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I'm getting such joy watching 4 years of hard work paying off for Tribble and his 3-point shot. Love it!!!

How the mighty have fallen. Buffalo had such a good program for many years. Really surprised to see their dismal record. Makes me appreciate how good Akron B Ball has been these many years. You have to give credit to KD and Groce.

Really impressed how we closed out this game. Dawson came through in the clutch with some big 3 point baskets. Tribble is finding an outside shot. And Ali making 3 of 4 clutch free throws. Plus our defense on the last possession was outstanding. Always tough to win on the road in the MAC and Akron pulled it off. Great game by the Zips.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to inform ZipsNation that PCCC is now down 23 with 11 minutes left in Garrettsville. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Ferri…Moorhead…Brookhart…Getsy?

I told my son, who is a young athlete himself, how Tribble is the definition of hard work. He was 11-66 from 3PT in his first four seasons combined and is 11-34 this season. He's never going to be a sharpshooter, but just hitting them at a respectable clip and not allowing the defender to cheat in is HUGE for the entire offense.

I am glad he's coming back. My amateur-outsider take is that he'll be able to improve the WR unit. Here's hoping a QB emerges this year.

This one may have been intentional, but that doesn't explain every other time he has done it. I'm not sure I've actually seen him stay behind the line this season.

Guess who was called for more fouls and didn’t have 2 shot bonus until the last minute. Even the best of the message boards have plenty of stupidity.

You are a machine @catdaddyp!

He was the coach when I was in school and I met him and was on the practice squad for a hot minute. He is flat out a phenomenal human being. It’s weird to say that was the golden age of Akron D1 football… but it was and I’m ecstatic that he’s back in the program.

I started feeling old when I started picking the kids of guys I had previously drafted in fantasy drafts!

Winners win

Do I dare mention that the Zips have a higher NET ranking than Indiana too? Ha!!

I dig this

Short of getting a stud for QB this is great news. JD is a good coach and man. He gets Zip football for all its ups and mostly downs. He clicked with Joe. That relationship will have a positive affect on the entire rest of the team. We talk about creating a great culture, this is another step in achieving that. Welcome back coach, glad you are here!

I would definitely call this hiring an upgrade. Only time will tell though.

Really surprised with Santiago. He's appears to have actually regressed as a player. I always thought he was the heart of that team but he's scoring only 8 points a game on 34% shooting in 32 minutes a night.

Ashland. Grew up there and played there.

"Punk" is their identity. They just don't have any students dating any players with talent this year (i.e. InSincere).

Taylor Housewright new OC and QB coach. https://footballscoop.com/news/sources-dynamic-fcs-play-caller-headed-to-akron-as-oc-quarterbacks-coach-taylor-housewright https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Housewright

Here you go. HS FILM

Buffalo should host it in January

That made me stop and think "Really"?

Down the stretch every shot inside the paint they'd say "Jihad misses and no foul." Like they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that a guy can shoot the ball and actually miss, or get blocked without being fouled. At one point during the game they also mentioned how Ball State and Akron had been two of the top teams in the MAC for a long time. That seemed odd to me so I looked it up. Since 2000 they've had like 6 winning seasons.

Correct! It's being discussed in the Wide Receivers thread.

As Groce has said, he has maintained his contributions in the form of being a great team player. I’ve noticed he’s fighting harder for rebounds and loose balls, even without his shots falling. You can’t necessarily see that in the box score, but a guy like him could quickly de-rail a team if he wasn’t bought in. Not like we have any experience with something like that 😉

We need to get more from Sammy. So far in MAC play, he's 2 for 17 from the field and averaging 3 points and 4 rebounds a game. Fortunately, other guys have stepped up to fill the void.

Beacon/Ohio.com article on the game- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2024/01/10/akron-zips-basketball-score-ball-state-enrique-freeman-stats-ali-ali-greg-tribble-mikal-dawson/72165900007/

don't know anything about it, but I'd vote in favor to keep our current uniforms if I had a chance. They look sharp as hell.

Some interesting numbers so far in MAC play... Tribble 13.3 PPG 68% FG% (17-28) 55% 3PT% (6-11) The only negative to his game is he's fouled out now two games in a row. Hunter 3.3 PPG 12% FG% (2-17) 22% 3PT% (2-9) Safe to say Sammy is in a slump. Also worth nothing Dawson is 7-12 (58%) from 3PT range over the last two games and hopefully starting to break out of his month-long slump.

Hearing this makes me feel old.

The Cardinals have nothing to hang their heads about after this one. They gave a tremendous defensive effort, and Basheer Jihad and Jalin Anderson were matchup nightmares offensively. Great game from both of them. Mikal Dawson was the difference late in the game with those two massive three pointers. Excited to see him finding his rhythm offensively again! Experienced squads know how to finish games like these. If I had no rooting interest, this would have been a really fun Tuesday night basketball game to watch. Grateful to get the roadkill!

How’s it a foul of Tribble when Jihad was going over his back?!!

Announcer, "a good bit of refereeing there....". Probably the only one in the building thinking that.

Sammy needed to aggressively take it at Jihad on that fast break.

Interesting comments! I don't have the answer. I know a few people who quit attending games when KD left. As much as I liked KD, I think we have a better coach and a better program with Groce. Unfortunately, I think Groce will move on to greener pasture. I retired from First Energy last year. Several years ago I attended FE alumni game. We had a boxed lunch in the student rec center and the Coach, President, Zippy and I think a player or two came thanked us for our support shook hands etc.etc. etc. I think University comped the event. The theory was get people to one game, and perhaps they will come to additional games. There are still some large employers in the area with many alumni employees. I am thinking of FE, GT,Timken,Gojo etc. My $.02

I feel like we haven’t been that bad, just need to string some stops together

When you look up “midweek MAC road game” in the dictionary, this game pops up. Ridiculous 3s made by the home team, home-cookin officiating (bald ref did noted atrocity in Muncie last year), and star players struggling.

Ridiculous officiating, but this is the MAC. Garbage. Tribble 's ball-handling is noticeably better this year. Dawson has put together a few nice games here.

Refs are letting BS get away with a lot

He was easy to forget, averaging only 7 a game. Man, did he improve in a year.

I was think with his son on the roster JD might want to come back and get involved with Akron football again.That’s why I asked.

He brings intangibles that will more than make up for his "lack of recent experience". Think of the WRs that came through while he was here - Hixon, Arthur, Bowser. Akron football always competed under his tutelage. As previously mentioned, he gets Akron football. Fully expect him to be a huge positive in the locker room and on the sideline.

https://footballscoop.com/news/sources-former-award-winning-akron-head-coach-returning-to-zips-staff

Explain what, his vagabond history? My best guess is that he has attached his self-worth to being a D1 starting QB and if that doesn't work out, he moves on.

The Salvation Army Thrift Store at 1634 Brittain Road in Akron (44310) has a ton of nice Zips gear new with tags. Shirts are $5 and sweatshirts at $10. Most of the clothing is from - The Original Retro Brand which is a nice quality line of sports gear.