Game 11- Maine

[clarkwgriswold]

The Black Bears of the University of Maine come into the JAR next Monday to face our Zips.  The Black Bears are 6-4 after a rough 2021-2022 campaign that saw them finish at 6-23.

 

The Black Bears scoring is led by 6'3" sophomore guard Kellen Tynes at 15.1 ppg.  The team has a little international flavor with London, England's Gedi Juozapaitis, a 5th year 6'4" guard scoring 13.7 ppg while shooting an impressive 45% on three pointers, and Hungarian 6'7" junior forward Peter Filipovity leading rebounding at 6.2 rpg while scoring 11.3 ppg. They were voted to finish last in the America East preseason poll.

[LoyalZIP]

Groce said on the post game that his former player at OU Tommy Freeman is on Maine's staff. Freeman is the best three-point shooter in OU history, with the most career makes, shooting 44%. 

[NWAkron]

32 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

The Black Bears of the University of Maine come into the JAR next Monday to face our Zips.  The Black Bears are 6-4 after a rough 2021-2022 campaign that saw them finish at 6-23.

 

The Black Bears scoring is led by 6'3" sophomore guard Kellen Tynes at 15.1 ppg.  The team has a little international flavor with London, England's Gedi Juozapaitis, a 5th year 6'4" guard scoring 13.7 ppg while shooting an impressive 45% on three pointers, and Hungarian 6'7" junior forward Peter Filipovity leading rebounding at 6.2 rpg while scoring 11.3 ppg. They were voted to finish last in the America East preseason poll.

If anyone wonders what a Filipovity looks like:

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

33 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

The Black Bears of the University of Maine come into the JAR next Monday to face our Zips.  The Black Bears are 6-4 after a rough 2021-2022 campaign that saw them finish at 6-23.

 

The Black Bears scoring is led by 6'3" sophomore guard Kellen Tynes at 15.1 ppg.  The team has a little international flavor with London, England's Gedi Juozapaitis, a 5th year 6'4" guard scoring 13.7 ppg while shooting an impressive 45% on three pointers, and Hungarian 6'7" junior forward Peter Filipovity leading rebounding at 6.2 rpg while scoring 11.3 ppg. They were voted to finish last in the America East preseason poll.

 

Talk about using your geographical advantage.

 

"Well, we're closer to the other side of The Pond than anyone else."

[NWAkron]

OT to this thread, but I have the upcoming Bradley game noted in my head as a must win on the road.  My only fear is that Groce's Zips will have trouble winning on the road this season.  The first 4 of 6 MAC games are away with the game in Muncie looming large.

[kreed5120]

I think Maine is better then they're preseason projections. Based off their performance so far they'd be a mid-tier MAC team. It looks like they prefer to play a 4 guard lineup similar to us.

[clarkwgriswold]

10 hours ago, NWAkron said:

OT to this thread, but I have the upcoming Bradley game noted in my head as a must win on the road.  My only fear is that Groce's Zips will have trouble winning on the road this season.  The first 4 of 6 MAC games are away with the game in Muncie looming large.

 

I'm concerned that the Zips will look past this one in anticipation of their huge showdown with Concord.

[Captain Kangaroo]

14 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

I'm concerned that the Zips will look past this one in anticipation of their huge showdown with Concord.

We'll crush 'em like grapes! 🦵🦵

[Z.I.P.]

On 12/15/2022 at 4:04 AM, LoyalZIP said:

Groce said on the post game that his former player at OU Tommy Freeman is on Maine's staff. Freeman is the best three-point shooter in OU history, with the most career makes, shooting 44%. 

I'm the LEAST contradictory person (and most humble I might add) on this board, but I can't help wondering if OU's all-time scoring leader, Dave Jamerson from Stow -- who made 15 3-pointers in a game once is not also the school's three-point shooting leader, at least in total 3 FGs made. 

Here's the scoring list, though no #BeyondtheArc record listed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Bobcats_men's_basketball_statistical_leaders

[LoyalZIP]

Maine comes in at #288 in KenPom, but did pick up that big win at Boston College earlier in the year. They followed it up with a trio of losses to sub-300 teams. We are probably the best team they've played to this point in the year, and while it should be an easy win, they're potentially dangerous.

 

What do I want to see that I haven't seen enough of this year?

 

I need a good 40 minutes from Freeman, first of all. He is called for a lot of iffy fouls, but plenty of the fouls called on him are due to over-aggression. He needs to play smarter at that end. The Wright State game showed us the difference he makes when he's able to play freely and fly around the gym. 

