Game 12- St. Bonaventure

[zippy5]

2 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Seen way too many close Zips losses against upper tier competition. I  thought in a year where we are so senior- and talent-heavy we could beat a team like St Bonny on a neutral court. Instead…another one in the loss column. 

I was thinking about this. And it's not to be too negative - I'll take this over the football team 101 times out of 100, but Zips basketball is kinda like groundhog day a little. 

[Hilltopper]

After halftime the refs apologized to Groce for missing the obvious foul on Tribble. Probably should have been a flagrant too.

[Hilltopper]

2 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Was he anywhere to be found for the Akron game?

It was actually Greg Oden, not Lebron.

[csims0917]

Gotta say this was a really cool event. Every game was close and felt like a conference tournament or March madness game. Really wish Akron would’ve won but overall a pretty fun day of CBB

[Bona BigCat]

St Bona alum from Akron here — not to gloat but to say we know this was a tough loss for Zips Nation. Like most of our fans, I too have tremendous respect for the Zips. The banter on our fan board is that this is a big win for us. I’ve been a Zips admirer dating back to the Huggins years, and hope to get to a couple games soon.
 

Both teams battled hard, especially on D. As Groce said “it sucks to lose” a game like this because he knows it would have been a quality W. The refs were horrible for both teams which hurt the flow of the offenses. They called the wimpy contact but missed some major body bangs. Bonnies had a 10-4 foul disadvantage at one point of the first half. Our little PG Tyrell Luc had a breakaway dunk and got undercut, fell hard to the ground. No call. You had a guy get blasted on a drive and no call. 

 

The Zips are the best team in the MAC. We fans are always blasting the head coach when we feel a close one got away. If you shoot better from the line today we all know that your coach is getting accolades and not ridicule. Zips battled from 10 down in the first half and 8 down in the second half against an SBU defense that held potent #6 FAU to 64 points on 40% shooting and 25% from deep.

 

Our offense is as deep and as potent as you will face this season … and we struggled and scratched for every point. Our 5th year PG made a stupidly ridiculous shot over Freeman’s 7-2 wing span, and then our best defender Evans got a big deflection on the inbounds play to disrupt your final play. It’s the smallest of margins.

 

Would love to have the Zips and Bonnies play again in the near future. Olean NY is a lovely place this time of year to see a college game.

 

Good luck in conference play. Hope to see both teams in March at the big dance!

[Illini Zip]

I have to give Freeman credit for not skipping a beat after dislocating his pinky finger. They put it back in place, taped two fingers together on his shooting hand and he was itching to get back in.

 

I would have passed out. I’m a bit squeamish with that stuff. 

[Zipsrock129]

55 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

It was actually Greg Oden, not Lebron.

Lebron has a game tonight bruhhh 💀💀

[zipsrule]

25 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I have to give Freeman credit for not skipping a beat after dislocating his pinky finger. They put it back in place, taped two fingers together on his shooting hand and he was itching to get back in.

 

I would have passed out. I’m a bit squeamish with that stuff. 

+1

[ZippyRulz]

4 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Good prep game going into conference play.  I'd have loved to win that one but in reality, as we all know, it would really have no consequence as to where we end up at tournament time.

 

Losing less games might help our seeding a bit.

 

[ZippyRulz]

45 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I have to give Freeman credit for not skipping a beat after dislocating his pinky finger. They put it back in place, taped two fingers together on his shooting hand and he was itching to get back in.

 

I would have passed out. I’m a bit squeamish with that stuff. 

 

I was going to say limiting EF's rebounds to single digits was the difference in this game but then I saw he still ended up with 13 and another ......wait for it....... double double.

 

[Bigzip1]

4 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

Lebron and Savannah James sitting courtside with Brad Sellers for the OSU -WVU GAME

That was Greg oden lol Lakers played tonight 

[zipsrule]

26 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

Losing less games might help our seeding a bit.

 

For that to be true, we'd have to have a number of additional wins.  Being 22-9 or 21-10 is basically the same thing.  The MAC team is getting a 13 or 14 seed.  You'd need several more wins to change that.

[Reslife4Life]

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Reslife4Life

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, Hilltopper said:

It was actually Greg Oden, not Lebron.

Sure he wasn’t at the Duquesne/ Cleary game?

[clarkwgriswold]

Here's a better link to the Beacon article on the game.  Thanks to the Beacon for assigning decent reporters.  There are even quotes from the opposing team!

