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There was a stretch in the 2nd half last night where the Zips would normally pull alway from teams. The inside-out game was working to perfection, creating all kinds of open looks. Hank and Kobe were hitting, as was X. The bigger issue was at the defensive end. They did not execute and Miami was able to match them basket for basket in the 2nd half in crunch time. That’s far more glaring an issue than the shooters having an off night, as they’ve had many recently. Last night was the first time X began to really remind me of LCJ. Any small window he had to fire up an open shot, he did. And he made them. He willed us to that win. He’s a special player, a fierce competitor.

I liked how Miami mixed up defending Enrique last night. Sometimes they ran the double immediately at him and sometimes they didn't. By mixing it up, they made it a little tougher for the Zips. After 20 games, I still can't see much of a reason for any opponent to not focus their defensive efforts on X and Enrique. No one else has stepped up enough that I would do anything other than send double teams at Enrique and put my best perimeter defender on X, deny him the ball and trap him whenever possible.

KSUCKS LOSES BY 10 AT NIU! fInAl FoUr TeAm

That said, he will need more help at some point in Cleveland, IMHO.

Zips are now the hunted.

DeKalb is the Bermuda Triangle of MAC basketball.

Greg Tribble does so many "little" things so well.

Reality of the situation is I think for the remainder of the season it's going to be Castaneda and Freeman as the given on any given night. From there Groce is going to have to identify who else has the hot hand and ride them. Hankerson, Hunter, Tavari, Tribble, and Kobe have all had some great games shooting, but none have shown the consistency to be a 3rd or 4th scorer on a night in and out basis.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2023/01/25/akron-zips-basketball-score-miami-ohio-xavier-castaneda-mid-american-conference-leading-scorer/69836878007/

NIU is a graveyard for overconfident MAC East teams.

I think we're a little fortunate to be winning. X is the majority of the offense. Need help from others in the second half.

He looks like he could eat Enrique Freeman for lunch. Literally.

We're not allowed to body shame. He's curvy.

Narrator: We won't Edit: TBH out of the cupcake teams I'm more scared of NIU. I'm not saying this just because of the Kent game either. They have been shooting it at an absurdly high percentage from 3 the past few games.

Oh, that’s right. Now I remember. Thank you.

that name rings a bell but we’ve got too many names to keep straight. Who’s this guy?

I laughed a little when I saw this sentence. I wonder how many times over the years an Akron fan has said/posted this or something similar after an Akron vs Miami game.

There was a fun post on Kitten Attack I read while doing some pre-season scouting. It was in regards to the preseason All-MAC teams. One of them said something like”Castaneda from Akron on 2nd team. Seriously? Come on.” And I tend to agree. Should have been First Team!

Even through Former Zip Quentin Hines has been in trouble, there will be a 2023 draft on February 11th.

When Hankerson arrived I was hoping he'd be more offensively assertive, like Cheese or Banks. I thought he'd be our leading scorer on occasion and be enough of a threat to open things up for Freeman and X. But he just isn't. He's always looking to pass, even when he has an open lay up. I think that what hurts his 3-point shot too...unless he's WIDE open he's thinking "who can I pass it to?" instead of "I'm draining this thing." He needs to be more offensively "selfish" (in a good way). He's shot zero free throws in 8 of our last 9 games, yet he's a 75% FT shooter? That's not right. He seems like a great kid. He's a dogged defender. I wish he looked for his own shot more on offense though.

Here’s some film of him playing OG. My favorite clips are at the backend starting around the 1:30 mark when he can be seen working in space. One thing is for sure, the athleticism along the offensive line has greatly improved since JRod took over.

