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Houston, @zipnetter1951 is having a problem.

Sure would be nice to get N. Johnson back with a few games left before the tourney. Didn’t JG say 6 weeks and it’s been 4? JMU was the better team but if Akron shoots just badly and not atrociously badly :), it’s a tight game close to the end. Zips were throwing rocks and down 45-42 midway through the second half.

Dawson has just been disappointing offensively after starting off so well. His outside shot has not been there and that seems to be his entire game offensively. We need somebody to help Ali, Freeman and Tribble against good teams and the rest of the team has come up empty.

Amen. How many easy layups and dunks did they get with simple cuts to the hoop? It was maddening.

The blown defensive assignments was what jumped out to me. You will have bad shooting nights over the course of a season. Defense is supposed to be what travels and helps you win on nights your shots aren't falling. JMU tore our defense apart. It seemed every shot they put up was a high percentage opportunity.

At the end of the day, the Zips just got beat by a better team. JMU ran their offense more efficiently, shot the ball better, distributed the ball better, rebounded it better and played better defense. They were the more talented team. The Zips are a good team relative to the other teams in a conference arguably not in the top 20 conferences in the country. Are they a top 75 team, maybe. Can they make the tournament and compete early, maybe. With their shortcomings, they're still the MAC favorite and our Zips and I trust Groce and staff to work with the team they have and figure out ways to offset the shortcomings.

I disagree. I thought Tribble Freeman, and Ali had good games. But you cannot play 3 on 5 offensively the entire game. Somebody has to get hot among the other 5 players

It’s time for Tavari. He needs more minutes. He can be the next tribble in developing his shot by playing more. I said the same thing last year about Tribble and he’s such a better player from running offense to creating his own shot. The time is now.

Disappointing loss in the way they lost. I thought they had more in them. Need to physically toughen up if they want to win an NCAA game.

Congrats to JMU. They are really solid. They play hard and smart and are well coached.

JMU is the better team. Offensively they're moving the ball around better to get easy looks. Akron is settling for more difficult looks.

Thornton needs to stop shooting the ball.

I think Tavari has to play more. He’s a better ball handler than Thornton.

Well, played like **** for 3/4s of the half and only down 4. Zips really need to clean up that defense in the second half. They gave up waaaaaaaaay too many easy baskets.

Please rise: O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command... The Zips head off to Buffalo after a week off to face the Bulls next Saturday afternoon. Buffalo comes in at 3-20 fresh off of an overtime win over Georgia Southern in the MAC/SBC Challenge. The Bulls sole MAC win was over CMU on January 2nd. 6'8" 5th year forward Sy Chatman leads Buffalo scoring at 18.5 ppg (6th in the MAC) and is second in rebounding at 6.5 rpg. 6'9" senior forward Jonnivus Smith leads rebounding at 8.8 rpg (3rd in the MAC). 6'6" senior forward Isaiah Adams averages 13.2 ppg and 3.9. They are 10th in offense (67.4) and 11th in defense (80.4 ppg) in the MAC. The Zips beat Buffalo 76-59 at the JAR on January 12th. Chatman led the Bulls with 23 and 7

We played like dog 💩 in almost every facet. Even Freeman played weak at times, not exploding through contact and kicking it out instead of taking the close 2. JMU was the superior team because they chose to be. They chose to play more physical, they chose to execute their game plan, they chose to be great. We had too many players choose to be mediocre. As others have said, we have 1 month to figure out how to become great. I'd imagine Groce is going to make sure there's no room for mental lapses like we saw last night and in Oxford a couple weeks ago.

I know this will not be a popular post but I hate when we play Division 2 or Division 3 teams because it does not give you a true picture of the players or the progress of the team. You find out who are the players and who are the pretenders when you play tough competition, teams that are better than you. Teams that if you make the tournament you will have to play. Here is the box score of 3 players from the Heidelberg game: Dawson, Mikal 9-12 25 Scott, Shammah 5-8 15 Thornton, Kaleb 4-6 11 And these guys played a total of 54 minutes yesterday and scored 1 point shooting 0 for 11. This is the problem confronting Groce. Not sure what the answer is but hopefully Groce can find the solution.

If only we could just shoot badly and not atrociously badly 🤣🤣😭😭😭

He's already 65 and was pretty vocal when he was at Akron that he never planned to coach into his upper 60, 70s. I feel his intention was to always retire around 65.

If Groce left I think KD would be interested in coming home.

100% agree. It's been time. Thornton gives you some solid defense and he can run the offense, but he's too passive, can't penetrate and break a defense down, and teams are fine with doubling Freeman and him shooting it from outside. Rotations with both he and Scott are extra rough. It's been said already bur we need Dawson and Hunter to step up. 1-10 combined from deep tonight.

