Game 27- PCCC

[Illini Zip]

Freeman with 2 threes. 

[Illini Zip]

Tavari never saw the floor after giving up the 4 point play. 

[Illini Zip]

12 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Welcome back Dawson.

I’m so happy for him. We have all seen him hit his shots in the past. Welcome back indeed!!

[GoZips88]

18 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I think we've seen an even brighter hue of pink tonight.

 

No question about it. Had to adjust my TV.

[LoyalZIP]

Everybody contributed. Awesome. 

[clarkwgriswold]

Groce making a point in the post-game to credit Dawson for being impactful/forceful even when he's not scoring.

[zipsrule]

Great win.  Nice to see Dawson come up big.

[zipsrule]

Per ESPN, Attendance: 5,160

[zippy5]

43 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Freeman with 2 threes. 

Big ones too

[Zips08]

Lessss goooo zips!!!!!! Got the w!!!

[zippy5]

JAR was rocking. In spite of its warts, it's a fun spot

[1981 grad]

40 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Tavari never saw the floor after giving up the 4 point play. 

I think Groce has a double standard when it comes to Tavari.   I see other players miss assignments or not box out and stay in the game.   He benched him the entire half for giving up a 4 point play to a hot shooter.   

[Westie]

Great win. Unbelievable atmosphere. Crowd was fantastic. 
 

hopefully somebody asks Coach for an update on Nate. 
 

Freeman has to do a better job staying on the floor but my God he is a beast. 

[Illini Zip]

10 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

I think Groce has a double standard when it comes to Tavari.   I see other players miss assignments or not box out and stay in the game.   He benched him the entire half for giving up a 4 point play to a hot shooter.   

 

I thought Tavari was locked in on defense much of the game. And he looked good and is improving. But he took that specific play off. And then went "Oh Crap!!" and tried to recover, but it was too late. Then he fouled and added insult to injury. Groce is likely handing the keys to his offense over to Tavari next season. Tavari will get a lot of playing time and a high volume of shots, but Groce has to trust him. Tavari is doing it to himself. You can't take plays off.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2024 by Illini Zip

[Let'sGoZips94]

Well that was fun. 

 

I think a contributing factor to Pinky's new found shade of red is the all-time series now being tied at 82 a piece. What was the series record when Pinky took over? What was it when Groce took over at Akron? 

 

Freeman's 3 pt shooting ability is something I want to see more of. If he's feeling it, let it fly. Pure stroke and that's what will probably solidify his draft spot in the 2nd round of the NBA draft (come on, Cavs). 

 

Tribble is our engine and Dawson is our X Factor. We go as Tribble & Dawson go. 

 

Loved the toughness from Hunter down low tonight. Not sure it showed up in the box score, but he started off the game pounding it inside and it set the tone. Props to him!

 

Thornton had a SICK reverse layup in traffic that was a bit of a back-breaker for PCCC. 

[Westie]

Back alone in first!!

[zipsrule]

Per the ESPN box score:

 

R. Bass: 0 points (0-5), 0 assists, 0 rebounds in 13 minutes.  He did have 1 turnover.

[blueandgold]

Great game and to top it off, BG knocked off Toledo putting us back in 1st place alone again!

Edited February 24, 2024 by blueandgold

[roopride]

JAR was rocking.  Students turned out well and vocal!!

[dirtyolcrowe]

Great win.  But I don’t want to see Kent in the tournament.  Very hard to bat a team 3X.  Let BG or Toledo beat em. 

[2Ball]

Nice win but still no bigzipguy at the game.

[zippy5]

1 hour ago, dirtyolcrowe said:

Great win.  But I don’t want to see Kent in the tournament.  Very hard to bat a team 3X.  Let BG or Toledo beat em. 

That's a fallacy. Bring those punks on back 

[LoyalZIP]

Reggie Bass...wow. Emoni Bates type loser. Tackled Shammah and sold it as a flop. If Pinky had a spine he'd ditch him like Groce did with Trimble. 

[Zippy87]

Great game and atmosphere overall. A few quick thoughts:

 

- Probably the smallest Kent crowd I've ever seen at the JAR. Almost non-existent. 

- Great to see Dawson finally get going. Him shooting at just a decent clip would be huge for this team.

- Teams are going right at Freeman, trying to get him in foul trouble. They know how important he is to us on both ends. With no real front court depth, he's got to find ways to stay on the court. We become very average when he's out.

- Loved seeing Thornton take it to the hoop aggressively a few times. He's far too passive on offense at times.

- Bummed we didn't see more of Tavari. 

- I can't say enough about the leap Tribble has taken offensively. He shot 1-12 from deep last season and is currently 36% on 58 attempts. 

- Payton has learned the hard way that sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut. Freeman dominated him. He ended up with 14 but most seemed like they came when Enrique was sitting.

- I can very easily see a scenario where our 2024-25 season looks like Kent's this year. I'm going to enjoy every bit of this group and Freeman in particular while I have the chance.

- Speaking of Kent, there's a realistic scenario that they don't make it to Cleveland at all. They have Buffalo next (should be a win) but then have CMU at home and Ball State and Toledo on the road. 

 

[zipnetter1951]

3 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

I think Groce has a double standard when it comes to Tavari.   I see other players miss assignments or not box out and stay in the game.   He benched him the entire half for giving up a 4 point play to a hot shooter.   

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