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WE shot 47% from the field and 44% from the 3 line. That has to be our best shooting percentage all year in the MAC. I think this team plays so much better when they shoot the 3 ball less and today they only took 25 3 ball shots. This team can play with anybody when they shoot the ball well. It seems that Riak and E Man are playing better, especially on defense. When the team is shooting well their offensive weaknesses are not as glaring. I thought Groce was going to have a stroke when we were up by 11 and we turned the ball over on a fast break. He immediately called a timeout. If we can shoot the ball this well in Buffalo we stand a chance of winning. Great to see Daniel hitting the mark on the 3 ball.

Agreed. Usual good defensive effort. Add in the ball movement and better shot selection on offense and it all added up to a comfortable win. In control all the way! Go Zips!

I miss Charlie Coles. His tirades and the possibility of him having a major coronary at any moment added a little excitement to every game.

I know its early and the signing period has just recently closed. But, are there any rumors on grad transfers or other transfers that might be joining the team this year? The spring game is less than 2 months away, but I need some Zips football news. Especially if that news says that some good DL players will be on the team next fall. That is the area that needs some help, at least on paper. Go Zips.

Wow...some expected performances, some exceptional performances, some surprising performances. The guys are leading Eastern after day 1 by 4 and Kent by 9. Maurice Harris scored in the weight throw, and got things started. Jordan Latimer defended his championship in the Long Jump and Hesham Eldesouky surprised with a 3rd. Unfortunately Terrance McClain came up lame after his first jump. Then came one of the big surprises...Tevin Brown came from like 5th with 600 meters to go, took the lead with 200 to go and kicked home a huge win in the 5,000 meters, breaking the Eastern Michigan Distance Running domination. And then the Distance Medley Relay team grabbed a second, another surprising point-getter. Bigger surprises earlier, as the Zips qualified 3 in the 60 hurdles (Jace Rountree with a top-time of 8.08 seconds, Preston Fillman and Patrick Kimball). Sam Janson qualified with the second best time in the 400 along with Zack Robinson. Amir Willis and Malcolm Briley are in the finals of the 60. And Willis is in the 200 finals. On the Gals (sorry!) side Lucy Bryan was stellar, winning the pole vault with a new meet record 14' 6 1/2" a season best. And Abby Helminiak took 3rd, and Eboni Hall took 5th. Surprise - Sara Foster, a freshman took 4th in the Pentathlon for the Zips. Olivia Snyder grabbed 5th in the weight throw, not unexpectedly. Dara Perry qualified 2nd in the 60 hurdles, and Haley Hess qualified in the 800, both as expected. And the night ended with the biggest surprise for the women, a win in the DMR. So the women are 2nd to Central Michigan (another surprise) after day 1, but not a lot of qualifiers for finals tomorrow. But still some nice performances..... Go Zips!

Cheese's growth & development has been fun to watch this season. Poke and Riak are getting better. One of the most complete games. Loved it, good win, onto the next one.

TEAM is playing better with Cheese and Roscoe in together. Love LCJ's heart and effort but he is just too small.

Miami info from the Zips gameday article- Scouting the RedHawks Miami enters the contest with an 14-12 overall record and 6-7 in MAC play. The RedHawks won 6-of-9 games since they played the Zips with the three losses coming against Toledo (66-63), @Kent State (70-67) and @Western Michigan (84-79). Miami is 10-3 (4-3 MAC) at home, 3-7 (2-4 MAC) on the road and 1-2 in neutral site games. Miami has seven players that average over 6.2 points per game and eight with 10 or more made 3-point field goals. The three players scoring in double figures are Nike Sibande, Dalonte Brown and Bam Bowman. Sibande leads the way with 15.8 points per game. He is shooting 40.0 percent from the floor with 132 made field goals on 330 attempts. More than half of Sibande's attempts are from long distance (183) as he buried a team-high 62 made 3-pointers while shooting at a 33.9 percent clip. Sabande adds 30 assists and a second-best 14 steals and 12 blocked shots. Dalonte Brown follows with 12.2 points per game and averages a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game (141 rebs). Brown has made 46 long-distance buckets while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from deep. Bam Bowman rounds out the double-digit scorers with a 10.2 average and 26 made 3-pointers on 48.9 percent shooting from the floor and 38.8 percent from deep. He owns a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game (135 rebs). Jalen Adaway and Darrian Ringo contribute 7.7 and 7.6 points,respectively. Adaway has 13 made triples with a team-best 54.1 shooting percentage from the field while Ringo leads Miami with 131 assists and 60 steals with 14 made shots from beyond the 3-point arc. Isaiah Coleman-Lands and Mekhi Lairy add 6.8 and 6.2 points per game. Coleman-Lands made 10 field goals all from long range while Mekhi buried 18 3-point field goals with 34 assists. Abdoulaye Harouna has made 20 long-distance shots, averaging 5.0 points per game. Defensively, Miami limits its opponents to 69.1 points per game on 43.1 percent shooting from the floor and 32.3 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.3 long distance strikes per night. The RedHawks caused 307 turnovers (11.8 to/g) with 143 steals (5.5 stl/g). Miami holds the edge on the glass, outrebounding the opponent by a +3.3 margin and limiting the opponent to grab 872 total boards compared to the 957 total rebounds secured.

Agreed B & G. Some highlight Groce quotes from the article: * “I can’t look [the media] in the eye and tell you we’re not doing some things really, really well,” UA coach John Groce said after Friday morning’s practice. “We are. So, we have to find a way to try to control the controllables a little bit better.” * "I’ve always told him and Manny that if we could get them to score 10 points or more collectively in that 40 minutes between the two of them and shoot 60 percent on dunks, layups and paint shots and then protect the rim and be our best defenders around the rim, then they’re doing their jobs,” Groce said. * “Obviously, we’d like it more if he could get a couple more baskets,” Groce said. “He’s never going to be a primary scorer, but he needs to catch and finish better. Him and Manny need to be able to catch and finish.” ZipsNation couldn't have said it better.

ABJ: Zips need more offense from frontcourt players Good article. Addresses what we've been lamenting on here for some time.

Great out of conference schedule. In the MAC, you play the schedule that you are dealt, with no complaints. I do not like two Tuesday night games late in the season. Attendance will be sparse as in the past seasons, especially if bad weather is on the horizon. Many season ticket holders will think about their renewal, since we will be paying for 6 games and going to 4. However, it is a better situation than last year with that concert counting as a game.

Not a bad sched. No really short weeks except one day between the Miami/OU game.Both at home. If Arth can get these guys together in the first month the schedule isn't working against them...finally.

Remember the good old days when that MAC home playoff game ticket in the season ticket packet was worthless?

Looks like everything on 247 is updated, at least for us. Notes: Class ended up ranked 112th in the nation, 9th in the MAC, and an average star of .7924. There was never a higher year in the Bowden era either in the nation or average star. Bowden did finish higher in the MAC (8th) in 2014, but about 1/3 of those recruits never made it on the team, including the highest-ranked infamous Anthony Clark out of Buchtel. 247 adjusted Corey Thomas' and Peter Hayes-Patrick's rankings. Corey Thomas is now the highest rated recruit in the class. Thomas and Hayes Patrick are now rated the 6th and 7th highest rated recruits all time (as opposed to 6th and 8th).