Middle Tennessee @ Zips

[Dr Z]

The University of Akron men's basketball team will hold its Ninth-Annual Teddy Bear Toss during its home contest with Middle Tennessee tonight.

Zips favored by seven.

[Staton14]

I'll be missing my first home game of the year, along with the next few due to Christmas break. Take care of business while I'm gone, Zips!

[Dave in Green]

It's no surprise that the Zips are favored by 7. As I mentioned in another thread, Middle Tennessee last season tied Louisiana Tech for best record in Conference USA. But they graduated their top 4 leading scorers (Shawn Jones, Neiko Hunter, Kerry Hammonds and Trantell Knight), and the leading returning scorer (Jaqawn Raymond) averaged only 6.5 points per game (though he torched the Zips last year). So they're obviously in serious rebuilding mode. MTSU has a strong program, but has more question marks than the Zips this season due to so many key players graduating. Below are a few notes from the MTSU website:

The Blue Raiders take the all-time series against the Zips, 16-10 with a 6-1 record in their last seven meetings.

The last time the two met Jaqawn Raymond collected 17 points in 9 minutes of action in the team's 80-73 win.

MT's four veteran returners Reggie Upshaw (9.5 ppg), Jacquez Rozier (9.3 ppg), Marcus Tarrance (8.5 ppg) and Raymond (7.4 ppg) lead the team in scoring this season.

MT has put out six different starting lineups through the first eight contests, while 10 different Blue Raiders have notched at least one start.

Coach Kermit Davis was named to Forbes list of Best College Basketball Coaches for the Money at No. 4; only behind San Diego State's Steve Fisher, Syracuse's Jim Boheim and Gonzaga's Mark Few. (Coach Dambrot ranks #19, just behind North Carolina's Roy Williams. The Forbes article is a good place to compare winning percentage, program budgets and head coach salaries).

Over the last three years the Blue Raiders have averaged 26.3 wins per season. Last year's senior class was the most-winningest class to play at Middle Tennessee with 95 wins with the Blue Raiders.

MT ranks second nationally only behind Davidson (48-4) with a record in conference play of 46-6 over the last three years. During that time the Blue Raiders have won three regular season titles (in Sun Belt and C-USA) and have made a trip to the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.

Middle Tennessee has earned at least a share of the conference regular season title three years in a row and four of the last five years.

[Staton14]

Looking at their schedule from last year, why did they not make any of the four postseason tournaments with a 24-9 record?

[ZachTheZip]

MTSU's coach has a tendency to yank players immediately when they make a mistake, and MTSU is a young team, so this happens often. If Akron's guards are up to playing the pickpocket role tonight, they can prevent MTSU from gaining any kind of rhythm.

Their coach also has a reputation for getting technicals, or at least that's what MTSU fans are saying. Rowdies (if there are any left on campus), do your thing.

[Dave in Green]

Looking at their schedule from last year, why did they not make any of the four postseason tournaments with a 24-9 record?

They lost in their mid-major conference tournament for starters. Their 24-9 record and #63 RPI were 3rd best in their own conference behind Southern Mississippi (29-7, #31) and Louisiana Tech (29-8, #57). That would have knocked them out of both the NCAA and NIT tournaments. They should have easily qualified for the CBI or CIT tournaments. My best guess is they elected not to participate in either of those tournaments as some other schools have done.

[Staton14]

They lost in their mid-major conference tournament for starters. Their 24-9 record and #63 RPI were 3rd best in their own conference behind Southern Mississippi (29-7, #31) and Louisiana Tech (29-8, #57). That would have knocked them out of both the NCAA and NIT tournaments. They should have easily qualified for the CBI or CIT tournaments. My best guess is they elected not to participate in either of those tournaments as some other schools have done.

I would think they were certainly offered a spot in either CBI or CIT, but they may have declined as you said.

[Staton14]

Kwan already in beast mode tonight.

[Staton14]

Could be worse than a five point deficit considering how many offensive fouls we had and how long Robotham was out due to fouls.

[zipsrule]

Zips showing signs of life late in the game. They have cut it to a 3 point game.

[Staton14]

TIE GAME!

[zipsrule]

Good timeout. Call a play and get a good shot.

[tomzip]

yuck..had a lot of opportunities to take the lead in the last two minutes, was a lid on the basket for them tonight. These hurt against a fellow mid major

[zipsrule]

It hurts not to even get off a shot in the last possession.

[Glib Shanley]

How do you not get a shot off in the last 10 seconds of the game?

[zipsrule]

And, it was after a timeout.

[ZippyRulz]

And, it was after a timeout.

That's why.

