Leaderboard

why do you find it necessary to bring politics into a discussion of Enrique Freeman?

I also felt the Lord's presence when the rowdies were yell F___K you to Kent.

I understand Groce takes the kids to Christ Community Chapel that want to come so it's not a show.

Spread is zips -11.5. That’s seems way too high for a rivalry game

This just makes me want all Ohio MTE. There's 13 D1 teams in Ohio. I'm 99% sure Ohio State would chicken out, so you'd have a nice 12 team bracket. Dayton would probably be heavy favorites most years but the storylines would be extremely fun. Give us a great chance at big wins against Dayton, Cinci, and Xavier while also beating up the horizon. Put it in the Columbus area for fairness and I'd spend the weekend there for it.

Maybe they could play a game in March after they both lose in the MAC Tournament 😉

The difference between us and Miami is we played Murray State, Yale, and Purdue and they played Mercyhurst, Eastern Kentucky, and Air Force, and had our only H2H at Miami. Fully confident we would beat them at the JAR and will beat them in Cleveland.

Dunk of the year by Eric.

The spring roster is out, and according to it we’ve got several guys back that I assumed were out of eligibility — Lyons and Archer on the OL, plus David, Jarmon, and AL. Branch in the secondary. If that’s accurate, that would leave us with approximately seven scholarships still open. Based on how the roster looks right now, 5–6 of those should be allocated to the DL.

I was planning on bringing a group of 12 but had to do the 'adult' thing & cancel the outing. But still planning on bringing the same group to the KSUcks game!!! 🤞🙏🤞🙏

I thought Cian Medley was a good player for Kent, very quick, and played really tough defense on Tavari. He had full court pressure on Tavari a few times and really made him work to bring up the ball. I was really suprised that he sat the bench the last 10 minutes of the game. He averages 10 points a game and we held him to 3. He did not shoot the ball well but the same could be said for every Kent player. Tavari leading the team in rebounds does not surprise me. One thing we are doing better is the guards coming back to the hoop looking for long rebounds. With Kent shooting poorly from long range there were a lot of long rebounds. Also, when I played street basketball there was a term, "following your shot" which meant after you shot you went toward the basket to get your own rebound. At least once a game an Akron 3 point shooter would pick up an offensive rebound if he would follow his shot, espcially when shooting from the corners. Finally, Kent missed a lot of open 3 point shots and shot 1 for 23. Maybe we start a new contest at the Jar: "the Kent challenge." Give somebody 23 three point shots and if they make 2 they win.

Zack getting on the floor with a broken nose and fighting for a ball 2 seconds into the game is a perfect snapshot of John Groce basketball. Evan, Amani and Chabi did a good job on Gillespie and on offense the Zips got him in some disadvantageous switches drawing some of his fouls. On to EMU with the knowledge we'll see a different team in Brimfield in 3 weeks.

Agree with this except the starters. Since the change for the most part we have started off very well in games, with more defensive intensity. Zack on the opening tip last night is a prime example. Our best 5 usually get the most minutes and play at crunch time, but I like our starting lineup.

I think Kent came into the JAR looking to play bully ball and in the opening tip wearing a protective mask Halligan says hold my beer and dives on the ball creating a scrum. Game on!!

Barre is not in sync offensively with his teammates yet, but his large presence was a welcome addition tonight.

Both these guys are fantastic. Evan is the prototype for me as a representative of Akron Basketball (and we’ve had alot of good ones). Smart, charismatic, funny, spiritual, family/teammate oriented… and the dude loves country music and Major League?! Come on. Especially right before the Kent game and their decades-long history of thugs and idiots. And I don’t know who the interviewer is, but I’ve watched a couple of his across multiple sports and he’s GREAT. Well prepared but not stiff, asks great follow-ups, and puts the athletes at ease. Great content… keep it up UA.

Today is the day. The only day of the year that my 12 year old is allowed to say the f word. F Kent St.

If they kept it open for the 16 people sipping on Bud Lights and didn't pull out the bleachers for the 800 tickets they could have sold, I think I'd return my diploma.

I think Nick being here could help Oggie's adjustment to Akron and the American system. It also gives the program an in in Nick's area of the world.

The bigger question is will the NCAA allow Whaley to play with an oxygen tank? He's going to need constant oxygen dragging his fat rear end up and down the court all night. Gillespie got in foul trouble the other night vs Miami. Fully expect that to happen again with our athleticism.

It's going to be interesting to see how Groce plans to handle the defense when Gillespie and 6'7" 290 pound Whaley are on the floor together.