Man that was an ugly win but I'll take it. This team has struggled to shoot from outside the arch with regularity for 2 + yrs now. Most teams aggressively double Freeman the second he touches the ball and dare the rest of the team to beat them. That leads me to this question. Can Kobe be the guy to keep defense's honest? If so what does that do for min for either Tibble or Hankerson? How much net gain does that provide as they lose quite a bit defensively. Just some thoughts as the season progresses. They need a third option or they'll have issues beating the upper teams in the MAC

yeah well they aren't FCS so he's still right

He hit a 3 that gave him confidence to drive the middle and shoot the floater that was short. The pass was just stupid. Hankerson went 2 of 11 and played 36 minutes. He took one shot that was not a three off an offensive rebound and it was it did not draw hoop. He drove the middle one time and did not take it to the hoop. He never draws a foul. Groce has a long leash with some players. Kobe Mitchell did look good tonight and probably played the most minutes in his young career.

Yes, it looks like a combo of Nate Johnson and Kobe Mitchell have taken his minutes.

He was in and then out tonight. He was at the end of the bench with no chance of going back in. bad turnover. bad floater. then he was sent to Siberia.

How true. Even an ugly win is still a win.

86-76 NIU final

Kent currently trailing 77-72 with 2 minutes left at Dekalb. Like I said before, I'm glad Akron avoided having to go there this year

Yup. Groce not happy, told the team they were very fortunate to win. And they will not win with that effort on Saturday. OU wants to kick our behinds. And they’ve got some talent.

Groce was very critical in the post game, as critical as I have heard him. He was happy they fought through it for the win, but was very disappointed in how they were outplayed and how Miami was tougher than most of the game. Game. He said they had an awful practice yesterday and it carried over into tonight's game with the Zips players not staying on their feet on pump fakes and trapping like they had practiced. He gave some credit to X obviously and was happy with how Kobe played, but otherwise was pretty disappointed in their performance.

I'll take it.

A little close for comfort, but good game. Miami came to play. Looked a lot better than the directional Michigan schools.

Zips seem hell bent on making this interesting.

That Fat Guy has gotten away with murder.

X is so good. Never gets excited, always calm. Ice in his veins.

Zips look like they weren’t ready for Miami’s toughness. Someone’s getting a T tonight.

Got to give the guy credit though. He's not just a big body he can move. Zipd are going to have to keep him under wraps for the second half.

Yeah it doesn’t seem like it, but was probably some desperation his first year here with the late start.

Nice to see Kobe getting some confidence in his shot.

Not great Bob

2 fouls on Freeman. Fat Boy for Miami is doing what he wants.

Charles Guthrie today had a tweet.....where he had a picture of the soccer team practicing. Spring semester started on January 9th. Today is January 24. If any coaches or the soccer SID is reading this blog, when are the zips going to update the web site to show the 2023 soccer spring roster? I know that myself and many other zips soccer tans would love to know if the zips added any transfers in January. I would also love to know if any of the zips fall 2023 recruits started college a semester early.

First post is updated. If anyone notices some players I missed, let me know.

A paintball incident just sounds like a young kid doing dumb stuff. I wouldn't read too much into it. If he had an illegal fire arm, drug charge, or something of that nature I'd be concerned.

That is the game where Tavari scored 21 points in 27 minutes on 9 of 10 shooting. Compare that to how he is playing now. If I am Groce I tell Tavari to shoot the ball more and find his shot. He is the missing piece for this team to step up their game.

Nevada is really damn good. Just beat #25 New Mexico in 2OT. They’re rated a spot ahead of Kent in KenPom. If there were a signature nonconference win the Zips could’ve had, that would’ve been it. Damn.

After failing to get it going in the air, Caldwell called upon 6′4″ 290 lb. guard and defensive tackle Delvin Morris, who took the snap in the wildcat and carried three defenders with him into the endzone. The Hornets went back to Morris on the two point conversion, and again it was successful as the Hornets cut the lead to six. The Fridge

UCF went from MAC -> CUSA -> AAC -> Big12 Must be nice. I'm incredibly jealous as Akron seems to be content stuck in the MAC forever. Except for the soccer program of course. Would be great to have something to look forward to besides a basketball game against a 6-win team from Western Michigan or freaking Miami of Ohio.

Good to know that a commercial hen can produce 250-300 eggs per year