[clarkwgriswold]

UGLY. I guess we should be prepared to see some ugliness given the youth of the team.

Dambrot said in the postgame that they had to consider whether they were going to see man-to-man or zone in the final possession. I'd like to see our opponents occasionally face such a quandary.

[1981 grad]

Not sure why KD had Kretzer in at the end. He did not score the entire game. When we are down one why do Kwan and Kretzer have to shoot 3 pointers. This 3 go to guys last year were Q, Tree and Harney. There was not really a guy on the floor who has the experience to take the last shot and it showed. I would have had Ibi drive to the basket. I think Kwan was 0 for 10 after hitting his first two 3 pointers. This is a young team and a tight game will help our experience. Pat had some really nice baskets near the rim and there were some really nice passes to him. Jackson played very well and had only one turnover that I remember. Middle Tenn really pressured our guards up top and I thought they handled the pressure very well. The refs call some tough offensive fouls against us that hurt.

[Dave in Green]

Zips played well enough to win if both teams had hit their season shooting averages. While the Zips were right on their season averages, MT came into the game shooting 37.7% from the field (32.6% on 3s) and ended up shooting 55% (and 50%) tonight. Blame it on the Zips not playing tough enough D or MT just having one of those nights where everything goes in or a combination of both. But shooting percentage was the difference. In every other stat the teams were close. In fact if anyone had said before the game that MT would shoot 55% from the field, I'd have predicted a double-digit Zips loss.

As for the last play, it was a combination of MT playing tight enough D that no Zips player felt open enough to take a clean shot and making one pass too many. The buzzer sounded almost the instant the ball hit Pat's hands. He wasn't that close to the bucket and didn't have time to get anything off anyway. No one on the floor had much confidence in their shooting at that point. For example, Kwan started off 2-2 and then went 1-10 the rest of the way while Jake and Reggie were a combined 1-9 for the game. In retrospect we might question why Antino wasn't on the floor as he had the hot hand late in the game hitting 3-4.

It's just going to be an up-and-down season until the Tree-less Zips learn to handle various game situations like getting off a last-second shot. One thing I'm pretty sure of is that the players won't try to blame each other for team issues but will work together to find solutions. A characteristic of Coach Dambrot teams is that they adjust when one aspect of the game is off and compensate with other areas of the game. They fell just short tonight but hopefully learned a lesson that will help them later in the season. I expect this team to be much better at that as the season goes on.

[Dave in Green]

Let's not forget that we now have an official officiating thread to discuss that subject outside of the game threads.

[UAZip0510]

This was a disappointing game but one that will pay off in the end. The Middle Tennessee State defense is top notch and really challenged Akron. While I won't get into a referee rant, they also had some frustration from them seemingly every time they started to make a run. Even so, they fought back and had several chances to win the game.

As for Jake and Kwan taking those shots, I have absolutely no problem with it. I know they were having rough shooting nights but they were solid looks and both entered the contest shooting 40% from 3 point range on the season, good for 2nd and 3rd on the team respectively...they just didn't fall.

This team is going to continue to grow as the season goes on. Five of the ten players KD played tonight are true freshmen or sophomores. We're going to have some growing pains along the way. I'm confident this will be an impressive squad by the time we get to Cleveland, one capable of getting us back to The Dance.

[zippyfan34]

In retrospect we might question why Antino wasn't on the floor as he had the hot hand late in the game hitting 3-4.

I questioned this to my wife when they put Kretzer in for him with about 90 seconds left. Keep the 5 in that got you back within striking distance. I understand Jake gives you a guy where you can easily switch on defense where he can defend bigs but I wanted to see Tino finish the game.

[Sportsjunkie330]

The Zips never adjusted to MT attacking the back door in the paint -- which is why they shot 55%.

The Zips live and die by the 3.

The Zips didn't attack the basket on offense, MT did....can't blame the refs. If the Zips attack, they get calls too.

The TO with 14 seconds left was a bad one. It gave MT a chance to set up to guard the 3 point line,,,,which they did and that is the reason they didn't get a shot off.

I said to my buddy near the end of the game "it's funny how everyone is complaining about the refs." The fouls were even. Get over it folks, KD got out coached. He had no answer for the inside play of MT.

[Dave in Green]

The Zips did attack the basket on offense and received numerous charging calls for their efforts. The Zips hit better than their season average percentage of 3-point shots tonight while MT hit a much higher percentage of 3-pointers than their average. Guarding the 3-point line was not critical because MT only had a 1-point lead and a 2-point shot would have been just as good as a 3-pointer. The total fouls for the game ended up even but the timing of the calls and who they were called against favored MT as mentioned in the officiating thread.