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I am so impressed with Shamu Scott getting to the basket and finishing with a layup. He could not do that last year and always hurried his shot and missed the layup. Really improved his game this year. Nate Johnson seems to be the clue that holds this team together. Great dunk and great shot when we needed it the most.

The 2025 spring roster is up. It does not have any newcomers listed, but it does still list Bullock, Adams, Cooper, and Summers. Getting Cooper and Summers back at LB would be huge.

With Okonkwo's tendency to leave his feet, I hope the Zips follow the food additive genius's advice and have Gray (and Lyles, Marvin and even Seth Wilson) take shifts guarding VonCameron Davis or else this could easily devolve into a matchup nightmare down low if James is forced to sit for most or all of the game. I think it'll also be key for the Zips to key their emotions in check. That's always difficult in this rivalry (Tavari and Ali both had TFs over there last year). Despite their record, I still think Kent has talent - albeit incredibly inconsistent. Sullinger has been a good shooter in the past (although probably benefited from Santiago being another threat), so you have to wonder if that will return this year. Bottom line is I'll take ANY W this Friday - no questions asked.

Kent being the MAC's #1 defense...and seeing how the Zips struggle against the press...I predict Kent will not let us casually walk the ball up the court. Seems like a 62-61 slog in the making. Hopefully the Zips depth makes the difference.

The Zips head to the barn in Brimfield Friday night to face the arch-rival. The Flushes come into the game at an uncharacteristic 13-7 and are 4-4 in the MAC. They are coming off of a home win against BG. VonCameron Davis leads the team at 15.4 ppg. Jalen Sullinger, fresh off of his brief tour of Furman in South Carolina, averages 11.8 ppg. Cli’ron Hornbeak (that sounds like some rare Australian bird) leads the team in rebounding at 6.4 rpg. They are first in MAC defense and last in offense. They are 11th in field goal percentage, led by Sullinger’s awful shooting thus far. It will be interesting to see how these teams with such different styles plays out. I predict it will be extra chippy and Mr. Pinky will be extra pink. I expect Gray to bounce off of Davis quite a bit as he’s the Zips best body up defender.

There will invariably be some chippiness, especially if the Zips get on a run. The Zips need to keep their composure if that happens. I think Isaiah Gray is important in this one, especially if he's the guy to guard Davis. When Davis came to KSU, I didn't think much of him after looking at some of his high school clips but he has really turned into a fine player.

Happy to see Bryce get this opportunity. He's an awesome person. https://www.cleveland.com/highschoolsports/2025/01/bryce-jones-is-back-home-as-cleveland-heights-new-football-coach.html

Yep that's the key imo, make them play at our pace

Board is slightly disappointed with a 10 point road win in conference. I'd say that's a good sign. Beat Kent!

Win is a win. Didn’t play our best (and we’ve definitely played worse IMO), but still came out undefeated in conference play. Honestly, glad we got brought back down to earth a bit right before Kent. Also got some good film to work on against the zone and the press. We’ve established ourselves as the team to beat in conference the past 2 weeks. We’re going to get everyone’s best shot. Also, listened to Shammah Scott on postgame. Sounds like such a mature dude. Easy to like players on this team.

Went a 6 minute stretch without scoring, and still scored 80. Horrible frustrating game to watch, but the offense is still pretty darn good.

It wasn't pretty, but it's a road win.

One aspect overlooked in Nate's game is his anticipation on defense resulting in steals and breakaways.

We just saw a 15 minute example of how the Zips could lose a MAC game.

Good size for a HS kid. Supposedly the #1 HS long snapper in Illinois? Offered by Toledo too. Definitely a position of need. Hope he gets up to speed quickly. Bio said he was an early grad, so maybe he's already on campus?

