 6'6" - 6'7".

 

Looks like Tre Edwards will be the redshirt of the class.

 

Personally, I was also surprised to see Camron Reece with the start over Riak.  But Cam Reece is a beast.  Not to put too much pressure on him and say he's our next Tree, but... he kinda reminds me of Tree.

 

Deng Riak, as someone mentioned above, is precisely the same player we saw last year.

 

Next to no PT for Jayden Sayles.

 

Greg Tribble is very athletic.  He's going to have to work on his 3-point shot.

 

LePear Toles in street clothes.  Sad to see.  Looks like his playing days are completely over.  I was looking forward to possibly seeing him get a little PT last night.

 

Tyler Cheese is still the best player on the floor.

 

Check that.  Best player on the floor is probably X.  Man, is he smooth for someone 6'9".  Has a nice 3-ball.  Cool, clam & collected.  He plays like a senior.

 

LCJ, Banks, Cheese, Reece, X.  When that group starts to gel after Christmas, man, that'll be a handful for anyone.

 

Malone had a really good forward named Sehill Mouliom from Paris, France.  There has to be an interesting story there as to how he wound up at Malone.  He finished with, I think, 23 points.  But that was one aspect of the game where it was obvious Akron's coaching staff was treating this game more as a scrimmage; they refused to double-team Mouliom on the block, allowing him 4-5 dribbles to get his shots off.  If Akron were concerned with making defensive adjustments during this game, I'd have to assume they'd instantly double down on Mouliom & get the ball out of his hands on the block.  But Malone ran a really nice offense, looked well-coached, and, IMHO, acquitted themselves quite well.  It was a fun game.  

 

It's always difficult to get an accurate read on the team during that annual first game (typically against Malone, Walsh, Mount Union, etc.).  I usually enjoy those first games because everyone gets to play.  But 1) you can tell the Akron players aren't 100% engaged, and 2) it looks like Groce is hoping to play the entire bench anyway.  I'm excited about going 10-deep, but doing so will probably mean it'll take a bit longer for the team to gel & for the coaching staff to find the right on-court combinations.

 

I'd be very surprised if that's the starting 5 going into the "real" games.

[Blue & Gold]

ABJ/GT: Zips a little jagged in season-opening win

 

Groce cited a litany of problems the Zips need to work on as theyprepare to take on West Virginia on Friday.

Rebounding, where they squeaked out a 41-38 advantage, and turnovers, where the Zips committed 17 that led to 12 Malone points. A glaring stat is that the Pioneers matched UA’s points in the paint with 34.

 

Our rebounding will have to improve dramatically if we want to hang with big, bad WV.  The points in the paint stat - both teams with 34 - may be a little misleading.  1) our bigs also like to shoot 3's, and 2) like I mentioned above, we let Mouliom have 5-6 dribbles in the paint to get his shots off.  We're not going to allow that if we're truly playing to win.