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Absolutely no problem with the Zips effort. Groce always gets the kids to play hard.

And a guaranteed big name opponent.

Notre Dame is the lowest rated RPI....selection.... St. John's at 42....Notre Dame at 44....both get in Georgia Southern at 34 and Gardner Webb at 35 do not get in.... Michigan lost 5-0 in the Big Ten final....to UCLA I like this draw for the Zips

fitting venue for Kent

I thought we protected the ball fairly well. We only had 10 turnovers, which was 2 fewer than Purdue in what was a very fast paced game. Being outrebounded 45-26 was the real issue. They had a lot of easy 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chance points. I get we weren't going to win the rebounding battle, but Lyles only having 1 board just can't happen. Let's say he had 7 instead. That would have meant Purdue would have won the rebounding battle 39-32, which would still be a healthy margin, but not so large that you couldn't make up for it elsewhere.

This is the best Akron team I have seen against a quality opponent. Groce has them ready to play. Only down by 5. I am not sure we can play this well for 40 minutes but really impressed with the ball movement, hustle, and breakouts. Tevari looks like he can play with these guys and Scott has hit some great shots.

This draw scares none of us. The team is ready and they are confident they can play, and beat, anyone. Having the matchup with either of the two Midwest blue bloods of D1 sports is perfect for us. The guys will have no problem playing at a pace that breaks their opponent down. The future is in their hands and this schedule has them ready.

Buffalo is 4-0 including wins over Southern Miss., Green Bay, and DePaul 👀

We can never seem to get over the hump at these tournaments. After our first 4 performances I think it is well within reach we can go 3-0 this weekend, just gotta come out ready to play like its a home game

Strong optimism for the MAC to start the season. Murray State looks like it will be a great matchup. Yale could be an opponent in the Paradise Jam.

We scored 79 with a not-so-great second half. 90 was absolutely in play. Heck, if the officiating is just slightly less egregious, 90 would've been in play. Lots to learn from this game, but I love where the ceiling appears to be for this team.

Lots to be excited about this team. This game was an impossible task, but the team played tough. We can't do much about height, but we can reduce the turnovers and shoot better at the foul line. We will be good this year and super at tournament time. Groce has a plan and its is playing out.

I really don't hate what I've seen from our Zips today. We showed up and played pretty aggressively. There's just only so much you can do against the height they have. We can hang with almost anyone in the country after seeing this, they are just unfortunately one of the few we can't imo

MMK is fighting for his life out there but asking him to guard Cluff is tough.

That is one of the weakest calls all night. Perdue has been pushing off all night to create a shot.

I see why these top teams are scared to schedule us, we'll probably never get another one on the schedule now

Time to burn a red shirt. Give Cody Head a chance.

I'm hoping Barre plays more as the season progresses. These are the types of games we need that size off the bench.

Hate the way that Smith does the shot fake and then slams his body into the defender. I know it's a legitimate play, but I hate that we keep falling for it and I hate it in general. 😂

Yes, ... absolutely a joke. But this time last season much the same was said about Akron ... and while pi$$ poor, Kent's schedule is still lightyears ahead of Miami. It's the cross good midmajor teams have to bear. MAC has benefitted from the Sun Belt Challenge. I would suggest adding another 'challenge' with C-USA or MVC. Good teams in all four conferences are struggling to get even quality mid-major games.

Excellent news! From what I've seen, this group has excellent composure, toughness, and leadership, all of which are very necessary for any kind of deep run. Let's hope they get a dose of good fortune as well. Looking forward to Sunday.

Given the time in the school schedule, time of day, and weather forecast. There is no reason for there not to be a big student crowd. Students shouldn’t be going home this weekend with Thanksgiving break at the back end of the week. A team ranked #14 you think should be exciting enough for some rowdies to show up. Hopefully they do

We are the 14th seed which is actually the highest seed Akron has been in 8 years. Only been seeded once in that time it was 2022 against Pitt as the 16 seed. Which was a total embarrassment of a match if you recall

They should call the event, the Little Dance.

