Game 28- PCCC

[zipsrule]

ZIPS WIN!!!

[MDZip]

Was listening to the game in the airport then got on the plane and lost the audio signal so switched to gamecast and was willing the plane not to take off til the game was over. It's Atlanta so I shouldn't have worried. 😂

Edited Saturday at 04:11 AM by MDZip

[Illini Zip]

For those wondering, that ball was off Kent State. The officials went to the monitor and still got it wrong. 

[bigzipguy]

glad i was wrong, Kent's big guys , i think wore down at the end

 

[Illini Zip]

Our guys are struggling to run their best offense, but they do have fight. 

[clarkwgriswold]

...and the run came.

[zipsrule]

They have clinched the #1 seed in the tournament.

[zipsrule]

5 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Our guys are struggling to run their best offense, but they do have fight. 

It was a game of runs, but the Zips executed better in the last few minutes.

[zippy5]

No voice left. That was fun

[akzipper]

Between the Cavs and the Zips tonight was an awesome night for basketball. 

 

Stressful but fun. 

[clarkwgriswold]

Great night to be a Zip.

[Westie]

Great crowd.

The flagrant foul call ignited Akron. Groce flipped out. The lead was 9 at that point and then the Zips really dug in

[1981 grad]

Great game!!  When you look at the box score, I think we wore out Kent with our bench in that we had 2 players playing over 30 minutes, Johnson and Johnson where Kent had 4 players over 30 minutes.  I agree that we are not moving the ball as well as we were earlier in the season and not shooting the three as well but we are playing good enough to beat Kent at home.  Sullinger is playing better and he can get hot.  Tavari always seems to play well against Kent and he had an amazing game.  I think Grey struggled but still played good defense.  Nate led the Zips in rebound with 10.  Really surprised that Marvin only played less than 5 minutes.  Looking forward to see if the Zips can win in Toledo.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Great college basketball game. Tremendous show in front of a national audience. If Joe Sheboygan or Flo Peoria was channel surfing tonight they stopped on ESPN2 because it had the look and vibe of a big time event. And it was.

[roopride]

Great game.  A lot of students at the game 

[Let'sGoZips94]

March 10, 2023 was the last time Akron lost to Kent in football or basketball. The MAC tourney doesn't start until March 13th this year, so it will be at least 2 full calendar years since we've lost to Kent in those sports. Incredibly dominant run. 

 

Seth Wilson was the MVP for me tonight with Shammah a close 2nd. Seth hit some 3s that really kept the train on the tracks, while Shammah continued to be the steady, veteran presence we've needed and seen from him for all of MAC play. Tavari dribbled the air out of the ball a lot during the middle portion of the game, but came in clutch with some nice takes and big shot makes. Credit to Hardman as well; he's not shooting the ball the best right now, but he's playing his ass off. It might not always look pretty, but he had his hand in some big defensive plays and had a great dish to Amani late in the game. The best part about this team is they always look to contribute, even if it's not a box score contribution. I still hate this newish offense we've been playing, but we still beat Kent at their own game. 

 

MAC Regular Season Champions (means something again with the NIT in our back pocket should be stay within whatever their ranking threshold is) and now we can focus on Cleveland. As a memorable QB of ours once said after leading a comeback vs. Kent himself... Go f'n Zips baby!

[zippy5]

38 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Great college basketball game. Tremendous show in front of a national audience. If Joe Sheboygan or Flo Peoria was channel surfing tonight they stopped on ESPN2 because it had the look and vibe of a big time event. And it was.

It was big time. My fiance likes sports but isn't die hard by any means. She knows it's not UNC and Duke but also doesn't have a lot of the biases normal fans do. She loves Zips games and had a blast tonight. How could you not have fun in that atmosphere?

[Let'sGoZips94]

Regarding Kent, by the way, this is why I called them a low IQ team @NWAkron. They were up 9 and went completely away from what got them there; Akron didn't do a whole lot that was special, and Kent let us right back in the game. Kent will always lose more games than they actually win under Senderoff. Even if the result ends up being in their favor, it has largely been because their opponent gives them the game. His teams are never poised and he recruits really poor personalities. Kent recently published a video that talked about the "loyalty" on their team with VCD, Sullinger, and Hornbeak all returning. In the video, they interviewed Hornbeak and he literally admitted he stayed because he didn't really get much interest from other teams. If you think it sounds bad, his demeanor in the video solidified how much he settled for staying at Kent. Sullinger left and couldn't make it at Furman for whatever reason. VCD never got the money he was looking for in the portal despite having some solid offers (allegedly). Senderoff truly is the ringleader of a very poor circus. Their fans are currently bitching about the refs and our financial advantage (thank you Bud Wentz). Only 1-2 posts are actually about their collapse being self-inflicted (credit to those posters that have a few brain cells left). 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 06:07 AM by Let'sGoZips94

[Zippy87]

Some observations:

 

- Okonkwo and Young both players so hard and with so much energy. I love it. I'm hoping Young didn't tweak anything...he was walking a bit gingerly at one point. 

- The growth of Tavari Johnson has been fun to watch. He's shown glimpses of it before, but he's finally put it all together this season. 

- Helluva game for Shammah - 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. 

- Still a bit too much iso offense. Hopefully we can get to better ball movement before Cleveland. We remain cold from deep, too - we've only shot north of 30% from 3 once over the last 5 games. 

- Gray hasn't had a significant impact the last few games. Only 16 minutes tonight. Still playing good defense and rebounding, but not living up to the pre-season All-MAC selection. 

- Odd that I didn't see Josiah Harris there tonight. 

- Loved seeing Ali there, hyping up the crowd. 

[Reslife4Life]

I have said it all year “free throws could come back to haunt this team when it really matters” tonight they made their free throws down the stretch and it was really needed

 

What a great night! 

[Illini Zip]

2 down, eleven more to go.

[GP1]

9 hours ago, Illini Zip said:

For those wondering, that ball was off Kent State. The officials went to the monitor and still got it wrong. 

This happens a lot. Replay ruins the fan experience and should be eliminated, but that's another topic. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Fun to watch Isaiah Gray celebrate the big win with his teammates!

[Zippy87]

7 minutes ago, GP1 said:

This happens a lot. Replay ruins the fan experience and should be eliminated, but that's another topic. 

 

Replay is fantastic when it results in getting the call correct in a tight game. Unfortunately, MAC officials can't always be counted on, even with the help of replay.

[clarkwgriswold]

For most of the game, PCCC out-physicaled the Zips and did things like get all of the odd bounce rebounds and loose balls, buy when it came to crunch time the Zips made the necessary plays while PCCC wilted.

 

One thing overlooked in the win was Seth Wilson's defense on Davis.  He really bodied him up and by and large shut him down.  Davis ended up with only 9 points for a total of 16 points in two games against the Zips.  

 

One thing I again saw and enjoyed was that when the Zips would make their runs the PCCC players would immediately start griping at each other.

 

Is there any more of a beautiful sight than a dejected Mr. Pinky?