Leaderboard

We're witnessing arguably the greatest Zips basketball player of all time and a program that has consistently been at the top of the MAC for like 20 years. People don't seem to give a damn and it makes no sense. Yes the JAR sucks and yes a 9 pm game is brutal. But this team deserves so much better.

Best whole team performance of the year for a long stretch there. From everyone. Even Sammy kept us in the game with some real tough uncharacteristic boards in the first half during Freeman’s time on the bench. Legit win.

I think we’re at the cusp of tarping-over the bleachers and moving home games to Florida.

For a 9 PM game, I thought the crowd was good and very much into the game.

Glad to see you made it to your car safely!

Ignore the quote. Phone won't remove it. This is an impressive, IMPRESSIVE performance. BG is a pathetic 10-3 - their schedule has to be one of the worst in the country. But... They have some players. They shot 60%+ in the first half and we couldn't buy a bucket for most of the first. Freeman had 2 fouls for most of the first half and had to sit. Yet this team stayed in the game mentally, chipped away, and then saw the door open and exploded through the opening. This is an ass whooping now. We've seen the emergence of a few players tonight, and then you have Freeman. Enrique Freeman needs to be in every All American discussion. He is legitimately one of the most unstoppable forces in the country. This is our MAC.

While everybody else is losing people we have All-MAC players returning. I think that speaks volumes as to Groce's program culture.

I think I just lost post of the year. 😡

You make a good point about people using tickets as a donation. I'm not a big fan of someone doing this if they aren't going to maximize their donation with attendance. The technology exists to know who is using tickets or not. Maybe it's time to work with some season ticket holders who are no using their tickets to see if maybe a donation to the Foundation in the same amount coupled with a tax benefit is best for them. Then they can get those tickets to maybe, let's be honest, younger fans who would use them.

They were all over the place. They missed obvious calls while calling a bunch of ticky tack soft stuff. The Tribble technical was a perfect example of how bad it was. On its own, it may have warranted a T but after a game of trash talking and posing, you don't suddenly start enforcing the rules with under 5 minutes to play to foul a kid out.

Hey guys happy victory Saturday! There’s a ton of opportunities for our NET to actually go up today plus a lot of good MACtion James Madison vs southern miss 3pm ESPN+ (honestly let JMU win so we can try at a Q1 game) St Bonnie’s vs richmond 4pm ESPN+ And the big one Colorado St vs Utah State on mountain west network. If Utah state wins they are in the top 25 for sure

We're witnessing arguably the greatest Zips basketball player of all time and a program that has consistently been at the top of the MAC for like 20 years. People don't seem to give a damn and it makes no sense.

Wasn't a full house but the crowd was loud and into it. Best crowd so far.

The box score has the attendance at 2394. I would say that’s pretty good for a 9pm game on break. The crowd was into the game to, especially as we took the lead

Thoughts: @clarkwgriswold like the movie Pickup on South Street. 1. Before the game, the BG message board mentioned that the falcons weren't deep and would have trouble. Zips bench outscored theirs by 20. Hill was in for 39 minutes, after playing the OT game against EMU, so by those last 10 minutes he was tired, frustrated and was playing hero ball. 2. I was thinking to myself and telling everyone i could text if the Zips need to get it down to 5 or 6 by half. Nice shot by Johnson to end the half. Well played by Groce taking that time out and telling them just get that last shot...don't want to be down by 10. 3. Groce used another time out well in the 2nd half when Zips had the lead. 4. This wasn't a Huger BG team. They played like a team with a good coach, who has thrown a team together his first year.

Groce didn’t sound very happy with the crowd in the radio interview. He was grateful for all that was there but he believes this team deserves way better and challenged the zips to all show up next week for Buffalo

Enrique 12-13 from the line

Gotta admit, I thought BG was going to get us after that first half. If that coach sticks around, they’re going to be conferences challengers. Already has 4-5 players who can play. i think this might’ve been our best game this year. Felt like everyone excelled in their roles.

Then it has to be one early in the game on Trey Thomas.

Masterclass in weathering the storm and unleashing TEAMISM.

Steal leading to a freeman dunk to take the lead. Force a TO. Then the ACH ball toss. Best TO of the year

Dawson with a big 3. Great to see him make a pressure shot. Every time we get close they get the ball to Hill and he scores. Need to d him up!!!

Nice crowd for a late game.

Nice to see Dawson have a couple hustle plays and get a 3 early!

Dang, how are we already at the 15th game of the season?! The Zips head to Muncie, Indiana Tuesday to play the Ball State Cardinals. The Cards are 8-5 heading into a game against Central Michigan, a likely win. The Cards had a very soft OOC schedule. Ball State was picked to finished eighth in the preseason Mid-American Conference coaches' poll, four spots lower than its fourth-seed placement in the MC tournament. The Cards had a rough off-season, losing former All-MAC athletes Payton Sparks, Jarron Coleman and Jaylin Sellers who transferred to larger programs after the Cards rebounded under Michael Lewis to 20 wins last year. Between that exodus and graduations, the Cards returned only 6 players and one player with any starting experience (Pearson). Five of the new Cardinals are true freshmen. One of the returners, 6’9 junior forward Bashid Jihad leads the team in scoring (18.7 ppg ) and rebounding (7.3 rpg). 6’3” junior guard Jalin Anderson, a Loyola Marymount transfer, kicks in 15.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg. 6’8” junior forward Mickey Pearson averages 11.8 ppg and 4.6 rpg. In a 13 point loss in Brimfield last week, the Cards started : Bashir- 6’9” Bailey- 6’4” Anderson- 6’3” Pearson- 6’8” Hendriks- 6’10” 6’7” freshman forward Mason Jones also played 30+ minutes. I had a chance to watch a little of their game against PCCC last week and was surprised that with their size they now primarily run a five-out, fast-paced offense that focuses on ball movement on the perimeter rather than trying to establish a post game.

