Games 4, 5 & 6- Cayman Islands Classic Basketball Tournament

[clarkwgriswold]

With the win over FIU, the Zips advance to face 3-1 Utah State.  Utah State put an impressive 23 point thumping on Marshall to advance.  They were led by 6'8" junior wing Great Osobor's 18 points and 13 rebounds.  Utah State was picked to finish 9th (out of 11) in the Mountain West preseason poll.  Osobor is averaging 21.3 and 10.5 rpg on the season.

[Blue & Gold]

FIU looked damn tough to me. I wouldn't want to play them again.

[csims0917]

3 straight D1 games where we takeover with 2 minutes to go. We played dare I say… pretty poorly for Groces standards and still nearly covered the spread. The fact we have so much more in this team is exciting to me. Utah state is going to be tough but I will enjoy my DOUBLE victory Monday 

[LoyalZIP]

FIU-Marshall will be fun tomorrow. 
 

Zips have their hands full tomorrow. They’re not what they were the last couple years, but Utah State is a very solid program. The press had a lot to do with the struggles today. Zips couldn’t control the pace, and didn’t when they had the chance. They played on edge, and it showed in every facet. 
 

Rematch of the Potato Bowl is cool. 

[1981 grad]

Freeman had a monster game.  I love that he feels confidant to shoot a 3 ball in the clutch.  He also had some nice drives.  His only weakness today was that he missed some foul shots.  The first game is always the toughest and hopefully we will play better tomorrow.

[LoyalZIP]

Krivokapic missed his first 13 three-point attempts on the season, but has hit 8-12 since. Almost single-handedly beat us. 

[Illini Zip]

Who is this Enrique Threeman guy? Ha!!

 

Go Zips!!

[csims0917]

Groce: “I think that we stunk” I love how brutally honest Groce is. He will steer this ship to the right places 

[zippy5]

Nice job grinding out a W. Keep it rolling this week 

[csims0917]

Here’s a wild stat: 4-0 is the best start in the D1 era for the Akron zips. That’s crazy…

[Blue & Gold]

4 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

Here’s a wild stat: 4-0 is the best start in the D1 era for the Akron zips. That’s crazy…

That is difficult to believe. Not a very high bar 🤨

[csims0917]

Sounds like we have to raise it! It’s probably due to buy in games and slow starts to some seasons 

[LoyalZIP]

11 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

That is difficult to believe. Not a very high bar 🤨

Many “Austin Peay’s” have bitten us in the past. Ohio States, Fordhams. I was surprised, but not shocked, when Joe Dunn first mentioned this as a possibility last week. 2013 team started 0-1 with an OT loss to a bad Coastal team to open their new arena. 2012 started something like 3-5. 2020 lost at WVU in game 2. 

[Reslife4Life]

3 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

Many “Austin Peay’s” have bitten us in the past. Ohio States, Fordhams. I was surprised, but not shocked, when Joe Dunn first mentioned this as a possibility last week. 2013 team started 0-1 with an OT loss to a bad Coastal team to open their new arena. 2012 started something like 3-5. 2020 lost at WVU in game 2. 

2021-22 title team started 2-3 with no D-1 win in that stretch

[LoyalZIP]

3 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

2021-22 title team started 2-3 with no D-1 win in that stretch

The horrors of the Gulf Coast Showcase. That game against Evansville where they finally won was even hard to watch. The KJ Walton quit game. 

[1981 grad]

I just looked at the box score and saw we had 19 turnovers.  We made some real ugly passes. That will not win us many games.  However, we shot 40% from the three and I feel like this team is a better shooting team than last year.  I also like that Freeman led the team in shots.  He took over in the 2nd half.  The team made a concerted effort to get him the ball in the 2nd half and that was the difference in the game.  I cannot say that any of the guards stood out tonight.

[Reslife4Life]

3 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

The horrors of the Gulf Coast Showcase. That game against Evansville where they finally won was even hard to watch. The KJ Walton quit game. 

The quality of the broadcast for the that tournament was wildly worse than the Caymans, and on the same ridiculous service

[LoyalZIP]

1 minute ago, Reslife4Life said:

The quality of the broadcast for the that tournament was wildly worse than the Caymans, and on the same ridiculous service

So bad. The same tournament bit Toledo in the rear last year too. They lost to a sub-300 UMKC team by 12 and a mediocre ECU by 11. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

15 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

Here’s a wild stat: 4-0 is the best start in the D1 era for the Akron zips. That’s crazy…

 

Not shocked. Most seasons are 1-2 games before the early season tournament, which typically featured a P6 squad. One of those first two games may have been a P6 program as well. 

 

What is shocking is this is probably our most difficult schedule thus far that doesn't contain a P6, and we're undefeated. SDSU, USM, and FIU are all quality wins thus far. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Some thoughts...

 

- Huge shoutout to FIU's effort & tenacity. They've been a well-coached team since Ballard took over in 2018. Would not be surprised to see them win 20+ games this year.

