Zips at Minnesota

[RootforRoo44]

Zips up five at the half even though they are only 1-2 from the charity stripe and have taken 9 less shots than the Gophers (13-27, 11-36). Also been out-rebounded 22-12. Can't imagine what the score would be if we wouldn't have allowed THIRTEEN offensive rebounds in the first half.

Though 5-11 from 3-point range is a good way to hang with a team like Minnesota.

[RootforRoo44]

third foul on zeke, early in the 2nd half.

Zeke: 2 points, 2 turnovers, 3 blocks, ZERO rebounds, 3 fouls. All in 14 minutes.

[ZachTheZip]

Marshall is a marked man. he can't get within 5 feet of another player without getting called. Meanwhile, their bigs are knocking him all over the floor with no call.

[GoZips88]

Multiple Zip Watcher sightings behind the Akron bench. Haven't seen little ZW yet though.

[RootforRoo44]

ya know, these are the times when i understand not why America doesn't like soccer but why the rest of the world likes soccer more than basketball/football/etc.

The officiating in soccer can throw a game with one call but generally they are a lot better than what we have in basketball.

The officials in college basketball are horrible day in and day out.

[Dave in Green]

Sorry I missed the first half. That appears to have been the highlight for the Zips.

[bUAkronG]

From the gametracker, looks like our offense is run down, shoot a three, or turn the ball over right now.

[GoZips88]

Patented ability to go L-O-N-G stretches in a game with few if any points. Frustrating ...

[RootforRoo44]

ouch, 20-7 run. We are done.

[RootforRoo44]

being out rebounded 41-21. They have 17 offensive boards too. Ugh.

I'm a better rebounder than half this team. No boxing out whatsoever. It's disgusting.

TERRIBLE basketball...Minnesota has played HORRIBLE tonight and we still are getting killed....not good.

[Dave in Green]

Those watching on TV will understand that Minnesota is a MUCH better team than the Zips. They're big, strong, fast, skilled and smart. Did I leave anything out?

[Dave in Green]

A disappointing but not unexpected loss. The Zips did well not to get blown out. You could see bits and pieces of the Zips game that offered promise. Abreu is making good progress, and making plays not seen from any recent Zips player. I especially liked the way he drove to the basket and kicked it all the way out to the open man outside the 3-point line. If just one of the Zips 3-point shooters had been hot, it could have been really close. As always, Zeke has to learn to avoid foul trouble.

I believe KD when he says the Zips will be much better when they start MAC play.

EDIT: McNees, Nik and Nitro shoot a combined 10 of 38 from the field. End of story.

[jem101]

Nice first half, but that was the most mis-leading 5 point lead I've ever seen. We gave up 17 O boards in the first half. Anyone watching that game could see what was going to happen when the Gophers heated up a bit. We've gotta figure out a way to stop those scoring droughts. That kills us every time.

[you am i]

A disappointing but not unexpected loss. The Zips did well not to get blown out. You could see bits and pieces of the Zips game that offered promise. Abreu is making good progress, and making plays not seen from any recent Zips player. I especially liked the way he drove to the basket and kicked it all the way out to the open man outside the 3-point line. If just one of the Zips 3-point shooters had been hot, it could have been really close. As always, Zeke has to learn to avoid foul trouble.

I believe KD when he says the Zips will be much better when they start MAC play.

EDIT: McNees, Nik and Nitro shoot a combined 10 of 38 from the field. End of story.

I'm tired of finding consolation that we did not "get blown out." I thought the same thing after the Dayton game. If we ever wants to be taken seriously, we have to win some of these games with name opponents.

[Valpo Zip]

I think that we desperately need a big guys assistant coach. Jeff Boals was that guy and i don't know who's doing that now.

I am really concerned with Zeke's development. I am not going to complain about his lack of scoring but he must know by now how to pick his battles and wisely use his fouls. He also must be able to get more than 1 rebound in 20 minutes of play.

Great game from Nik and Alex. Not bad from Diggs and Roberts.

McNeese is a shooter, his shot will be on sometimes and off some other times but as far as his concerned, he should shoot whenever he gets an open look. That's what shooting guards do.

Brett was (not in the game?) and as always, i wish oh i wish Euton & Egner could see more minutes.