 

I need Sammy Hunter to do it again! That was electric last week, and it's hard to see Akron within 10 at the half without his production. He got a little overly eager and tried to shoot it from the same spot 5 times in a row, had one blocked, and didn't do much the rest of the night. He is the difference between this Akron team being average and champions.

 

I need Nate Johnson and Kobe Mitchell to come alive. Johnson's showing against WKU seemed like the start of something special, but I can't even remember him making a shot since then. He just seems to get lost in the shuffle and just fills minutes right now. Not good. Kobe, on the other hand, hasn't been making shots consistently. With that said, he has been very visible to me and has passed the eye test more often than not. Groce talks about him grading out well defensively, and you can see him putting in the effort. Great to see.

 

I would also ask that Tribble finish at the rim with more success, but that ship may have sailed. Not only can he not make a hook shot or floater within 5 feet, but he's also not getting to the foul line like he did in the past. And when he does, he's not making it as often. He's barely over 50% on the season (the entire team's FT shooting has been an embarrassment and a big red flag) and he's simply not drawing fouls. He went 9-10 at the FT line in the MAC tournament last year, which was HUGE! 6-6 against Buffalo! He's been a shell of himself so far this year. With that said, Greg Tribble is John Groce Akron Basketball personified, and I still believe in the guy.

 

All in all, this team hasn't necessarily lost a game that it isn't supposed to, but they also haven't beaten anyone they need to beat if they want to prove to themselves, the fans, the MAC, the country that they're the real deal. Tonight isn't one of those opportunities, but Thursday is. There are no more early-season excuses. Sure, I can live with MSU, LSU, heck even Marshall as they seem to be the real deal. But I'm tired of this team being a boring stick in the mud. I'd love to see them come out with fire this week and remind the college basketball world that the MAC still belongs to Akron, and the league better get ready in a couple weeks.

 

GO ZIPS!!!!!

[Zipmeister]

On 12/15/2022 at 9:04 AM, LoyalZIP said:

Groce said on the post game that his former player at OU Tommy Freeman is on Maine's staff. Freeman is the best three-point shooter in OU history, with the most career makes, shooting 44%. 

 

We have to do all we can then to prevent them from sneaking Tommy into the game against the Zips.

[NWAkron]

Zips 12 point favorites.  

[Captain Kangaroo]

6 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

But I'm tired of this team being a boring stick in the mud. I'd love to see them come out with fire this week and remind the college basketball world that the MAC still belongs to Akron, and the league better get ready in a couple weeks.

That point of view hits home for me.

 

The blame for the weak JAR crowds this season doesn't rest on UA Marketing's shoulders. This team has fallen flat to begin the season, and failed to build off last year's success. Too bad, because they finally had a schedule to do so. 

 

Last year we more than overcame the "losses" of Walton and Trimble (both were veterans, and expected to be starters). I expect some cream will rise to the top again and fill the Dawson/Bandaogo/Ali shoes.

 

There is a ton of playing time available to any Zip who wants to consistently drain shots, and get a few floor burns on defense. Looking forward to seeing who steps up their game.

[NWAkron]

10 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

That point of view hits home for me.

 

The blame for the weak JAR crowds this season doesn't rest on UA Marketing's shoulders. This team has fallen flat to begin the season, and failed to build off last year's success. Too bad, because they finally had a schedule to do so. 

 

Last year we more than overcame the "losses" of Walton and Trimble (both were veterans, and expected to be starters). I expect some cream will rise to the top again and fill the Dawson/Bandaogo/Ali shoes.

 

There is a ton of playing time available to any Zip who wants to consistently drain shots, and get a few floor burns on defense. Looking forward to seeing who steps up their game.

After reading LoyalZips post earlier, I thought basically the same thing.  Two words:  "let down" in both verb and adjective form.  The team has let down the fans and the fans feel let down after the crazy and exciting season last year.  It's hard to keep that excitement rolling when this team is clunking 3s and going 6 of 15 from the line on any given night.

[zipsrule]

The Zip off to a 7-2 start.

[clarkwgriswold]

Not much of a crowd. 

[NWAkron]

If it's Monday, it's Bangor.

[NWAkron]

Awesome "play" between X, Nate, and Hank.

[clarkwgriswold]

1 minute ago, NWAkron said:

Awesome "play" between X, Nate, and Hank.

Some real hustle. 

[NWAkron]

After Freemans last basket, Groce turned to bench and went "Wow"

[NWAkron]

And that wasn't for the 3 pointer he just made.

Edited December 20, 2022 by NWAkron

[zipsrule]

Opening things up now.  34-15.

[clarkwgriswold]

Maine is small but their lack of speed makes up for it. 

[zipsrule]

44-23 at the half.

[Blue & Gold]

Look at the build of Maine’s number 5

💪🤯💪