1981 grad

That was a great pass from Tribble to Trimble. He recognized to get the ball to the hot player. I hope Trimble can keep this up the entire game!

Trimble has 12 points in 12 minutes. I hope he can continue his hot start. We need him on all cylinders. Tribble makes some tough drives.

I hate to be a negative but we have a short turnaround and a short bench. With Clark playing poorly and Wynn not playing we are only playing 7. We really need Trimble to come out of his shooting slump. I would like to see him drive to the basket and take more two pointers. Our starters are going to have to play well with teamism if we are going to stay in this one. If we just start taking a bunch of step back 3 balls this could get ugly quickly.

I looked at the stat sheet for the year and a couple of stats surprised me. First, Ali leads the teams in turnovers with 41. Obviously, when he dribbles continuously in the lane without making a move to the basket it often gets stripped or he gets in trouble and throws it away. We have commented how bad Clark has been playing and he has less than half the playing time of Ali and has 21 turnovers so in a way he leads the team in turnovers. Further, Clark is shooting 30% from the field and 24% from three land. Trimble has struggled from 3 and shot 40% last year and 30% this year. The good news is that Ali is hitting 46% from the field and 44% from the 3. For this team to succeed we need Trimble to get out of his shooting slump and for Ali to stop turning the ball over. I hate to say it but I have not seen anything from Clark to make me optimistic that he can contribute. It is so rare to see an athlete go backwards but that seems to be the case.

Groce made a smart move last night and reduced Trimble's minutes. He only played 22 minutes. He shot 1 of 7 with no rebounds and no foul shots. He is having a tough time coming off Covid. His last 3 games he is 3 of 23 from 3 land. With Clark playing so poorly Groce does not have much of a bench and Ali and X are logging big minutes.

Just watched Florida State beat Duke. Right after the game, ESPN showed basketball highlights and the first game was the Zips comeback tonight and highlighted the Zips win and that they scored the last 11 points.

After watching the last 3 games, I think this team will be a 500 type team. I know that early in the season Groce stressed pressing defense. Maybe because of Covid but I just have not seen this pressing defense the last 3 games. We play off the guards and did not press until the last 5 minutes. Further, we are getting next to nothing from 3 players who were expected to contribute, Clark, Walton and Wynn. X has to carry the offense when Trimble is not shooting the three well (he is only shooting about 30%) and Ali struggles. Aziz does not help much offensively. Tribble and Dawson are playing really well but we really do not have a shut down defender who can quiet a hot guard. Freeman is really good but it is rare when he can go for 20 points and we often struggle to get him the ball. This team does not excel at breaking down defenses and we often see Ali dribbling and trying to get an advantage and then throw the ball out of the paint. I hope I am wrong but the more I watch this team the more I agree with people on the board that think this year will be a struggle.

I cannot recall another game where the Zips scored the last 11 points to win a game. The Zips showed great grit when they could have easily packed it in. Ali made a high pressure shot to win the game and Freeman came up with some big rebounds. Tribble drained a big 3 with a minute left. I still think that Tribble is developing a good outside shot. On the bad side, our offense looks stagnant when Ali gets the ball and dribbles and dribbles and everyone is standing around. Trimble had another bad shooting night from the 3 point line. When those 2 were out of the lineup for 5 minutes this team played better at times. Also, their guards killed us all night. We need to play better defense if this team is going to win. I think this team has some real flaws when Trimble and Ali are struggling and I saw this in Kent and in the second half tonight. Clark again looked bad but Groce has him on a short string and he did not get many minutes. He was quick to the basket last year with a decent shot. This year he just does not look like the same player.

I agree!!! The guards are killing us and they come off the guards to protect the lane.

When I was watching the Zips warm up at half and indicated that Trimble could not hit a three and missed 10 straight, Tribble was making almost all of his 3 point attempts. I was actually hoping to see him attempt more 3 pointers in the 2nd half. However, he missed his first 3 in the first half and did not attempt another 3. I like Tribble as a player because he goes hard to the hoop and puts his body on the line against the big guys. (That is how he got injured at Kent) He has shot 47 foul shots in 311 minutes. In comparison, Trimble has shot 7 foul shots in 343 minutes. Since Trimble has come back from Covid, he is 2 for 16 on three pointers and his one made three at Kent was after the contest was decided. In the Ball state game he was 6 of 7 from two point land and I was hoping to see more of that in Kent. However, he shied away from driving to the basket at Kent. Interesting, Groce in post game indicates they were out toughed at Kent. But Trimble was their softest player and Groce keeps him in the game when he is cold from the outside. Hopefully, tonight Trimble will play more like he did last Tuesday or find his 3 point range.

I watched Trimble have a bad night. He could not hit the broad side of the barn and his only 3 pointer came when the game was decided. I also did not see much intensity from him on defense. When a player is having a bad game, I would have sat him down and gone big with Aziz and Freeman. I watched Groce put Trimble on Carry and he drove right by him. I certainly did not think that Groce outcoached Pinky.

Please note that this is a 6:00 P.M. start.

I wondered how the game got away from Akron last night in the second half. We shot 1 of 11 from 3 point land. It is so difficult to watch Trimble shoot a step back three and miss and then have Kent score on the other end. Kent dominated the boards because everyone on their team attacked the basket. I also noticed that Ali got pushed around a few times under the boards. We seemed to do better last night with Freeman and Aziz both on the floor. I also thought that Dawson and Trimble were getting beat on defense. I also thought Tribble Freeman and Castanada showed toughness last night and had good games. Ali made some tough baskets the 2nd half that kept us in the game. Is it me or does a loss to Kent in B Ball by double digits seem like losing 5 games in a row.

