Game 10- Wright State

[clarkwgriswold]

Ugly half.  They need to learn to play without the security blanket of Enrique on the floor.  Given his propensity to foul, they need to learn to tread water with him out.

[NWAkron]

10 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

I’m continually blown away by how bad this team is as shooting

And that's rather important in basketball. 

[Reslife4Life]

This team is just way better with Enrique on the floor, whether he is scoring or not

[LZIp]

Nice energy to start the 2nd.

[Reslife4Life]

Xavier is back 

[NWAkron]

Groce playing 3 dimensional chess with Nagy.  

[1981 grad]

I think it went unnoticed but Tavari had 4 steals the first half.  I like the way he can drive to the hoop in the 2nd half.  X playing much better after he hit that 3 to end the half.  I have not seen Garvin Clarke.  Is he injured?

Edited December 15, 2022 by 1981 grad

[clarkwgriswold]

4 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

I think it went unnoticed but Tamari had 4 steals the first half.  I like the way he can drive to the hoop in the 2nd half.  X playing much better after he hit that 3 to end the half.  I have not seen Garvin Clarke.  Is he injured?

He's in sweats on the bench.  No idea if injured. 

[1981 grad]

Tavari is quickly becoming my favorite Zip with his ability to penetrate and also to get Freeman the ball and get him some easy shots.  He needs to be confident when he starts the game as he looks now.  

Edited December 15, 2022 by 1981 grad

[Let'sGoZips94]

Good win. 

[Reslife4Life]

Win 100 for Groce in the Blue and Gold!

[LZIp]

I don’t pay as much attention to the rest of the MAC as some of you, but I would think Tavari has to be an early contender for MAC freshman of the year. 

[LoyalZIP]

Fantastic second half. Great D all night. Offense was paaaaaiinful in the first half. But Enrique came out like a bat out of hell in the 2nd half, playing unselfishly and mostly smart, and that was the difference. Kobe has surpassed Nate Johnson in production all of a sudden. And Tavari will be a force until someone forced him to go to the left. Nice win!

[NWAkron]

crowd that was there was pretty enthused and very excited for Hunter.

T Johnson had a few LCJ moves (minus the head jerk).

As others have said, having Freeman out causes all sorts of line up problems.

[Hilltopper]

Clarke is injured. As soon as the medical staff clears him he will be back in the rotation. 

[Illini Zip]

4 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

And Tavari will be a force until someone forced him to go to the left. Nice win!

 

If my memory serves me right Tavari can drive and finish with both hands. I watched some of his high school game videos awhile back. Hopefully he will display more of that as he gets comfortable at this level.

 

Edit: 12:38 marker in the second half Tavari does drive and finish with his left hand. I think he is going to be special.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Illini Zip

[gozips19]

This team needs Tavari to be a special freshman if they are going to be in the hunt for the MACC. Him and X are the only guys on the court that can get their shot off from the bounce. Plus he gives X some time to rest off ball. 

Defensively this team really misses Ali and Dawson's length. The effort is there though. 

The MAC is pretty weak (Even for MAC standards) so I expect them to get better as the season goes on and be in the mix. 

Was sad to the the crowd. Covid scared all the blue hairs away and it looks like they never came back. 

[Bigzip1]

12 hours ago, LZIp said:

Sammy Hunter break out game!

 

I’ll say this regarding Freeman, and this is strictly based off feel instead of stats, so I may be off base, but we need more from him. Feels like he’s not really close to the form he was in at the end of last season. The impact plays don’t stick out as much.

Message board wanted my head when I said he needed to play better lol be careful.

[Bigzip1]

11 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

Tamari is quickly becoming my favorite Zip with his ability to penetrate and also to get Freeman the ball and get him some easy shots.  He needs to be confident when he starts the game as he looks now.  

Hey if he’s going to be your favorite player let’s try spelling his name correctly 

[LZIp]

3 minutes ago, Bigzip1 said:

Message board wanted my head when I said he needed to play better lol be careful.

I thought he played well in the 2nd half after that comment. Like I said, unsure if his play has really dropped down a level from the end of last year or not, but that's just the feel I get. Stats could say I'm wrong and I could just be taking his play for granted. He has higher expectations than everyone else on the team (not that others don't need to be all stars in their role), fair or not. We're counting on him.

[clarkwgriswold]

2 hours ago, gozips19 said:

This team needs Tavari to be a special freshman if they are going to be in the hunt for the MACC. Him and X are the only guys on the court that can get their shot off from the bounce. Plus he gives X some time to rest off ball. 

Defensively this team really misses Ali and Dawson's length. The effort is there though. 

The MAC is pretty weak (Even for MAC standards) so I expect them to get better as the season goes on and be in the mix. 

Was sad to the the crowd. Covid scared all the blue hairs away and it looks like they never came back. 

That crowd stopped coming when KD left for Duquesne, long before Covid.  They've missed some damn good basketball.

[LoyalZIP]

31 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

That crowd stopped coming when KD left for Duquesne, long before Covid.  They've missed some damn good basketball.

 

Yup. And just as Groce built momentum up--had the rough year in 2018 with some flashes of good, a much better and few close losses from a bye year in 2019 that included blowing out Kent at home (most fun I've ever had in that building), and of course the incredible 2020 season--COVID hit and no fans were in the building for two years. Nobody was there to see LCJ's magic in his final season. And last year's team dragged a** until the very end of the year. So hard to get people to come, and come back regularly.

[Blue & Gold]

With the location of the JAR the only people that come are the diehard Zips fans. The JAR's a pain in the neck to get to.  

 

We need a proper arena across Main Street from Canal Park.

[Blue & Gold]

11 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

Kobe has surpassed Nate Johnson in production all of a sudden. 

You're right. Unfortunately I was coming here to note that we got 18 entirely unproductive minutes from Kobe.  0 points (on 0-4 shooting), 0 free throw attempts, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 turnovers (there's a plus), 0 blocks, 0 steals.  Oh, wait... 1 foul. There's a sign of life! 😂

 

At least Kobe took 4 shots. He's still hesitant. Maybe he'll come around. We need another consistent threat from 3.

 

When Hunter was hitting 3's you could see the potential of the team.

[Hilltopper]

32 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

With the location of the JAR the only people that come are the diehard Zips fans. The JAR's a pain in the neck to get to.  

 

We need a proper arena across Main Street from Canal Park.

The JAR is 1000 feet off an exit from a major freeway.  Granted, the construction on the central interchange is a pain, but really?