 

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2023/12/31/akron-zips-mens-basketball-st-bonaventure-enrique-freeman-ali-ali-john-groce-mac-northern-illinois/72061406007/

[Blue & Gold]

 

[LZIp]

Good game. All 3 games were. Very good. Cool event. 
 

most has been said - need to rebound as a team better, need better guard play, need to hit our dang free throws! Lastly, somebody else besides Freeman and Ali need to step up on a consistent basis. 

[Blue & Gold]

19 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Lastly, somebody else besides Freeman and Ali need to step up on a consistent basis. 

I doubt the St. Bonny game is included in these stats but here are our scoring leaders thus far:

1. Ali Ali: 18 ppg

2. Freeman: 17.7 ppg

3. Hunter: 11.1 ppg

4. Nate:  9 ppg

5. Tribble: 8.7 ppg

6. Dawson: 7.3 ppg

7. Shammah: 5.9 ppg

8. Tavari: 4.0 ppg

9. Thornton: 4.0 ppg

 

I vote for Nate Johnson.

[Zippy87]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

I doubt the St. Bonny game is included in these stats but here are our scoring leaders thus far:

1. Ali Ali: 18 ppg

2. Freeman: 17.7 ppg

3. Hunter: 11.1 ppg

4. Nate:  9 ppg

5. Tribble: 8.7 ppg

6. Dawson: 7.3 ppg

7. Shammah: 5.9 ppg

8. Tavari: 4.0 ppg

9. Thornton: 4.0 ppg

 

I vote for Nate Johnson.

 

Has to be Nate or Mikal. Tribble is already giving us more on offense than I expected and I don't believe in the last three listed.

[Reslife4Life]

Again advocating for Thornton, he has never been much of a scorer. Last year he averaged 8.8 PPG(career high) and shot 41.8% (career high). This year he is averaging 46.2% on 12 fewer minutes per game. He also has a 2.3 Assist to Turnover ratio this year, up from 1.65 from last year. Groce has commended Thornton the last few games, he just doesn’t get the minutes down the stretch

[Zip JD]

13 hours ago, LZIp said:

Good game. All 3 games were. Very good. Cool event. 
 

most has been said - need to rebound as a team better, need better guard play, need to hit our dang free throws! Lastly, somebody else besides Freeman and Ali need to step up on a consistent basis. 

The lack of boxing out is concerning especially for Hunter.  He is the biggest perimeter player in college basketball.

 

Zips loss aside, it was a great event with 3 great match ups.  It seemed like the big arena really threw off the shooting for all the teams.  The Bucks were at 13% from 3 at the half and I believe both them and WVU were well under 40% from the field at the half.

[Zip JD]

10 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Has to be Nate or Mikal. Tribble is already giving us more on offense than I expected and I don't believe in the last three listed.

It has to be Nate.  Dawson has been totally absent.

[Zippy87]

11 hours ago, Zip JD said:

It has to be Nate.  Dawson has been totally absent.

 

Dawson had big games against SD State and UNLV. He finished strong is 2021-22. The talent is there, the consistency just isn't though. 

[Zip JD]

1 hour ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Dawson had big games against SD State and UNLV. He finished strong is 2021-22. The talent is there, the consistency just isn't though. 

I agree 100% with the talent being there but he has way too many games where he is a non-factor in every phase of the game.  After the SDSU game I thought we found the missing piece.  I hope we do before we head back to Cleveland.  

[Zip JD]

On 12/30/2023 at 6:21 PM, OSUFALCON said:

 

Akron shouldn’t have lost this one.  Groce over coaches and Akron’s guards aren’t very good. Groce called three timeouts in the last six minutes and two of the three results in turnovers without a shot and the last possession of the game as god awful. Pitiful inbounds play. A game they should have won. The MAC is absolutely horrible.

I disagree 100% with this take in regards to Groce over coaching.  The prior seasons under Groce the Zips have had excellent veteran guard play and in crunch time, Coach let them run the offense usually without taking a time out.  He knew they would make the right decisions and either take the game winning shot or get the ball to an open teammate.  This year the Zips backcourt is mostly brand-new players that have not played well and have not shown any ability to create their own shot or a shot for others hence the timeouts to set up the right play.  Unfortunately, the Zips didn't execute out of the timeouts against the Bonnies.  Several times this year, they have.  See the wins over SDSU, Southern Miss and Bradley.  They also have some tough losses as well.  It is going to be a season of growth.  

 

You may not be aware that Ali Ali had to sit out the first 8 games this year waiting for the NCAA to approve a transfer request that had been in for months which has further hindered the Zips cohesiveness on the court.  Enrique dislocated his thumb in the second half which is why the play was probably not drawn up for him giving even more need for a TO.  

 

Edited January 1 by Zip JD
Grammar