1981 grad

We really need somebody to hit a 3 ball. Ali is 1 for 16 in his last 4 games. His defense was very strong last night and he had some great shots in the paint. Don't know what happened to his long distance shot this year.

I feel better now that Toledo is out. Much rather face Kent or Bowling Green if we advance.

I really think Tavari can add to this team if Groce would put him in the game. Groce put him in the game at the 9:56 of the first half when we were down 9. During his time in the game he scored 6 points and had a steal. He took him out at the 7:18 mark and we were down 3. After a Thornton turnover and missed layup, he put Tavari back into the game at 5:01 and we were down 4. He came out of the game at 1:15 and we were up 4. That is a plus 13 when Tavari was in the game in the first half. I thought I would see more Tavari in the 2nd half but he did not get into the game until 7 minutes left in the game. I just do not understand what Groce is thinking. In the 2nd half Tavari had a couple nice passes to Freeman. He clearly outplays Thornton and Scott but is still the last guard off the bench. He scored 6 points in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I have to watch Dawson shoot 3 balls and go 0 for 3 again. We struggle shooting the 3 and the best 3 ball shooter sits the bench. I am hoping Tavari will see more action against Ohio but I have my doubts.

Great for KD to knock off a ranked team and advance.

Dukes only down 4 to no 3 seed Dayton. Game has 7 minutes left and on now.

Great memory!! He was great his freshman year. Then the knee injury and he was not the same player. He shied away from contact and stopped driving to the basket. I think he transferred out to Las Vegas, his home town and was not much of a factor on his new team. Somebody indicated that Dawson is similar to Robotham. He has also has stopped attacking the basket and has become a perimeter player this year.

Thanks!! I tried looking it up but could only find MAC player of the year. That was 27 years ago and although I recognize the name I have no memory of his play. It seems that Akron's first year impact players have all been transfers.

I grew up in Philly and still an Eagles fan and I watched them collapse after starting the season 10 and 1. I never thought it would happen with the Zips. Not very confident going into the game based on our recent play but just hoping for the best.

It is listed as a 4:00 P.M. start. With the 1st game starting at 11 and 2 hours per game that sounds about right.

I have watched a lot of Akron Basketball and cannot recall an Akron frosh making an impact his first year. Whether it was Freeman, Big Dog, Ali, Zeke Marshall or anyone else it seems like their frosh year was ok but not stellar. Has an Akron frosh ever won the freshman of the year award?

A unanimous MAC player of the year, a first team player and a honorable mention. We should be able to win the MAC with this talent. Time for other players on this team to step up!!!!!

Not sure that would help since he is playing division 2 basketball at Indana U of Pa and they lost to Walsh. Averaging 18 points but only shooting 25% from 3.

You hit the nail on the head!!! How many times after a MAC game has Scott or Thornton been on the post game? By my count zero. Plus you have Nate getting injured and Dawson struggling on offense. If you add in Hunter having an off night it is just too much pressure on 3 guys.

How come teams are on to a lot of things we do but we don't seem to be on to things other teams do?

The only problem I noticed on defense on Friday is that Hunter looked very slow especially when Freeman was out with foul trouble and Ali tried to do too much and came off his man to help on defense that led to other problems. We just do not seem to be especially quick on team defense.

Maybe we should take a drink for each one we miss to numb the pain.

Griswold, Great question that deserves its own thread. What else do diehard Akron fans have to do until Thursday? I am not sure this is fixable because there is just a lack of offensive talent on this team after you get past Freeman in the paint, Ali backing down his defender and shooting over him, and Tribble with his floater attacking the basket and hitting the 3 pointer over 40%. If Hunter is on with his 3 point shot, great. If not, we are in trouble because he struggles inside the paint to score and has not been very physical and at times and looks slow on offense and defense. First solution: Play Dawson less. Groce loves his defense but he cost us the game at Eastern by not boxing out. He also did not box out in the Kent game. But most importantly, he gives us nothing offensively. He does not attack the basket and is a poor 3 point shooter. I think he may have 1 or 2 games in double digits. Groce loves tough physical players. Terrible stat on physicallity: 28 games, 11 starts, 400 minutes played and 2 foul shot attempts. (He played much better before injury last year) Second solution: Take Nate out of the starting lineup. He has struggled since coming back. Missed a wide open 3 last night and missed a couple of reverse layups the last 2 games. Last night his reverse layup went over the backboard. Has had some really bad turnovers since coming back. (He played much better before injury this year) Third solution: Realize that you struck out in the transfer portal this year. I think every Zip fan would agree that Thornton and Scott were misses more than hits. Scott finally scored in double figures last night. But almost all of his points came in the last 2 minutes when the Zips were out of it. None of these guys has shown any ability to break down defenses during MAC play and attack the basket or have consistent scoring ability from the 3 point line. (I stand corrected that Prather is a red shirt frosh so has room to grow and improve) Fourth solution: Start Tavari and see if he can add to the offense. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He has had 4 games where he has scored in double figures averaging less than 20 minutes. Three of the games were on the road. Statistically he is our best 3 point shooter. He is our quickest guard and can break down defenses and is not afraid to attack the basket. Even if he misses he draws Freeman's man and gives Freeman an offensive rebound. I know his defense allegedly sucks but his defense cannot be any worse than what we saw last night in the 2nd half when he was not on the floor. Look forward to hearing from other Zip fans. Go Zips!!!!

Hey, if being a Zip fan was easy, everyone would be one. Football sucks, soccer sucks, and now basketball, you guessed it, sucks. I just feel bad for Freeman, Ali, and Tribble. If one of them has a bad night we are hurting. As somebody indicated earlier, we play best when someone other than these three has a big night. Hunter started out hot in the first half then lost it in the 2nd half.

Nope, Tavari sat the entire game. Still think he has more talent than what Groce puts out there but Groce knows best.

That was Ali who missed the box out. He came off his man and him and Dawson were boxing out the same man leaving Ali's man wide open. Ali looks totally frustrated and is just all over the place. Once again our inability to hit the three ball killed us this half. We have 3 players that can score consistently, Ali, Tribble and Freeman. One has fouled out, the other is frustrated and settling for three balls and Tribble has made it to the line but has missed some baskets.

We get no offense from Dawson and Scott and it just kills this team when Hunter loses his shot and Freeman is in foul trouble. Now we are just chucking up three balls where in the first half we were scoring from the paint.

What a terrible lineup. Glad to see Thornton making a jumper. Scott went up in the air with nowhere to go. Nobody being aggressive and picking up the ball under the defensive basket.

Our offense looks so much better when Hunter or anybody sinks a 3

I think we found a cure to our bad 3 point shooting at the start of the game. Take more 2 point shots. I think we have taken only three 3 point shots. Tribble with the bank and ALI and Freeman with misses. Really surprised about Ali's poor percentage from 3.

We just gave up 4 points on offensive rebounds when Freeman goes out. Not a good sign.