Game 28- Toledo

[clarkwgriswold]

The Zips head to Toledo Tuesday night to seek revenge against the first place Rockets.  The Rockets are 21-6/12-2 and on an 11 game win streak.  Their last loss was in Brimfield on January 10th.

 

RayJ Dennis is now the Zips leading scorer at 19.1 ppg.  JT Shumate is now up to 17.1 ppg will Cetric Milliner is scoring 15.3 ppg.   They remain first in the MAC in scoring at 84.7 ppg, a whopping 6 points more than the second place squad (Ohio).  They are 9th in defense.  Here's hoping the rediscovered Zips defense can overcome the Rockets high scoring offense.  The Rockets beat the Zips by 10 at the JAR on February 7th. 

[LoyalZIP]

11 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

RayJ Dennis is now the Zips leading scorer at 19.1 ppg.  JT Shumate is now up to 17.1 ppg will Cetric Milliner is scoring 15.3 ppg.

*Rockets

 

*Setric

 

*Millner

 

Clark is drunk on 20-point beatdowns of Buffalo! Just messing with you, thanks for always getting these threads together. 
 

This could be the game that decides MAC POY. I think it’s between Dennis and X. Carry’s efficiency isn’t there so unless he really goes off, I don’t see him being in the running. Freeman with an outside shot too. 

[zipsrule]

10 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

This could be the game that decides MAC POY. I think it’s between Dennis and X. Carry’s efficiency isn’t there so unless he really goes off, I don’t see him being in the running. Freeman with an outside shot too. 

But the announcers during the BG/Toledo game called Carry an NBA prospect.  🙄

[NWAkron]

3 minutes ago, zipsrule said:

But the announcers during the BG/Toledo game called Carry an NBA prospect.  🙄

Groce's interview after game...again spoke about "coachability."  Carry is not coachable.  From what I hear on the board and elsewhere is that Mr. Pinky doesn't say boo to Carry during the game.  Would love to see Bobby Knight (even though I was never a fan) slide Insincere across the floor after one of his dances.

[MDZip]

Zips completely control their seed. The one is still achievable but this game is critical. Lose it and the one seed is pretty much gone.

[NWAkron]

14 minutes ago, MDZip said:

Zips completely control their seed. The one is still achievable but this game is critical. Lose it and the one seed is pretty much gone.

I don't recall a more brutal closing 4 games, especially with two coming from the old MAC West.  Toledo has that long win streak...which will end at the worst moment for them.

 

From Rocket message board:  Say what??  Zips lucky to escape the quarters last year.

 

1.  "I'm looking for any advantage we can get in Cleveland as Toledo has struggled the past 2 seasons in the Quarter Finals against both Ball St (overtime win) and CMU (2pt win). We had to play our Starters full minutes in those 2 games, and then had to face well rested Ohio U and Akron who easily won their Quarter Final games and were well rested going into the Semi Finals. I'll take a 10-20 point win in the Quarter Finals rather than a 5 point win where we are tested any day of the week!"

 

2.  And the ultimate kiss of death:  A thread about win streaks:

 

Post: #1

Combined streaks

Men and Women have gone streaking. Ladys 8 in a row, men 11. That's 4 weeks in a row neither have lost... Record?

Also, quite the year for the new A.D. Could we take both titles for basketball along with fb? Has that ever happened?

 

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by NWAkron

[1981 grad]

If we play as well as we did against Kent and Buffalo than this game will be a toss up.  We need contributions from everyone on the team.  If Nate, Hankerson, and Hunter contribute on offense we should score into the 70s and have a chance to win.  We know what we can get from X and Freeman, we need the supporting cast to step up.  If they double and triple Freeman down low, we need to hit the 3 point shots.  We control our destiny.  If we win out, we win the MAC and get a one seed.  That makes the tournament a lot easier since we would avoid Kent and Toledo until the finals if we advance that far.

[clarkwgriswold]

I hope that the staff has figured out a way to defend what's essentially a 4 guard lineup for Toledo.  Nate is certainly more capable of guarding one of those guys that Sammy, so that should help.  There were just too many instances of Enrique having to defend a guard on the perimeter in the fist game and Toledo took advantage of it.

[Zipmeister]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I hope that the staff has figured out a way to defend what's essentially a 4 guard lineup for Toledo.  Nate is certainly more capable of guarding one of those guys that Sammy, so that should help.  There were just too many instances of Enrique having to defend a guard on the perimeter in the fist game and Toledo took advantage of it.

 

To get control of the game

one has to think out of the box

[NWAkron]

Big Game tomorrow night.😀

[Blue & Gold]

2 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Big Game tomorrow night.😀

Huge! But I'm not going to be able to watch 😕

 

Everyone knew we were primed for a let down game (or two?) after the emotionally draining KSUcks win.  So 2 weeks ago UT really caught us with our tanks quite empty at the JAR.  Two weeks later, If we had UT at home tomorrow night I'd absolutely be expecting a win.  

 

But on the road is going to be tough.

 

But it looks like our D is back from it's two-game hiatus, and defense travels, so let's bring the Z-Fence, Zips & frustrate the hell out of the Rockettes.

[indians4841ks]

21 hours ago, MDZip said:

Zips completely control their seed. The one is still achievable but this game is critical. Lose it and the one seed is pretty much gone.

