Central Michigan

[cjapsu]

Where is Harney?

Bench due to mental mistakes. That offensive interference call? Yeah... took a bucket away from Tree(?).

[LZIp]

Bench due to mental mistakes. That offensive interference call? Yeah... took a bucket away from Tree(?).

Zeke. But yea, besides the alley oop, he has played bad.

[cjapsu]

Man, what a steal.

[LZIp]

Well, we played probably our worst game of the year, while CMU played their best. A win is a win. Props to Tree for carrying us to the W.

On to the next.

[Zipgrad01]

wow...what a flurry to finish, but we cant afford to sleep walk on better teams. Wow.......time to get my blood pressure checked.

[cjapsu]

3 BALL!

And BALLGAME.

[cjapsu]

Ha, everyone will see the final score and think "oh good, we won by double digits" haha

[akronzips71]

ALL TREADWELL ALL THE TIME

I love that guy!

[OZoner]

Most voters will only see the scoreline, so it's gonna look better.

[Quickzips]

Not sure what to make of that cluster....

Probably the worst thing that could have happened to the Zips was to come out and go up 13-3 early. At that point you could just see us relax like we already had it in the bag with only 3 or 4 minutes into the game. We never really found the intensity again until very late in the game. Luckily it was just enough to come out with a double digit win.

Have to imagine that the foul trouble for Tree had a lot to do with it. We've become very reliant on his rebounding prowess and a large percentage of our offense runs through him. When he wasn't there the team seemed lost. No surprise that the Zips finally put it away when he got back in late in the second half.

WAY too many turnovers. OU is probably sitting at home right now wondering why we couldn't have been that sloppy with the basketball on Saturday. Forsythe had probably his worst game of the year. Consecutive travels in the second half. Missed entry passes. And he was a step slow on defense all night.

Speaking of Forsythe, was I the only one screaming at the TV when we tried to go with the twin towers approach? When a team is lighting you up from 3 and their zone has kept you out of the paint all night long why on earth do you decide to play both of your 7 footers? Dambrot has made some good coaching decisions over the last month or two. That was not one of them.

Anyone have any idea what is up with Gilliam lately? I noticed him hobbling a bit in the second half. Is he still hurting? Is there a reason why he isn't playing more than about 5 minutes a night lately?

Mark this one down. The Zips free throws will cost us a game before the end of the season.

Big time play from Kretzer late in the game on that strip in the corner. That pretty well killed any chance Central had at trying to make one last push.

It wasn't a pretty win, but it was a win none the less. Not feeling as good tonight as I did Saturday, but at least I'll be able to sleep tonight. Going to take a better effort on the road at Miami if we are going to extend this to 15.

[akronzips71]

The last two games we got behind, but Tree scored our first four points, to keep us in the game, if I recall.

Tonight he came in at the end and scored 10 points in 8 minutes.

He is turning into a monster.

And I still did not see the foul OR the technical.

Was Bo wearing the striped shirt again?

[UAZipster0305]

Let's hope that was our let-down game. Very sloppy, but that's bound to happen over the course of a a season. However, if we play like that against NDSU or OU, we are done...there will be no hanging-in or coming-back.

That Randall kid can play! Good showing from CMU...they'll be tough in a couple years.

[zippy_ua_00]

The foul was a cheap foul, the technical was bc tree was complaining to the red the whole way down the court. Both very soft fouls. There were horrible calls all night and a lot of no calls. They traveled ALOT in the 2nd half while driving the lane. A few times they traveled and pushed off and no calls. Cmu although a bad team has played well against good competition. They beat wright state, and Niagara and played well against Michigan. Lost by like 14 to UM. Anyway we still have a ways to go, but a win is a win

[Dave in Green]

As I said earlier, there are no more easy games this season. CMU brought their best game and the Zips were flat. This kind of game against a lowly MAC West team is exactly what I have nightmares about from the bad old days, because many times the Zips could never recover and ended up being upset. This team is good enough to close out a close game by playing up to their potential when it counts. Zips won the first 5 minutes 13-3 and the last 2 minutes 11-0, so 24-3 in those 7 minutes. In between was not pretty. Credit to CMU for playing the game the way wanted it played the other 33 minutes.

Tree, Rico and Kretzer had nice games while some others struggled. Tree was called for a phantom foul, objected and drew a T. The Zips really do need him playing long minutes, so I hope he learned a lesson that you can't win an argument with anyone wearing a whistle. Chauncey played 3 minutes, missed all 3 shots, had 2 turnovers, couldn't keep up with the quicker CMU players on defense, and pulled up limping at the end of his 3-minute stint. Not sure what's wrong, but he's definitely struggling. Anyway, the national media is going to be more focused on lowly Arkansas upsetting #2 Florida by 11 points than they are in the Zips only winning by 12. The winning streak is alive, and the Zips have been served with a wakeup call.

[MDZip]

Speaking of Forsythe, was I the only one screaming at the TV when we tried to go with the twin towers approach? When a team is lighting you up from 3 and their zone has kept you out of the paint all night long why on earth do you decide to play both of your 7 footers? Dambrot has made some good coaching decisions over the last month or two. That was not one of them.

The only thing I could think is a lack of rebounding with Tree not in there. Someday I think Tree is going to pop a ball when he comes down with a rebound.

Big time play from Kretzer late in the game on that strip in the corner. That pretty well killed any chance Central had at trying to make one last push.

Even better was Abreu recovering it, falling out of bounds and flipping it backwards over the CMU players head to Kretzer to complete the steal/save. Excellent awareness.

While Tree had another good game despite the foul trouble, it was again Alex who ignited the comeback. It really does seem that the team goes how he goes. Not a great showing but a win is a win. Go Zips!