I made the mistake of going to the game tonight thinking the Zips would play well. I indicated how I hoped Trimble would learn how good he could be by driving to the basket and taking short jump shots. Well throw that right out the window. He missed 3 ball after 3 ball. I watched him shoot at the half and with nobody guarding him I watched him miss 12 in a row. He stayed on the court and kept shooting and finally made one. I thought this is not his night to shoot the 3 ball. Within 30 seconds in the 2nd half he shot and missed another 3. Groce should coach Trimble and tell him you hit 5 of 6 on Tuesday from short distance. Stop shooting the 3 ball you are killing our chance to win. That did not happen. I was also disappointed with Groce. Our full court press was pathetic. Why bother? Also, on one possession he had Trimble guarding Carey and it was ugly. Carey blew past him. Also, as somebody noticed, Clarke was terrible at the point. He dribbles the clock away, forced up a 3, turned the ball over, and just looked bad. Did not see him in the 2nd half. He was really good last year backing up LCJ. Where did his game go. Groce indicated we were not tough enough. Look at the stats on the 3 point shooting. We could not shoot the 3 ball. I hope this is not a trend that this team is going to suck on the road. Very disappointed in the game.

I also checked their website and picked up 2 tickets in the chair back section lower court 3rd row. They were expensive $50 but I think Akron is going to win tonight so well worth the money although I have gone to this game close to 10 times and came home disappointed nine times. I would love to see Trimble have a game like Tuesday where he drove to the basket and shot short jump shots. It really adds another dimension to this team.

I loved watching Trimble tonight. Who knew that he had such a great game taking the ball to the hoop, taking jump shots and he even made a floater. X really had a great game and was flawless from the foul line at the end of the game. I have seen Ali play like this before, he starts to the basket, hesitates and then takes a fade away jump shot. He was out of sync offensively all night. He only had one point tonight. That has to be Tribble's first 3 of the season. I also thought Clark had a bad game. When he plays the point he dribbles too much and runs down the shot clock. Akron had 10 turnovers in the first half and shot poorly from the 3 line and were only down 2 points. Great 2nd half and great finish. Also, these refs sucked and blew the whistle way too much. There was a new ref I never saw before and he was pretty bad. However, it helped Akron at the end of the game since they called some weak fouls against Ball State that sent us to the foul line.

Thanks for that comment. I noticed that when they were shaking hands that Groce gave him a brief hug and I thought it was a weird because usually you see that when a player has an outstanding game and Finke did not play that exceptional.

And 3 years from now you will not remember anything remarkable about the game on Monday. (LOL)

I was surprised to learn that Radford is a division 1 school. They are from Virginia and I have no idea why they are on our schedule. Have we played them before?

The guy doing the color I guess is a coach but he is constantly talking and although he had a lot of insight into Wright State he just talked way to much for me.

Since the zips have not been shooting well away from the jar, they should try to get the ball inside to Freeman who is the leading scorer and shooting around 65%. Has anyone else noticed that Tribble has stopped shooting the ball unless he is driving to the basket. I cannot remember the last time he shot a jump shot or a 3 pointer. He has a nice touch at the foul line and should try to shoot some 12 footers instead of the 3 ball. Clark has our worst shooting percentage (30%) and has more turnovers than assists. Not a good combination for a point guard. I thought he played better in the Florida A and m game. We need for him to play better. I wish Ali could be more consistent. Sometimes he looks great and other times he seems to force shots and cost the team possessions. Looking forward to watching how we do against a mid major. Why couldn't this be a home game. I hope they come to the Jar next year.

The womans game was cancelled because of Vikings Covid issue. They should move the men's game to 5 or 6 so there will not be a conflict with the Browns.

I thought Clark was pretty good last year as a backup to LCJ. He was able to penetrate, good passing, and shot the ball decent. I haven't seen anything like that this year. He had 2 turnovers in the first couple of minutes he was in the game. He did not make a shot. I just see him getting less time unless he starts playing better.

I thought Souther played great in the first 10 minutes. They played fast and they played physical. The Zips could not get the ball into their big men. However, after the first 10 minutes the Zips started hitting some shots, the refs started call fouls, the game slowed down and Southern could not find the hoop and were shooting around 30% at the half. In the 2nd half the Zips took control with good defense and good shooting. Tribble has really been impressive. The team played well. The attendance sucked and I just don't think we will ever get back to pre-covid attendant. I am guessing the half the season ticket holders are gone. Thank the rowdies because they are loud. However, even their attendance was down from the first game. The Southern coach reminded of Hurley. He was on the refs the entire game. He was also yelling at his players the entire game getting into their face. I actually felt bad for some of their players. I was surprised to see the Zips try to walk off without shaking hands but Groce called them back. Glad to see the handshakes at the end of the game after a physical contest. Saw Freeman make a couple of mistakes in not boxing out after foul shots. I saw Groce say something to him. He is a great player and it unusual to see him make mental mistakes.

I wonder after 7 years of B ball he decided it was enough or did he leave early so he could get an 8th year next year. Every time you take a transfer it is a risk.