Sunbelt Conference from top to bottom whipped our ass. Embarrassing

Tavari has potential. He needs to earn his minutes imo. Thornton's assist to TO ratio is twice as high as Tavaris, with better defense, imo. Tavari has a higher ceiling but has to prove it with his opportunities, and he hasn't yet

To paraphrase one of our opponent’s message boards earlier this year - “The Zips are Freeman, Tribble, Ali…and a bunch of guys.” Dawson and Hunter are virtually invisible. Get well soon Nate. We need you.

That is one more than Scott, Thorton and Dawson (LOL)

The Zips are not going to win many big games as long as Nate Johnson in street clothes and a cast is as big an offensive threat as Smart, Thorn or Dawson. One of them has to step up. All 3 get open looks all game.

He’s already a much better shooter than Trib was in his second year. If TJ works hard on defense and learns the rotations he will probably get more minutes. He got pulled from several early season games for dogging it and got himself deep in the dog house.

Groce had nothing good to say about the Zips in the post-game interview. I expect a tough week of practice and maybe some changes.

Oh hey another almost against a good team. Maybe next time

MAC is a clown show this year.

Probably the ranked team up until Abreu got arrested. Perhaps that LCJ, Cheese, Xeyruis, Banks team could have been great, but we were robbed of knowing.

JMU bench 34 pts akron bench. 4 pts. if the starters don’t play well. We’re in for a world of hurt

Yep, them 2 as well. Just have higher expectations for the two I mentioned.

Thornton and Smart get open looks too and NEVER get hot.

This team is just good, not great. Beats the bad teams. Loses to the good ones. We have 1 month to figure out how to be great.

Thornton is MUCH better defensively. Although TJ has worked a lot harder on his D lately.

We have 5 starters and only 3 that are scoring. We need more from Hunter and Dawson who are missing in action again. I just wish somebody would step up from the bench to get more minutes but none of the subs have done anything. I only remember Tavari hitting a 3.

The color guy thinks Enrique is one of the best players in the conference. Ya think?

The two guys expected to do that are 1 of 9.

Tribble is taking the ball inside and making tough shots. Dawson was open on the wing and Tribble just took it to the hoop. He is playing like he wants it bad. Love watching him play.

Thornton led the MAC in assists and is always near the top in assist to turnover ratio. His ball handing is fine. He's just not a great penetrator or very explosive, talents possessed by Tavari. It's all about timing and matchups with those two.

'Ol Reliable: Greg Tribble "floater"

Their arena looks pretty nice.

I hope he sucks even more in Pittsburgh than he did here.

Warning: I got long-winded late at night, sorry. When it comes to recruiting, there are few better than Groce. A saying at Illinois was "Mothers love Groce" for the way he was able to alleviate their concerns during the process. And the guy's work ethic is off the charts. Also, I think he (and Dustin Ford) have proven to be solid at player development as well as game planning at each of their stops. As long as the Akron administration continues to meet him half way the sky is the limit. I believed that on day one and nothing has changed. Groce has the ability and the patience to continue to grow this program incrementally. And I believe we would be even further along if not for COVID. It's my opinion that injuries and the unethical side of the business is why Groce failed at Illinois. Nothing more. You lose your 4 star point guard 2 years in a row to season ending injury it's going to have ramifications. And today, if Illinois gets into that 2 way battle vs. Villanova for Jalen Brunson they would send in the CEO of the NIL Collective to try to seal the deal. Groce didn't want any part of that crap. I don't have first-hand knowledge, but the evidence was clear then. Groce ended up the "recruiting bridesmaid" way too many times on the high level recruits for it to be pure misfortune. Groce always talked about "not taking any short cuts". I took that statement to mean he had no intention of buying a championship. Now thanks to NIL, all of those seedy dealings are legal and part of the standard operating procedure. The other aspect of the P6 racket that I don't think people quite appreciate is the pressure to win immediately. I know from following Illinois that P6 fan bases can be entitled and insufferable. And their donors can be even worse. I don't see any of that appealing to him anymore. There are many factors that motivate a student athlete to attend a university; prestige, promises of going pro, immediate cash payouts, specific educational goals, family legacy, other relationships such as girlfriends, favorite team growing up, etc. Some of those might not apply to Akron, but here are a couple that might. Guys from the Cleveland area can play for their local team and their friends / family can attend many of the games. Freeman's family is a great example. And this is the pitch I believe Groce is using more than any other; come to Akron and you can be a part of building something special, something bigger than yourself, create your own legacy and the players that follow you will stand on your shoulders to reach even higher. This approach appeals to a certain personality and it's not for everyone. But Groce can sell that. I truly believe Groce is just getting started. Go Zips!!

Some people feel the need more to be right than they care for their team to suceed. I was probably the biggest Bowden critic on this board(or at least one of them) because I felt settling for 5-7 season with a random 6-7 win season here or there wasn't what Akron should be striving for. That never stopped me from being a fan and still enjoying some of the highs, like beating Northwestern.

Dawson + Hunter = 3 points on 1 for 9 shooting

They will keep doubling us inside until we can make a wide open 3.