Check out this assist @ 0:40.

Sounds like we got a 2 for 1 on that this weekend.

Doesn't look like it is available on ESPN+ yet. Well shucks, it was on CBS Sports. Please send me a VHS copy. I think Stan Heath is happy to be rid of Bates. It has been addition by subtraction for them.

NAH KENT LOST AND BLEW A 17 POINT LEAD😭

Crazy day in MAC. Hocking Hills breathes sigh of relief. Ball State loses at home to Central? Can't get any lower than that. If u want a nice evening watch the replay on espn+ of Kent game. Off the hook

Officiating crew from H*^!. Game totally out of control. But impressed Zips stayed in it against that swarming defense. Ball State traveling fans easily most obnoxious I've encountered. Two loud mouth old men were a constant Greek Chorus, coaching, officiating, complaining. That 4 foul rule per period bit Zips badly as they had Ball game tied with 10 seconds left and cards went cheap foul every 2 seconds and Zips couldn't get a shot or FT

Top Drawer Soccer is now reporting that the zips have added a 3rd fall recruit from Canada. Defender Jamai Royer from the same team as Forward Remi Agunbiade. Keep up the great work in recruiting, zips coaches!!! https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2024-mens-division-i-international-signees_aid52747

Lady Zips may get robbed of a victory over 11-2 Ball State from some absolutely horrible officiating down the stretch.

On attendance: - Home games have been Southern Mississippi, Heidelberg, Bradley, Miami-Hamilton, Gardner-Webb, and Bowling Green. Which opponent is going to draw the average fan to the game? - Pricing is still too high. Looking at next Friday at Buffalo, it's $10 for a GA bleacher seat, $20-$50 for reserved, and $100 for floor. Good luck drawing the average fan. - Promotions are scarce and when there is one, it's barely promoted. We sat in the student section last night, taking advantage of the $10 winter break deal, and my wife asked why so many people would pay $10 for GA instead of $10 for a lower level ticket and I told her they probably didn't know. Why not do a Freeman t-shirt giveaway and give him half of the proceeds for NIL? Why not offer a free kids ticket with paid admission of an adult? Why not partner with a local business to do some type of giveaway? The effort, quite frankly, is embarrassing.

I am a season ticket holder in the blue seats and I am out of town for 3 weeks. As a season ticket holder you can bank your tickets and then use them at a later time. I plan to bring people to the games when I get back and used the banked tickets. I think Groce should talk to the AD about promoting Akron basketball. When is the last time you saw a billboard or any type of advertising for the basketball team. They should do some promotions to get butts in the seats.

The JAR ticket prices are just crazy. You’ve got $10 GA, $20 upper level chair back, $30 lower level non mid court, then $50 lower level mid court. Those prices are just too far apart, especially the last 2. There really isn’t that much of a difference in seating to be charging that much

I've gotta say, the MAC is pure trash this year. I used to tell myself and whoever would listen that it's some good hoops and deserves some more love. We've had some ranked teams and little tourney runs over the past decade or so even after the 90s glory days. But this year, it's Horizon league quality. Bummer

It’s kinda wild his assists aren’t higher the amount of pass outs he does.

From BG Message Board Re: No depth = getting run out of the gym Quote Post by guest44 » Sat Jan 06, 2024 7:37 am Let’s bring back Elsasser. Let’s go find football and baseball players who can play 15 minutes a game and make sure we don’t qualify for the MAC Tournament again this year. Let’s hope the league tries to do what Akron did. Have you watched many of them? Some don’t have 3 players who would play in Akron’s rotation let alone depth themselves. BG lost to the best team in the MAC and led for nearly 30 minutes. The most promising part is we looked like we belonged and on the road. The depth will come back from injuries and the end of the bench can play against the bottom of the MAC. Hard to believe that was the only Zips/Falcons match up this year. Will need that for tiebreak situation🤔

Groce said he thought it was odd to give a T to his "best player" at that point in the game and fouling out to boot. May be some tears from Groce when Tribble graduates. Seems like Ali was back to his old habit as well.

Great to see the guards step up in a major way. Thornton, Tribble, and Scott did a great job defensively in the second half. Thought Thornton did a little bit of everything and does a great job getting the team to play at proper pace in the half court. Scott had his best game as a Zip. Hope to see his confidence grow from this. Agree with the comments that Tribble was a difference maker on both ends. He kept the Zips close when needed. Freeman is so fun to watch. How many W will this team run off? Excited to see as they should look dominant a lot in league play.

For those who don't know, JMU is currently undefeated at 14-0 and ranked #19. If we continue to win, we should get another crack at a Q1 win.

Heard it here first 😉 Best wishes to Tucker. Great guy and a beautiful golf swing.

If we can get 6k for the Kent game we should get at least 3k for every other game the rest of the year

Tribble's been my favorite Zip since he first appeared on scene in 2010

I'm sure Groce is not happy about giving up 41 in the half.

I was expecting him to announce on Twitter today, but there it is. He committed last night.

I wouldn’t worry about that. We have some good news coming today.