1981 grad

We have certainly learned to close out games. X with a clutch 3 and Ali with clutch free throws. Tough defense on the last possession. I can't tell you how many past Zips teams would have folded. We really had some bad turnovers tonight. I cannot remember X throwing such a bad pass and Ali not going hard to the ball on the turnover to start the second half. I commented on Saturday that this team did not look tired but I thought tonight they looked tired with those lazy passes. Also, we got beat on the boards tonight which is an indication of a tired team. How many balls seemed to bounce off our hands tonight? We will get hammered if we play this poorly in Toledo.

Trimble has really struggled on defense tonight fighting through screens and then having guys blow past him. This team is better with him off the floor tonight.

We are looking for some offense. Dawson missing an open 3, X missing an open 3 and not getting the ball down low to Freeman. This is a struggle.

Azzis keeps laying off a 3 points shooter. I understand it the first time but not the second time. Trimble just getting beat on defense. Need to get Freeman back in and sit Azziz

Ali has been so much better when he attacks the rim from the sides. That scoop shot has been gold for him the last few games. We need him to score when Trimble is cold. Freeman has been amazing on defense. He is so quick for a big.

Clark with a really dumb turnover to end the half. Instead of going up double digits we end up only 7. This team started scoring when Trimble hit the bench. It is really tough to develop an offensive rhythm when you have cold shooter going 0 for 6 from three. Freeman is tough inside. I would attempt to keep feed the ball inside to him. Nice give and go.

For all those George Thomas critics, here is a nice relevant article on the Zips. Ali needs to be a consistent scorer for this team to win. Trimble is going to have his on and off games. We can win when he is off but we cannot win if both he and Ali struggle offensively.

On one of the long time outs, he spent the entire time talking to the ref. The assistant coach kept looking at him. The team was sitting in the huddle but nothing was said to them the entire time out. Obviously, the asst. coach did not want to overstep his bounds and the team just sat in the huddle without a word being spoken. I don't think I have ever seen that before, not even from Hurley.

I still remember Pattons last game, Gorce's first season. We were at the Q, had blown a 17 point lead and were down 2 with 2 minutes remaining. We had just made the first foul shot and I thought that if we missed the 2nd and get the rebound, we could tie the game. Patton had come up with several rebounds off missed foul shots during the season. Instead, Groce subs Kostelac for Patton. We miss, Klac does not even attempt to get the rebound and runs back on defense. On the next 2 possessions he misses a layup and commits a turnover. Game over. I think Cotton had a meltdown that game and he also left nest season. Went home pissed at Groce. I always liked Pattons game and glad to see he had a great career.

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.