I wonder if the Zips will ever play at the Greenbrier? We can say hello to Rob Fulford. I liked him.

Yes I agree. Liked everything about him until he gets to a spot to get a shot up, and then just... Doesn't

Honestly, I don't think we should. That's close enough that the head-to-head results should be the dominant factor.

The ceiling is very high for the 2025-26 Zips...if they quit biting on every pump fake and fouling 3-point shooters.

Helps when their competition is as weak as it has been. Cleveland State beat D3 Capital by 1, lost in buzzer beater fashion to a really bad Loyola team, and they were so bad vs Northwestern the Evanston police started a missing persons search for the whole team. Kent beat them by 7 and let them put up 95. The UNCW game, which is supposedly a good win, didnt feature much competition for Gillespie. UNCW's big wasn't much to write home about. Based on these early performances by Kent, I think they'll be ~.500 in the MAC. EDIT: Didn't realize Kent plays Cleveland State again later this week. What a joke their schedule is.

The loss to Purdue didn’t affect our Kenpom rating too much. 79

Lyles has struggled to rebound against talented teams with size. In 59 total game minutes against Purdue, Arizona, and St. Marys (both last season, of course), he has 6 total rebounds. This is part of why I wish they would've given Barre a look earlier tonight. He didn't record a rebound in his limited time, but I at least saw some physicality from him in the paint. Overall, I'm happy. They didn't get embarrassed and I don't think we will see another team that good this season unless we reach the Sweet 16.

They lost by 18 to the team many consider to be the best in the country. I won't lose a second of sleep over this one.

Groce is going off on the post game

This team has a chance to be really good. I love the brother’s size and athleticism. Played the game as good as I think we realistically could. Win the paradise jam next week and I think at large is still in play.

Love Young. What a pest.

We've already put up 70 with a full four minutes to go. Pretty impressive given the circumstances.

When he signed with them, their fan board described it as going from nobody cares U to Purdue. This is why I hate these schools.

I love when the 5'11" guards facing a team of trees get called for physicality fouls. "Tampax - the official tampon of the Big Ten." - Ricky Bobby (probably)

Someone should let them know that he's a senior and the Purdue won't be able to steal him after this year.

He was yelling at the refs: You are better than that. A polite way of saying we are getting homered and almost every call has gone against the Zips.

This is impressive by the Zips, especially given the officiating.

The Vermont and St. Louis finals went the way we needed them to. Hopefully enough for the Zips to get at a top 16 seed.

If 7'4" is making 3s, good night.

Damn. 2 on Evan early.

It feels like a March Madness game.

What a nice post in lieu of the CSU game. I watched that game and saw nothing but disgusting basketball. The mistakes were constant and never corrected. CSU did not press or play 94' of basketball and yet we had 20 turnovers by the middle of 3Q. Last year it was all the injuries. In year three we were supposed to be turning it around with culture, talent, recruiting, schemes, etc. Everyone I know on campus who knows coach Gensler says he is a great guy with a superior basketball mind. They believe in him. But I look at the results and scratch my head. How can we be so bad in year three? I hope he is a miracle worker.

Vikings 76 Zips 55 Not sure what my expectations should have been coming into the third year of this regime but it’s very apparent we are a not making progress. Not sure what to attribute it to but hopefully with all the new players some cohesiveness and improvement will be seen throughout the season.

Their issue was picking fruit one too many times from the Bobby Hurley/Nate Oats coaching tree. Eventually, the fruit soured with Whitesell and it killed all the momentum with their program. This is the exact reason why hiring Groce was such a big hire for Akron to sustain what KD had built. Canada's South Campus doesn't have a very strong athletics backing, so unless they strike gold with coaching hires (they've done well in football, too), they'll always find themselves with a middle of the MAC ceiling at best.