It has been stated by others, but Zach starting is fine with me given the effort he gives. He's a junkyard dawg and against a bunch of bullies like Kent, we need guys like Halligan setting the tone. His offensive struggles are certainly something to consider, but I'm also seeing that area of his game grow. He had some aggressive drives to the basket last night. It was interesting that Groce subbed out Lyles - instead of Halligan - for Hardman.
Gillespie gets away with a lot. He loves to lower that shoulder. That is all they have, but he's a TEMU version of Enrique Freeman... or even Jimmy Hall.
Love hearing that Enrique's mom was in attendance. I wore my Freeman jersey to work at the card shop today. Had multiple people say, "Is that a Freeman jersey? Love it," without even seeing the back. All they saw was the ZIPS, the number 25, and knew it was Enrique. THAT'S how you know you're a legend. Also had a few comments about how nice it was to see Akron kick Kent's butt.
The talent gap has grown since inSincere Carry skipped his sad rear end off into the sunset. Last night was the most obvious the gap has been in one game, but the undefeated record vs. Kent since March 2023 speaks for itself. It's a wonderful thing.
Nobody ever made comments about the racial justice attire that has been worn every once in a while over the years, which has been and always will be way more odd than something like Jesus Won. Jesus Won is a particularly popular movement right now among athletes. Cleveland Guardians players wear them, Ohio State players wear them, etc. Heck, Ohio State's football players host worship services on their campus. As someone else stated, it's nice to see young adults believing in something bigger than themselves.
Whaley won't make a difference for Kent vs. Akron. The only 2 things Whaley provides are post play offensively and defensively, including rebounding. Griffith had 17 rebounds while Kent outrebounded Akron by 13, so Whaley wasn't missed there. Kent shot 9 more free throws, so I'm not sure Whaley makes a difference physically in that department. Maybe Whaley improves their 28% FG%, but he isn't going to help them with their 1-23 3P shooting. Whaley doesn't provide any advantages athletically and in fact, will probably end up being a detriment if the game turns into more of a track race. Akron shot well below their season averages in both FG% and 3P%, yet still comfortably won by 17. Whaley isn't the answer they need.
Cian is a net negative. He has a Kent pee yellow attitude, he's a head case, and his decision making is atrocious. For whatever he brings in the quickness department and defensively, he negates by turning the ball over, taking poor shots, and yelling at his teammates. The most embarrassing play of the night was when he was attempting to bring the ball up the court, left his feet to make a pass, and just willingly threw it out of bounds when he realized the teammate wasn't looking for the ball.
You need to legitimately pitch that contest idea to the marketing department. That's genius.
I think that was team gear in the sense that it was a TEAM decision to wear it. It's a public school that operates on taxpayer funds in America, which is One Nation Under God. As stated above, there were never any comments about the racial justice attire worn over the years. Not sure how we got to this point as a country where this is what we choose to take as controversial.
Not to mention the fact that the team wearing those shirts won by 17. 😜
And all of God's people said, "Amen."
It was embarrassing.
This was even more embarrassing. Aren't there wiener dogs in the Akron area we could race or something like that?