[akzipper]

This game is yet another example of why we need to stop caring about what the national media thinks of us. Just win and things will fall into place. Sitting around worrying about it doesn't do anything. If anything I'd want to be overlooked and the Zips play with a chip on their shoulder. Play with something to prove, but play that way every game. I don't care if it's Oklahoma State or freaking Coastal Carolina. Don't overlook any opponent. We thought we could walk all over CMU and struggled for most of the game. Can't blame anyone but the Zips. At least they won and let's move on to the next one!

[phil]

My friend said that the reason Tree picked up the T when that he told the ref the foul on him was a BS call. I saw the foul and it was underneath the basket and the guy acted like Tree knocked him out of bounds. The ref called the foul on the reaction of the player but I could not tell how bad tree bodied the guy.

This was a weird game. We started well leading 13-3 with Walsh and Alex hitting their first shots that were threes. And from that point it was a struggle. We could not penetrate the Zone, we missed some easy shots, and we could not hold onto the ball underneath the basket. We also were not getting any offensive rebounds. Our zone also did not look very good. When Tree got into foul trouble Zeke and Forsyth did not play the zone well together. Central had a lot of open looks.

The saving grace for this team is that we seem to wear teams down at the end. Tree and Zeke were monsters on the offensive boards at the end of the game. We also had some great steals and shots to seal the victory and ended on an 11-0 run. Ibitaya forced some great steals at the end.

This team needs to learn how to penetrate a zone. I think this is a weakness.

Good teams find a way to win and this is a good team. Go Zips

[Dave in Green]

By the way, anyone who is disappointed by the Zips' performance tonight should take a close look at the just-concluded Wichita State-Southern Illinois game. Wichita State came in highly ranked while Southern Illinois had a cellar-dwelling 1-10 record in the MVC. Southern Illinois just won, 64-62.

[Zips Win!]

As I said earlier, there are no more easy games this season. CMU brought their best game and the Zips were flat. This kind of game against a lowly MAC West team is exactly what I have nightmares about from the bad old days, because many times the Zips could never recover and ended up being upset. This team is good enough to close out a close game by playing up to their potential when it counts. Zips won the first 5 minutes 13-3 and the last 2 minutes 11-0, so 24-3 in those 7 minutes. In between was not pretty. Credit to CMU for playing the game the way wanted it played the other 33 minutes.

Tree, Rico and Kretzer had nice games while some others struggled. Tree was called for a phantom foul, objected and drew a T. The Zips really do need him playing long minutes, so I hope he learned a lesson that you can't win an argument with anyone wearing a whistle. Chauncey played 3 minutes, missed all 3 shots, had 2 turnovers, couldn't keep up with the quicker CMU players on defense, and pulled up limping at the end of his 3-minute stint. Not sure what's wrong, but he's definitely struggling. Anyway, the national media is going to be more focused on lowly Arkansas upsetting #2 Florida by 11 points than they are in the Zips only winning by 12. The winning streak is alive, and the Zips have been served with a wakeup call.

Baloney! Play Walsh and Gilliam and not you know who, we win going away.

[zen]

Most voters will only see the scoreline, so it's gonna look better.

Who cares how it looks. It's february... early february in fact

I'm already tired of the national recognition, respect, and pining for news blurb table scraps. Can we just calm down and see what march brings?

[Dave in Green]

Don't know if anyone else noticed, but the CMU coach was using his timeouts brilliantly any time the Zips started to make a run. Problem is, there weren't enough timeouts to stop all the Zips runs. CMU burned its last timeout with more than 9 minutes left in the second half and was powerless to stop the late Zips run.

[Quickzips]

Don't know if anyone else noticed, but the CMU coach was using his timeouts brilliantly any time the Zips started to make a run. Problem is, there weren't enough timeouts to stop all the Zips runs. CMU burned its last timeout with more than 9 minutes left in the second half and was powerless to stop the late Zips run.

To be fair a couple of those weren't to stop Zips runs but were to keep from getting tied up for a jump ball, travelling or failing to get the ball across the timeline. Still, it was one of the more liberal uses of timeouts I've seen in a fairly close game. Not sure how much of an effect it had in the long run, but it was interesting none the less.

Just have to mention yet again how big of a performance that was from Tree. A lot of guys saddled to the bench for that long with foul trouble are never able to get back into the game physically or mentally. Tree came back in after sitting from basically the 5 minute mark in the first half and dominated in almost every facet of the game. Scoring, rebounding and passing. He did it all. That is REALLY tough to do.

[zippy5]

This was a pretty obvious trap/letdown game. Would have loved to win by 30 but games like these are gonna happen. We won by twelve playing terrible while getting their best shot. On to the next one.

[phil]

To be fair a couple of those weren't to stop Zips runs but were to keep from getting tied up for a jump ball, travelling or failing to get the ball across the timeline. Still, it was one of the more liberal uses of timeouts I've seen in a fairly close game. Not sure how much of an effect it had in the long run, but it was interesting none the less.

Just have to mention yet again how big of a performance that was from Tree. A lot of guys saddled to the bench for that long with foul trouble are never able to get back into the game physically or mentally. Tree came back in after sitting from basically the 5 minute mark in the first half and dominated in almost every facet of the game. Scoring, rebounding and passing. He did it all. That is REALLY tough to do.

On one occasion, CMU took 8 seconds in the backcourt and were trapped. The coach called a timeout a the team got another 10 seconds to bring the ball out of the backcourt. That seemed to penalize us for playing good defense.

[LZIp]

On one occasion, CMU took 8 seconds in the backcourt and were trapped. The coach called a timeout a the team got another 10 seconds to bring the ball out of the backcourt. That seemed to penalize us for playing good defense.

Oh jesus you sound like the STO announcers. Them wasting a timeout is not penalizing us. It helped us later in the game when they had no timeouts left!