1981 grad

When I looked at the stats from last nights game 2 things stood out. First, all of the starters played 30 minutes or more with Ali playing 38 minutes. Although somebody commented the Zips looked exhausted, I did not see anyone on the court that looked tired and their defense was intense the entire game. These guys are in amazing shape. Second, Trimble went 1 of 9 from 3 points land. If he would have shot his average of 30% this is a different game. Unlike Kent, this team won when Trimble was not hitting his shot. Further, Trimble had 5 rebounds. I do not remember a game where he has rebounded that well. That just shows me he is a very coachable player and listened to Groce about getting on the boards. Finally, Groce on the pregame indicated that Clark has been fighting through an ankle injury. Obviously, he has not contributed this year like we expected but maybe it will get better. I did see he was active on defense last night and had a couple of nice double teams in limited minutes.

I am in the minority but I really enjoyed the game. First, the refs let them play. Very few whistles and very few foul shots. Both teams missed the front end on a one and one at crucial time. Very physical game. Because the refs did not blow the whistle, a lot of bumping and grinding. Although the Zips were the smaller team in both stature, weight and muscle, they won the battle of the boards. The Zips worked really hard on defense. When an Eastern player was about to get an offensive rebound, Tribble climbed his back and prohibited from scoring. They forced Eastern into a bad shooting night We won another close game. How many Zips team have failed to close a game. We just closed 2 close games in 5 days. Finally, a decent crowd. A first for the Zips season, a line in the men's room to take a leak!!!

What is the status of Wynn? He was getting some minutes earlier in the season. Somebody indicated he was at the BG game but not dressed? If he was motivated he could get some minutes with Zips bench being so short and Clark having his problems.

Probably because of the short bench and Covid, Groce has completely changed how he originally wanted this team to perform this year. In the beginning of the season, we were playing fast and bringing the ball up the floor quickly. Now we have the slowest offense in the league. Groce indicated this teams strength would be rebounding. We just got outrebounded badly in the last 2 games. We were going to play a West Virginia style pressing defense. Our half court press has been tepid and we back out of it. We have not seen any type of pressure defense until we were down 12 to Western. I am not complaining but it is interesting how Groce has changed his approach to this team as the season has progressed. Offensively, we look great when Trimble is on and we struggle when Trimble is off. In the post game at Bowling Green their assistant coach indicated that they played poor defense. I just did not see that. Trimble made shots well behind the 3 point line. It is impossible to stop a hot shooter when he is draining difficult shots. The 2 guards from Western killed us making the same type of shots Trimble was making on Thursday.

For those that were not quick enough to get the above tickets Akron offering $5 general admission to get butts in the seats for tomorrow's game.

With regard to rebounding, I noticed a big difference when Freeman goes to the bench for a rest. He is very strong and quick to the ball as a rebounder. Aziz jumps to block shots and it puts him out of position for a rebound. I also think our players must do a better job of moving toward the ball and anticipating a long rebound. Our players seem to be flatfooted when the ball comes off the rim on those long rebounds.

This was the best performance by a Zips team on the road in a long time. It is weird how when Trimble is hot it seems to bring up the whole team We had 4 players in double figures. When we can score we can be a good team. The only negative tonight was that we gave up too many offensive rebounds. Lets hope this performance carries over to Saturday.

Another nice pass by Tribble to Freeman. Tribble has really developed into a good passer. I liked how Ali when to the left side to drive to the basket. He has developed into a habit of only penetrating into the lane. He needs to attack the basket from outside the paint.

I think we are all having fun watching him.

I was a little surprised by the half time stats that we were badly outrebounded and that even with Trible's hot shooting we were only shooting about 35% from three land. With our height we should be better on the boards. We were outrebounded at Kent.

Trimble has cooled off and missed his last 3 shots but I like Castenada has stepped up and made some shots. He is a great find for this program. Very smart player and a team leader. I noticed that when Freeman sat out we gave up a lot of offensive boards. Not sure it was Aziz but he is a shot blocker and when goes up to block a shot it seems to open up an offensive rebound. I hope we can play this well if Trimble cools off in the second half.

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.