clarkwgriswold

I think LCJ started his closing argument in favor if him being MAC POY today. X only went 1/5 from 3 today, but his shot looked better. The 13 boards were key.

The Zips welcome old friend Jeff Boals and his 15-14 squad into the JAR Tuesday nght. The kittens are fresh off of solid home wins against Canada and Brimfield A & T after losing to BG by a point. Boals and his staff appear to be making progress in Athens. 6'4 sophomore guard Jason Preston leads the team at 16.3 ppg. 6'8' sophomore forward Ben Vander Plas scores 15.5 ppg while leading the team at 6.8 rpg. SVSM grad freshmen guard Lunden McDay continues a fine freshman season for the Kittens. They are 7th in the MAC on offense and 5th in defense. The Zips squeaked by the kittens 88-86 at Athens on January 25th behind 35 from LCJ.

Wow, didn't see this one coming. Groce and crew should get some real kudos for this one.

Maybe it's just that they always give us trouble, but it sure seems like Buffalo always has a crew of unlikable players.

Channel and X are going to have to be at the top of their games to keep the Zips in this one.

There is a cameraman in Buffalo with a concerning fondness for the Buffalo bench.

This feels like it's about to get away.

Reece and Tribble are just brutal from the free throw line.

Tribble and Ali growing up today.

4 on Riak. That's not going to make it any easier.

You just had to say it. I can hear bones snapping and ligaments tearing as I type. LOL.

I wondered too if we might see some of that. I think Groce wants to stay up tempo, so I don't think we'll see much if any of it, but there's a chance.

I'm with you. I don't think he's a bad kid. He just let his emotion get the best of him. Hopefully, a lesson going forward.

Before they started the season, I thought they were a 20 game team. I thought they could win 20 and I wanted them in the mix in the end. They've already met those expectations/hopes, so I can't be too disappointed.

On this one, Tyler put the Zips' hand in the mouth of the snake. Pretty simple rule- don't touch a ref.

Yep, clearly in his head now. I'd not only like to see him drive and post up, especially against the smaller defenders he often faces, but I'd like him to skip class Friday and shoot and shoot and shoot...

I assume this will push Tribble into the starting lineup, though I guess it could be Ali as he started the season with Cheese as the 6th man. Neither is ready for a start at Buffalo.

Tyler suspended a game for bumping ref, as I expected- https://www.beaconjournal.com/sports/20200227/zips-second-leading-scorer-suspended-for-bumping-official Looks like UA may have made a preemptive strike, suspending him before the MAC did and the MAC went along with their action.

For the sake of the conversation, I went back and looked at the Zips and X's three point shooting in MAC play this year. Some interesting numbers. EMU- 11/25 (55%)/ X- 4/4 (100%) WMU- 11/29(38%)/ X- 3/4 (75%) BSU- 7/19 (37%)/ X- 5/8 (62.5%) NIU- 11/28 (39%)/ X- 4/10 (62.5%) TOL- 13/26 (50%)/ X- 2/4 (50%) MIA- 14/24 (58%)/ X- 5/11 (45%) OU- 13/23 (56%)/ X- 2/5 (40%) BUF- 8/20 (27%)/ X- 1/7 (14%) KSU- 7/21 (33%)/ X- 2/6 (33%) EMU- 6/29 (21%)/ X- 2/10 (20%) BG- 5/17 (29%)/ X- 0/3 (0%) CMU- 10/27(37%)/ X- 1/7 (14%) WMU- 8/24 (33%)/ X- 0/6 (0%) MIA- 9/28 (32%)/ X- 1/7- (14%) BG- 3/35 (14%)/ X- 0/8 (0%) Some interesting numbers and conclusions. The wheels of the team's 3 points shooting, as well as X's to a greater degree, came off after the OU Game. Up to then, they were shooting a whopping 49% on 3 pointers in MAC play while X was shooting at a 54% clip. Since then, they've shot 3 pointers at a 30% rate while X has fallen off to a woeful 13%. This team is not a 49% three point shooting team (no team in the country is). They are better than the 30% shooting team we've seen starting with Buffalo. X is not a 54% level 3 point shooter. Nor is he a 13% shooter. His record at Dayton tells us he's a .357 three point shooter. I think we were all a little fooled by those first 7 MAC games when they were on fire and it unreasonably increased our expectations. I think as a team they'll shoot at 36-38% from 3 and I pray X gets back to the 35-36% shooting his history tells us he can be.

They'll sure have to rebound better than last time when they were outrebounded 52-31. They made Josh Mballa look like Artis Gilmore in that game (I love references the youngsters have to Google).

The Zips bench scored 3 points. 3 points. BG's bench scored 30 points. 30. 30-3. Damn. The Zips big man combo of Riak, Reece and Sayles combined for 2 points. 2 points. Banks and Cheese with stupid undisciplined avoidable technicals. I get that others were involved in Channel's situation and that Cheese didn't have his hands up, but they were both avoidable and unnecessary. As for Tyler, there's no reason to ever run up on a ref. Be smarter next time. Off to Canada.

Admire the enthusiasm but with the way they're playing, their record in Canada and they way Jeff Boals' kittens are improving, we could be looking at a couple of losses yet.

The Zips head to the great white north on Saturday to face the Canadians. SVSM alum Javon Graves continues to lead those hosers, averaging 17 a game, 5th in the MAC. Mballa is one of the better rebounders in the MAC, averaging 9.2 rpg (2nd in the MAC). Jeff Boals quickly improving Kittens beat them soundly in Athens tonight, ending a four game win streak for the Buffalo.

Just to round off that awful performance, the Zips show a lack of discipline and composure. If Cheese isn't suspended for Saturday, he should be put on the bench for at least the first half by Groce.

...and with that...