Do we know for sure that Akron would get the #1 seed if we win out? Assuming Toledo won their remaining games other than against Akron, the teams would have the same conference record and would have split the series 1-1. I'm not sure what the tiebreaker would be in that situation.

[bigzipguy]

Yes, because we will have beaten Kent at least once, while Toledo lost to Kent in their only match-up with them

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, indians4841ks said:

Do we know for sure that Akron would get the #1 seed if we win out? Assuming Toledo won their remaining games other than against Akron, the teams would have the same conference record and would have split the series 1-1. I'm not sure what the tiebreaker would be in that situation.

you can play around with the seedings here:

http://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb

 

wondering if Travis and the Redhawks will sneak in.

 

[indians4841ks]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

you can play around with the seedings here:

http://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb

 

wondering if Travis and the Redhawks will sneak in.

 

Wow, that's an amazing tool. Thank you!

[zippy-claws]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

veryone knew we were primed for a let down game (or two?) after the emotionally draining KSUcks win

Exactly.  Spot on.

[LoyalZIP]

At the JAR, Toledo had the upper hand schematically and executed beautifully. Hit some big shots too. Dennis did struggle down the stretch a bit, and Hank nearly shot us to a win. If not for a joke of a reach called on X, the Zips may be in first place right now. 
 

With that said, off the top of my head, I don’t believe the Zips have won in Savage since a Wednesday night back in 2013. Zeke had about 8 blocks in the first half. That was a long time ago, and it has become a house of horrors for Akron. Going there and stealing this one wouldn’t shock me, but it would surprise me quite a bit. This team matches up well with Akron, and they’re real tough to beat there. I really like the strength of schedule at this time of year. Go Zips!

[NWAkron]

Big Game tomorrow night!

 

And the Toledo board members agree.  Don't disagree too much with the assessment. 

 

Post: #4

RE: Big game coming up - Akron at Toledo

UT really neutralized Freeman last game by forcing him to switch onto guards on ball screens and then isolating him 1 on 1. Akron may run double teams at us this time to avoid a repeat. Castenada is a streaky guy who has a step back jumper no one can stop-when he's on you hjave to play him extremely tight and he's good at drawing fouls. UT gave akron's guys the mid range all day last time. They clunked most of em or passed them up. Akron's weakness is limited shooters, so if you can keep freeman under control and castenada isn't on fire, they struggle. Hankerson had a great night against us and it still wasn't close. as others noted they make this up for the lack of shooting on the boards. so, hustle and rebounding are huge. being at home might help with the refs. make this a clean spread out fast game. we are better than them at that.

[roopride]

Game Day! Go ZIPS!

[LoyalZIP]

The Zips are 4-point dogs. I believe that is the biggest underdog they've been in MAC play so far.

[Let'sGoZips94]

In Toledo's 10 pt win at the JAR, they shot 50% from 3 (9-18) and 52% overall from the field. Akron was stone cold for the first quarter of the game, and ended up with a pedestrian 34% (from 3) and 40.9% (FG) shooting day. Toledo shot 17 more free throws while Akron "committed" 23 fouls to Toledo's 12 (the being at home helps with the refs comment from the Detroit SW Campus fan is hilarious). Any opinion that states Toledo can execute a simple game plan, slow down X/Freeman, and win because they're "vastly superior" is laughable at best.

 

Groce in March and guess what...

 

It's almost March.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Let'sGoZips94

[NWAkron]

4 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

In Toledo's 10 pt win at the JAR, they shot 50% from 3 (9-18) and 52% overall from the field. Akron was stone cold for the first quarter of the game, and ended up with a pedestrian 34% (from 3) and 40.9% (FG) shooting day. Toledo shot 17 more free throws while Akron "committed" 23 fouls to Toledo's 12. Any opinion that states Toledo can execute a simple game plan, slow down X/Freeman, and win because they're "vastly superior" is laughable at best.

 

Groce in March and guess what...

 

It's almost March.

 

 

Once Akron got behind, it was clear the refs were "respecting" the Rockets more in that game.  

[Reslife4Life]

7 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Once Akron got behind, it was clear the refs were "respecting" the Rockets more in that game.  

Pretty sure the refs had no idea what they were doing that game. Hopefully we don't see another Block/Charge/Count the basket/No free throw tonight haha

[LoyalZIP]

15 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

Pretty sure the refs had no idea what they were doing that game. Hopefully we don't see another Block/Charge/Count the basket/No free throw tonight haha

That’s something I’ve never seen before. I would have been fine with the call either way, it was a 50/50 call. Obviously I wanted it to be a block, but I could see a charge. The thing that was shocking is the crew chief (referee) didn’t overrule one of the umpires. Generally in those situations, you always go with the head referee’s call and he takes the s*** from the team and conference office. But that night, Tim Stewart decided not to overrule Josh White. White then essentially killed Akron’s hopes with the reach called on X. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

That started a 2 game stretch of minimal defense being played, and we've since rediscovered Groce's ZFence. That needs to be brought tonight along with our shot making abilities, as limited as they may be at times. If we don't have the former, we'll get run out of the gym. If we don't have the latter, it'll be a close loss I think. Bring both and we win.