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I'll bet he would if he could get a win out of it. It wasn't that long ago that Akron was decent and Buffalo was the class of the league. Now this.

Definitely odd, especially the timing. I'll be curious to see if it was a one-time deal. Young just can't seem to get his shots to drop this year. He's playing good defense and is taking care of the ball better. I'm hoping he starts hitting more shots but I trust our player development. He's ahead of where Tavari was as a sophomore IMO, and we see what he has become.

At least our coach isn’t wearing heels!

only knew because I watched the game. just like anyone who watched Pollock knew Marcia Gay Harden would win the Oscar.

The defense was good, but the rebounding was awful. If Can't could have knocked down open shots, it would have been much closer.

And zips losing by 12 at halftime 😬😬

The battle for the basement has begun.

I thought Cian Medley was a good player for Kent, very quick, and played really tough defense on Tavari. He had full court pressure on Tavari a few times and really made him work to bring up the ball. I was really suprised that he sat the bench the last 10 minutes of the game. He averages 10 points a game and we held him to 3. He did not shoot the ball well but the same could be said for every Kent player. Tavari leading the team in rebounds does not surprise me. One thing we are doing better is the guards coming back to the hoop looking for long rebounds. With Kent shooting poorly from long range there were a lot of long rebounds. Also, when I played street basketball there was a term, "following your shot" which meant after you shot you went toward the basket to get your own rebound. At least once a game an Akron 3 point shooter would pick up an offensive rebound if he would follow his shot, espcially when shooting from the corners. Finally, Kent missed a lot of open 3 point shots and shot 1 for 23. Maybe we start a new contest at the Jar: "the Kent challenge." Give somebody 23 three point shots and if they make 2 they win.

Also did not know Tavari was the leading rebounder for Akron with 9!

Zack getting on the floor with a broken nose and fighting for a ball 2 seconds into the game is a perfect snapshot of John Groce basketball. Evan, Amani and Chabi did a good job on Gillespie and on offense the Zips got him in some disadvantageous switches drawing some of his fouls. On to EMU with the knowledge we'll see a different team in Brimfield in 3 weeks.

I saw that they were shorthanded but didn't know the details.

And the one @Westie mentioned

The post-game @Illini Zip was referring to.

I think we were ~45 when NET was first released this year. The Murray State loss dropped us ~20 or so spots and we have slowly climbed back up.

Akron is ranked 50 in the NET. Is that their season high?

Tavari was funny in the post-game interview messing around with Hardman and Lyles. Not a side you see too much from Tavari. Worth a watch. At the time we debated what the loss of Tavari to the portal would have meant to this year’s team. The fact that Young has hit a wall with his offensive growth answers that clearly for me. Tavari has been exceptional all around. One of my biggest issues with Tavari in the past besides not holding his own defensively was he was always a shoot first point guard. This year he is actually looking to distribute and because of that he is far more dynamic and effective. Good on him. 👍

The refs ignored this rule near the end of the game: (although I don't think the back bencher Kent player meant it as a taunt) In NCAA college basketball, removing a jersey (shirt) within the visual confines of the playing area during the game (including celebration) is prohibited and will result in a technical foul. Key Rules Regarding Jerseys and Technical Fouls: Removal of Jersey: Players cannot remove their jersey while in the visual confines of the playing area. If done, it is treated as an unsporting, non-sporting act or a taunt.

I thought when Barre could get set on defense against Gillespie he was quite effective slowing him down. Dropping the shoulder and bulldozing might work against Lyles, but not Barre. Barre will definitely help keep Lyles out of foul trouble. Not only is it an additional body to throw at teams, but Barre helps where Lyles struggles and that’s much bigger players. At the same time their game is different enough that we should see them on the court together at times.

This is kind of where I'm at. I think it's important to set the tone early defensively. Halligan diving on the floor for the opening tip off are the kind of plays that energize a team early. I do agree with @Zippy87 that Halligan playing 25 minutes isn't ideal. Lyles and Eric both battling foul trouble likely played a role in that.

EMU lost Hart. They took Kent to double OT, and in the process lost two more players. One big guy took a hard fall on his shoulder, screamed out in pain, and the trainer embraced him and took him off the court. Another guy messed up his ankle and limped to the locker room. Then they lose by 35 to Central.

This Kent team had us in their heads and you could tell. Some crazy head scratching decisions. The Mahaffeys are the biggest game wreckers. They were causing problems all night. Getting Whaley back will help Kent but I feel like we didn’t shoot well overall. Let’s see if they can score 80 against us @ Kent if we’re back to normal. Barre being back was awesome. I feel like he could’ve been the difference against Miami

OK I haven’t seen it brought up and it doesn’t bother me but the woman next to me last night was clearly troubled by the Jesus Won warmup shirts. Again no issue here but it did seem odd. Great win. Rock fight as Groce called it. Was glad there was no stress down the stretch. I’d still prefer to see them only twice and not three times.

That was a thorough beat down. It's been a while since the talent disparity between the two teams, in either direction, was as wide as what I saw.

I will add my thoughts from last night. Tavari is awesome. Played 38 minutes. Chabi played well. I see his minutes increasing, especially against bigger teams. Kent sucks. Gillespie is a beast and that's all they have. Enrique's mom was sitting courtside. Pretty cool for her to see all the 25 jerseys. Key to the season is keeping Lyles out of foul trouble.

Agree with this except the starters. Since the change for the most part we have started off very well in games, with more defensive intensity. Zack on the opening tip last night is a prime example. Our best 5 usually get the most minutes and play at crunch time, but I like our starting lineup.