 

- I thought a key moment that will probably go under-appreciated was the timeout Groce took at the 19 minute mark in the first half. We had just turned the ball over twice, and Groce made sure to stop the bleeding and make the adjustments quickly before it got out of hand. Decisions like this are why Groce is such a success basketball coach. 

 

- I thought all 3 guards had net positive impacts tonight. Shammah Scott finished well at the rim on the fast-break/transition plays (we've missed so many of those in the past). Thornton brought poise and maturity during times of chaos. Tavari had a big 3 in transition and overall I thought his speed/quickness helped keep FIU off-balance on defense. 19 turnovers is a lot, but a handful of those came early, Freeman had some down low, and FIU was phenomenal at getting their hands in passing lanes quickly.

 

- I will probably repeat this all year, but if we have Dawson last year, we're back to back MAC Champs. His versatility, athleticism, and size is such a mismatch for teams. 

 

- Tribble & Hunter were a bit MIA at times, but their effort is always there. 

 

- Nate Johnson continues to be the most improved player. He seemed to always make up for his errors, and he's like a Dawson Jr. out there. His confidence this year is what is most encouraging, as we all saw the potential with him last year that was simply lacking the confidence.

 

- Best for last: Freeman. 27 pts including TWO 3 pointers (the last one was insanely clutch), 14 rebounds. He is already on the Mount Rushmore for all-time Akron players, and nights like tonight simply solidify his jersey in the rafters someday. Unbelievable performance and I'd half to imagine the other MAC squads are crapping themselves seeing Freeman add the 3 pointer to his arsenal. 

 

 

This was a game Akron has lost all too often in the past. A beatable team from a decent conference, in a game where seemingly nothing went our way. This was a big win for the program. Beat Utah State! Go Zips!

[NWAkron]

6 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Some thoughts...

 

- Huge shoutout to FIU's effort & tenacity. They've been a well-coached team since Ballard took over in 2018. Would not be surprised to see them win 20+ games this year.

 

- I thought a key moment that will probably go under-appreciated was the timeout Groce took at the 19 minute mark in the first half. We had just turned the ball over twice, and Groce made sure to stop the bleeding and make the adjustments quickly before it got out of hand. Decisions like this are why Groce is such a success basketball coach. 

 

- I thought all 3 guards had net positive impacts tonight. Shammah Scott finished well at the rim on the fast-break/transition plays (we've missed so many of those in the past). Thornton brought poise and maturity during times of chaos. Tavari had a big 3 in transition and overall I thought his speed/quickness helped keep FIU off-balance on defense. 19 turnovers is a lot, but a handful of those came early, Freeman had some down low, and FIU was phenomenal at getting their hands in passing lanes quickly.

 

- I will probably repeat this all year, but if we have Dawson last year, we're back to back MAC Champs. His versatility, athleticism, and size is such a mismatch for teams. 

 

- Tribble & Hunter were a bit MIA at times, but their effort is always there. 

 

- Nate Johnson continues to be the most improved player. He seemed to always make up for his errors, and he's like a Dawson Jr. out there. His confidence this year is what is most encouraging, as we all saw the potential with him last year that was simply lacking the confidence.

 

- Best for last: Freeman. 27 pts including TWO 3 pointers (the last one was insanely clutch), 14 rebounds. He is already on the Mount Rushmore for all-time Akron players, and nights like tonight simply solidify his jersey in the rafters someday. Unbelievable performance and I'd half to imagine the other MAC squads are crapping themselves seeing Freeman add the 3 pointer to his arsenal. 

 

 

This was a game Akron has lost all too often in the past. A beatable team from a decent conference, in a game where seemingly nothing went our way. This was a big win for the program. Beat Utah State! Go Zips!

!00% agree on Dawson.  if not the MAC tourney winners, definitely a 1 or 2 seed.

This game was as ugly in person as it was on TV from what you all are saying.  

At the gym, there are no stat boards, so I had no idea, literally, that Freeman scored 27 points.  I remember the 2 threes and his getting mugged and tripled by a hustling and scrappy FIU team along with some missed FTs.  Amazing how much he scored in the face of the onslaught.  

I was super-impressed by FIU.  I couldn't believe how they kept up that pressure.  They looked like one one of those first round NCAA teams that gives a top 2 seed tons of trouble.

Loud and angry Zips contingent with some colorful comments for that one ref who looked right at the FIU player locking arms on Freeman and shook his head "no big deal."  He didn't ignore it.  He gave permission.

[MDZip]

8 hours ago, csims0917 said:

Groce: “I think that we stunk” I love how brutally honest Groce is. He will steer this ship to the right places 

Although a good sign when you can play terribly and still win? 

[Illini Zip]

1 minute ago, MDZip said:

Although a good sign when you can play terribly and still win? 

 

This. 

 

Sorry, out of likes.

[roopride]

What time is the game today

[clarkwgriswold]

14 minutes ago, roopride said:

What time is the game today

7:30.  

 

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