@Let'sGoZips94 wins the longest post of the year award. Very impressive!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRzhM73gOUI/?img_index=7&igsh=cjI5OXZoMTBlYTU4 marvin posted this a while ago about getting baptized and you can see the team came to support him. Whatever you believe it is nice to see this group come together for something bigger than themselves

I respect all religions and those who don't practice any religion. Personally, I'd prefer they stick to team gear on the bench. We are not a Christian school. But it's also not something I'm going to lose any sleep over.

Those t-shirts are the same t-shirts worn by the Ohio State football team. Easy way for young Christian athletes to witness & remind themselves "Jesus won" - that they're just playing a game that's intended to be fun; take the pressure off. Jesus won the greatest victory. Love to see it. *And people actually wonder how Groce continually recruits such high character kids 😆

Tavari was funny in the post-game interview messing around with Hardman and Lyles. Not a side you see too much from Tavari. Worth a watch. At the time we debated what the loss of Tavari to the portal would have meant to this year’s team. The fact that Young has hit a wall with his offensive growth answers that clearly for me. Tavari has been exceptional all around. One of my biggest issues with Tavari in the past besides not holding his own defensively was he was always a shoot first point guard. This year he is actually looking to distribute and because of that he is far more dynamic and effective. Good on him. 👍

I don’t know if Lyles was standing on the circle or what, but that poor guy couldn’t get a charging call to save his life.

Former Zip Travis Switzer is being reported to be the Browns new OC.

What better way to learn to be a coach then be a graduate assistant for Groce. Nick was a character when he played at Akron. We were in a close game and Nick was having a difficult time shooting the 3 ball and had missed his last 5-10 shots. At a critical juncture in the game he started lining up a three ball and everyone in the crowd starting yelling "NO" Nick smiled at the crowd while passing the ball. He was a good player while at Akron and glad to see him coming back.

Everyone was right about George Thomas. He wrote an article about Miami for the ABJ..🤨

Obit for Julie Acus- Julie Acus Obituary January 20, 2026 - Hummel Funeral Homes https://share.google/IfZsKiClnbQAf8oGi

Reghi definitely in mid-season form. First Akron plays great defense and he says its Toledo, then calls Tavari "mercurial" - subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind. Yeah you nailed it.

Shammah Scott is so smooth offensively - even when he misses.

Landed at Alabama. Coach JRod identifies under recruited high school talent as well as anyone in G5. Portal additions have been hit or miss, but he’s been excellent with the prep scene.

After watching even more special teams gaffes from the Rams in the playoffs, I don't think this was all Chase's fault.

Much like everything else in Minnesota, the Timberwolves are frauds. Somebody needs to save Enrique and get him out of that organization.

Great way to break that full court press

Lyles has had a lot of trouble holding the ball under the rim tonight. At least four turnovers that I can remember.

The problem is the longer they hang around the more dangerous they get. If a player sees a few easy ones go in it makes the challenging shots later in the game easier to hit as they're in rhythm and not second guessing themselves. Its best to jump on these teams early to assert dominance.

And I don't like that Toledo is wearing white, I keep rooting for the wrong team. 😂

Yep they mentioned on the broadcast that he took an inadvertent "hand" from Evan Mahaffey last game. If he keeps shooting threes like that he should wear it the rest of the year.

In the shoot around pictures on Instagram halligan is wearing a face guard. Chabi is down to a wrap on his hand

We are Kowalchoke's regular season Super Bowl. The only numbers that matter for Toledo are 1 9 8 0.

It is amazing how poor our all-time (42-33 UT leads) and recent records are against Toledo despite our being the dominant program in the conference. It is equally amazing how UT has had good programs and dominated us through history yet has not appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1980. Baffling! Just when I start feeling sorry for the UT fans in the context of basketball, I realize there is a football side of the coin, and the pity disappears quickly.

I'm coming from Franklin County where there is a level 3 snow advisory yesterday and today (no going out except for emergency). I hope the advisory is eased and NE Ohio is OK with its roads. Toledo is one team I love to hate. Right up there with OU, but not even close to the emotion Kent generates.

Finally got around to watching his film. I know his social media says offer, and maybe I’m wrong, but seems like another walk-on to me.

Really sucks this game ended up the same week as Kent. I’m sure a lot of people will choose Kent over this that don’t want to go to both. Roo blue night usually does pretty well and people know Toledo is usually good. We got hosed for home games this year by the conference scheduling

Something tells me they will spend it faster than they bring it in.

ABJ coverage Lyles compiled his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Sharron Young added 11 points for the Zips. Lyles has scored in double figures in 15 consecutive games, becoming the first Akron player to do so since Enrique Freeman during the 2023-24 season.