[The Hip Zip]

This team isn't going anywhere until we become a presence in the paint. We need to get so much tougher to play with the big boys. Sure, we can hang with the teams in the MAC but we can't sniff a victory with a top 20 program until we get much more physical. I will hand it to NIK tonight as he was the only guy that had no fear to mix it up a bit near the hoop.

I was pleased with Abreu as well. He made some nice plays driving though the paint and kicking to wide open shooters. I can't remember having a point that could drive for a long, long time. Johnny Holingsworth was perhaps the last but we couldn't keep him out of trouble. That was a shame too because the guy had some game.

If anybody happens to see Steve McNees could you please ask him to come back ? I miss him.

Hey, the Zips covered so all was not lost !

[The Hip Zip]

Sorry Dave, I didn't read your post and just about copied your praise of Abreu, word for word.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Why can't Akron just win one of these games for once? Get my hopes up, then BAM! Our signature drought.

[RootforRoo44]

I think that we desperately need a big guys assistant coach. Jeff Boals was that guy and i don't know who's doing that now.

I am really concerned with Zeke's development. I am not going to complain about his lack of scoring but he must know by now how to pick his battles and wisely use his fouls. He also must be able to get more than 1 rebound in 20 minutes of play.

Great game from Nik and Alex. Not bad from Diggs and Roberts.

McNeese is a shooter, his shot will be on sometimes and off some other times but as far as his concerned, he should shoot whenever he gets an open look. That's what shooting guards do.

Brett was (not in the game?) and as always, i wish oh i wish Euton & Egner could see more minutes.

Couldn't agree more...our bigs have looked lost for the last six years (besides Wood but he wasn't really a center).

I think we need to stop this foolishness of pulling our centers out from downlow with the ridiculous schemes we run. It takes us out of position to rebound and a lot of times ends up in disaster when Zeke or Bardo switches up and has to cover their star guard who just blows by them right to the hoop.

[Zip Watcher]

I'll have more thoughts tomorrow .. been a long day. Fun to be at the barn tonight. A real throwback arena.

Sat by Nick Myers tonight. Seems to be doing well.

Good to see Alex and Quincy start to emerge. Alex was one of the better players on the floor tonight & Quincy demonstrated some defensive tenacity on the ball.

Second chance points by the gophers were the difference in this game. Haven't seen a box score yet, but my impression @ the game was that 2nd chance points were about twice the final margin.

More tomorrow.

Go Zips!

[skip-zip]

The thing I was looking for the most was to see how Zeke performed against some "decent" big men. I don't think I need to say how I felt. He was almost non-existent. I think we've seen signs on this already this year, where he just appears tentative, and shows signs that he hasn't made a lot of progress from last year, as we had hoped. His physical development has surely always been a concern, but his mental development isn't progressing as well as I had hoped either. As we approach the middle of his sophomore year, I have to ask myself a couple of honest questions looking forward. Will he end up being a disppointment to us? Unlikely. Do I think he can still be a good MAC player? Absolutely, but he still has a lot of work ahead of him. But, do I really think he will ever be a legitimate NBA prospect? I'm not seeing that happening right now, and I'd be pleasantly surprised if he progresses to that level over the next couple of years.

[GP1]

This team isn't going anywhere until we become a presence in the paint. We need to get so much tougher to play with the big boys. Sure, we can hang with the teams in the MAC but we can't sniff a victory with a top 20 program until we get much more physical. I will hand it to NIK tonight as he was the only guy that had no fear to mix it up a bit near the hoop.

I think you are being a little too harsh. Minnesota is a very good team with a very good coach. The Zips really hung in with them just days after getting waxed by an A-10 team.

We have big guys, just not as big or as many as they have. That's the real difference between a MAC school and a Top 20 school. For every one good big guy we get, they get three. It's just a numbers game. Over a 40 minute game, the numbers catch up with you.

The Zips have good enough big guys to win the MAC and then see what happens in the NCAA. I feel good about their chances after watching the game last night.

Let's just hope MN's check doesn't bounce.

[Dr Z]

Alex was one of the better players on the floor tonight & Quincy demonstrated some defensive tenacity on the ball.

I hope AA & QD continue to work hard. Both with 20+ minutes last night.