OFFENSE QB: Finley Bullock - We are one of the few teams (maybe the only team) in the MAC returning their starting quarterback. Bullock will be the backup if he returns. If not, Roggow should be QB2. RB: Gant (Portal) Gee (Portal) - Transfers Gant and Gee should be the top backs initially. Redshirt freshman Patrick is the dark horse and may push for starting snaps sooner than later WR: Granger Mason WR: Polk Davis WR: Walker Hills (Portal) - The development of Granger and Polk in the back half of the season gives reason for optimism. Those two seem primed for a big year. If Adams returns (and is healthy) he’d be a nice boost. I really like the pickup of Hills from the portal. He’s the type of receiver who can excel in this offense and I think he’ll quickly work his way into the rotation. Redshirt freshman Mason is another one to keep an eye on. TE: Newell Cravaack - Newell was on pace to be 3rd team All-MAC before injuries sidelined him for a few games. However, Newell’s absence allowed Cravaack to gain substantial snaps. Cravaack became a fixture in the rotation once he had an opportunity. This duo should be one of the best in the conference. LT: Shor Johnson (Portal) LG: Archer (Portal) Fox C Morris McManus RG: Davis Mitchell RT: Jones (Portal) Mann - It’s really anyone’s guess who will be starting come kickoff. We lost some key players to the portal, but this group still has the potential to be solid. Coach JRod has had the OL on an upward projection regardless of who has been slotted along the line. We have some talented young players and a number of this year’s linemen will have previously spent time at JUCO. DEFENSE DE: Durham (Portal) Cheatom DE: Dall Frazier - Replacing Nunnally won’t be easy. That said, Durham ought to immediately be able to pick up some of the workload. The young players that are expected to play heavily into the rotation have high ceilings. DT: Murphy Hull DT: Brockington Madden - This position should have produced more than it did in 2024. Moore and Kapongo ended up being the only truly productive DTs once Lavea went down and we really didn’t have much of a pass rush from the interior. The DTs collected only 3.5 sacks as a group. The best talent here is the younger players. This position still needs addressing and 3-4 more interior linemen will be added. LB: Hollobaugh (Portal) Benenge LB: Spriggs Boswell - Similar to DE, this is a talented group, but most of the talent is younger and lacking experience. Hollobaugh should be an immediate starter and if Summers returns, that would help. I think Spriggs is in line for a breakout year. He has the physical tools and seems close to putting it all together. NB: Lewis Greenwood - Lewis and Greenwood return and will rotate at safety when needed. CB: Reed Branch (Portal) CB: Kamara (Portal) DeWalt - Reed was our best CB besides Golden-Nelson. Kamara should immediately slot in as the CB opposite Reed. If DeWalt can become more consistent, that would give us an incredibly long and athletic group to match up against opposing wide receivers. S: David Hunter S: Anderson D. Johnson - This group was inconsistent, at times, due to lack of experienced depth. David and Anderson will likely be the starters. Redshirt freshman Hunter may push his way into starting snaps. SPECIAL TEAMS K: Wiley Schramm P: Castle LS: Rhoades Special teams listed are returners and I’m assuming will step into starting roles. However, I imagine a few more specialists will be added.

I just asked Meta AI how to pronounce Shammah's name and got this!: "Shammah is a Hebrew word and it's pronunciation is: "Sham-MAH" "Sham" sounds like sham in "SHAM-poo. "MAH sounds like "Mah" in "Ma" (like a casual way of saying "Mom"). Put together, it's a beautiful and meaningful word that refers to a biblical concept of remaining steadfast and faithful, especially in the face of adversity." So, now you know! Will someone tell ESPN+?

I know; unlike Kent, I can read. 😉 I was simply adding another caveat to your statement. They also slowed the game down, made it sloppy, etc. vs. Miami and still lost by essentially double digits (I think it was by 9 thanks to garbage time points).

By the metrics (NET & Kenpom) Kent is still ranked as the 2nd best team in the MAC. Kenpom has their defense ranked #53 in the country. Kent can only stay in the game (with chance of winning late) by making it physical, slowing the pace, and forcing Akron to play sloppy offense. If Akron's able to control the tempo, I think we'll be able to win fairly comfortably (10+).

Can we please not have any technicals. It’s going to be an emotional environment but we can’t lose our cool on the road. Can’t give the crowd any more ammo

I got a bad feeling about this game… just seems like a game where the Flushes go unconscious and hit everything they shoot. I like our depth and look for Tarvi to have a big game. Last year he was the difference maker.

I still can't believe a team with a 1-2 punch of seniors VonCameron Davis & Jalen Sullinger are struggling on the offensive end of the floor.

Pretty scary, huh? 42.9% from the field 30.3% from 3 80 pts. On the road. In probably the least inspiring gym in the MAC. 48-31 rebound battle. This is the difference between poor performances earlier in the season and now - we're crashing the boards hard.

Maybe next year will be BG's year

Nate went off with about 2 minutes left. I couldn't tell if it was an injury or just a cut. Hopefully nothing that will cause him to miss Friday.

Burn the tape. Wake up call before Friday. Zips will lose in the MAC eventually, prefer not at NIU.

Zips getting on the floor with a minute left and up 14. That's a great sign.

I have numerous problems with the feed. I thought it was my tv. Thanks for adding it is just not me.

Feed is sketchy tonight.

Even on a bad shooting night, you can always bring energy and hustle... and that is what he does.

12 points and 10 boards for Gray tonight. That kid always comes to play.

Can the Zips please stop having the shortest guy on the court try to throw the ball in on out of bounds plays? I have never seen a team struggle with it as much as this team. Its always Sharron or Tavari and they are just not able to see the floor over the defender.

Not a pretty half. Great start then a bunch of uninspired slop.

This is an interesting topic: Are we really good because after the OOC schedule we improved a great deal or do we appear to be good because the MAC sucks. My answer: time will tell. Even good teams will lose against bad teams. However, if this team is really good, lets win the rest of the games. A really good Akron team should be able to run out the rest of the schedule. Lets win at Northern Illinois and at Kent and then continue this conversation.

I've heard the Horizon or Summit. No way the MVC would touch them with a 10 foot pole. It's a basketball conference and NIU has consistently been one of the MAC's worse basketball programs for several decades.

I know everyone enjoys making fun of the Kent Basketball program and how they have struggled this year but I need to remind everyone the season comes down to 4 games in Cleveland and although Kent sucked most of last year when it came down to the tourney they beat Toledo and came within a brain fart of beating us in the final even though we had a very experienced team.