[Quickzips]

After sleeping on that one I don't feel horrible, but I don't feel great either. I'm somewhere in the middle to be quite honest. It was a very puzzling game in some respects and a very predictable game in others. You could pretty well predict at halftime what was going to happen. The Zips would come out and hang around for another 3 or 4 minutes, then Minnesota would start finding the basket, Zeke would pick up another ticky-tack foul or two, we would start looking like a team that needs a road map to find the basket, we'd turn the ball over once or twice and end up losing by 8 or more. We've all seen it over and over and over and over again. What is probably the most frustrating is that we continue to have these looooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg scoring droughts, usually late in the first half or early in the second half. I have absolutely no idea what the issue is there but KD is going to have to figure it out or there will be people that are going to start questioning if he is the right coach to get us to the next level. We've seen this for seemingly the last 3 or 4 years now. Time for something to change.

As far as individual performances, I too was impressed with Abreu and Diggs. They were two of the few players we had on the floor last night that didn't look outmatched in terms of talent and athleticism. Alex still has a little more work to do on the defensive end, but he's come quite a long way in only 8 games. The offense certainly seems to run smoother when he is on the floor, although I think there are still guys out there who aren't used to some of the opportunities he sets them up with. Three or four times again last night we had turnovers off of situations where Alex made a beautiful pass and the man he was throwing it to was simply not expecting it. When he's on the floor you have to expect that the ball is going to find you and you have to be ready for it at any moment. As far as Quincy goes, the light seems to be coming on a little bit. He wasn't forcing the issue as much last night and getting himself in trouble by trying to do too much with the basketball. It allowed him to find a few good shots. He also played some very nice defense and was one of the few bright spots for the Zips on the boards. More of that out of him please. Speaking of boards, I also though Daryl Roberts had a nice night on the glass as he was aggressively crashing the boards and often came up with rebounds in traffic despite being the smallest guy on the floor. He had a very solid night all around.

Steve McNees has apparently regressed all the way back to his freshman year. I have no idea what is going on with him right now, but he can't hit the broad side of a barn. He gave me a glimmer of hope in the first half when he knocked down back to back triples after airballing his first attempt, but he bricked every other jumper he took the rest of the night. Many weren't even close. Sometimes shooters go through slumps, and we know Steve is a streaky kind of guy, but we need our senior leader to break out of this soon.

Speaking of disappearing acts, if anyone has seen the Brett McClanahan that was around for the first couple games of the year could you direct him back to the JAR? Seems teams have become wise to him being an offensive threat now. They are paying more attention to him and he hasn't been able to adjust. We are going to need Nitro back before this season is over.

I am at a loss for words as to why this team gets pounded as bad as we do inside. This is the biggest team KD has ever had and yet it is the absolute, hands down worst rebounding squad in his tenure. I don't think all of it can be blamed on Zeke trying to block so many shots, but that is part of it. I've said it in other threads before, at some point in time it will come down to simply wanting it more than the other guys. Our bigs are going to have to take some more pride in their performance out there. There is nothing to be proud about when you give a team five offensive rebounds in one possession like we did in the first half. It's high time for some of these guys to look in the mirror, dig down deep and take a little pride in mixing it up down there.

Now as far as Zeke goes, well...I can tell you we need him on the floor. It was painfully obvious that we were good enough to beat Minnesota when he was on the floor and we were bad enough to get blown out by 20 when he was on the bench. Unfortunatly the foul trouble continues to plague him. I can't even blame that one on the officials because every one of Zeke's fouls were legit from my perspective last night. I don't know if it is an age thing or if it comes with the territory of being a big-time shot blocker or what, but if the foul situation doesn't improve itself the big fella is never going to be able to maximize his talent.

On the plus side, after a really tough OOC schedule to this point the Zips can now come back to the friendly confines of the JAR and take on a cupcake in Bethune-Cookman that just lost by like 40 points to Baylor last night.

[Dr Z]

Now as far as Zeke goes, well...I can tell you we need him on the floor. It was painfully obvious that we were good enough to beat Minnesota when he was on the floor and we were bad enough to get blown out by 20 when he was on the bench. Unfortunatly the foul trouble continues to plague him. I can't even blame that one on the officials because every one of Zeke's fouls were legit from my perspective last night. I don't know if it is an age thing or if it comes with the territory of being a big-time shot blocker or what, but if the foul situation doesn't improve itself the big fella is never going to be able to maximize his talent.

If somebody put a gun to my head and said "give Z one suggestion to make his game better or I'll shoot you", I would say footwork. I think he gets sideways on defense sometimes. That's when I think he gets in foul trouble. We need him on the floor as much as possible.

PS I think this game will make us a better team come March.