Game 1- James Madison

[MDZip]

Look out Purdue. 😂🤣

[1981 grad]

Our offense was much better in the 2nd half in that we penetrated, shot the 3 ball well, and had some nice follow up baskets.  Lyles had a great game.  He has really improved the last 2 years at Akron.  

[MDZip]

Final 3 pt percentage was 37 for JMU to 32 for Akron so those coming closer together was big. 

[csims0917]

Classic turnaround second half 

[tpsjugglerdude]

Strong start for the MAC. As long as NIU doesn’t choke a 17 point second half lead, it looks like the MAC won the SBC challenge 9-4. 

[clarkwgriswold]

Hell of a second half.

 

Shammah just keeps getting better and better.

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

Strong start for the MAC. As long as NIU doesn’t choke a 17 point second half lead, it looks like the MAC won the SBC challenge 9-4. 

 

Last year the series was tied 12-12 with both conferences go 8-4 at home. The MAC will have to go 5-8 on the road to secure the win.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I mean they're shooting 43% from 3 on 14 attempts in the first half and only put up 39 pts. Good shooting masks a lot of problems. Let's see what they look like in the second half if we start making our shots. Chemistry is exposed under pressure. 

 

Spoiler alert: JMU cracked under pressure.  

[Illini Zip]

A good point made by our radio guys. Eric Mahaffey might be a redshirt freshman, but this was his very first college game ever. I will add that this was a high level game for a season opener and he looked quite comfortable out there. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Just now, Illini Zip said:

A good point made by our radio guys. Eric Mahaffey might be a redshirt freshman, but this was his very first college game ever. I will add that this was a high level game for a season opener and he looked quite comfortable out there. 

 

He's incredibly gifted and still raw. He's going to create so many matchup problems as a guard with his length,  especially once he finds his footing as a scorer.  

[roopride]

Nice win.  This team is deep

[Let'sGoZips94]

3 minutes ago, roopride said:

Nice win.  This team is deep

 

Scary, huh? Barre, Brisco, and Head didn't even play haha. 

[csims0917]

https://csnbbs.com/thread-1019635.html

all time crash out from JMU fans

[Zippy87]

Some quick thoughts:

 

- Lyles was our best and most important player tonight, and may be the entire season. We were a different team when he was on/off the floor.

- I am surprised Barre only played 2 minutes against YSU and didn't play tonight. I expected him to be an important contributor behind Lyles. I hope he just needs more time to feel comfortable, because I think we will need him against teams with size. 

- Young is the heart of this team. He plays with such intensity...I absolutely love it. If he stays here his entire career, I think he's a MAC POY candidate by the time he's a senior. 

- Eric Mahaffey looked tentative in the first half and seemed to relax in the 2nd. You can tell the athleticism is off the charts. 

- Evan Mahaffey is an elite defender and excellent rebounder. Not much offensive game, though. At least I didn't see much tonight. 

- MMK played really well. He's undersized as a big, but makes up for it with his motor. 

- I think Stankovic becomes an important part of this offense by conference play. 

 

[Zips Win!]

Lets be clear here, we homered them! Somewhat blatant if you ask me...Just sayin...

[UAZipster0305]

1 hour ago, MDZip said:

Final 3 pt percentage was 37 for JMU to 32 for Akron so those coming closer together was big. 

19-9 in our favor on turnovers too. Combined with transition buckets, that right there is the game.

[NWAkron]

JMU is a football school.

[dirtyolcrowe]

It all started to go well when we brought in Halligan at the end of the 1st half.   Dude was money!!!

[Illini Zip]

8 hours ago, Zips Win! said:

Let’s be clear here, we homered them! Somewhat blatant if you ask me...Just sayin...

If you’re suggesting we benefited from some home cooking from the refs, I agree but payback is a bitch. I remember that game in their house very well. Anyway, the game was plenty physical both ways and I liked that the refs let the little stuff go. It allowed the game to flow and be enjoyable to watch. The MAC refs will still get their chance to grind our lives to a halt. 

[ZipsFan31]

I was worried about the post Defense when I heard MMK was backing up Lyles in at the 5. He really impressed me. I think MMK can be a solid back up big for about 80% of our games. Only problem I see is we have offense guys and Defense guys. 
Right now I think there are 4 guys who are both. Tavari, Scott, young, Lyles. 
 

the hope is as the season goes on more become both. Or Groce will have to be a wizard with rotation. 

[clarkwgriswold]

10 hours ago, Zips Win! said:

Lets be clear here, we homered them! Somewhat blatant if you ask me...Just sayin...

 

A 14 point homer?

[Let'sGoZips94]

28 minutes ago, ZipsFan31 said:

I was worried about the post Defense when I heard MMK was backing up Lyles in at the 5. He really impressed me. I think MMK can be a solid back up big for about 80% of our games. Only problem I see is we have offense guys and Defense guys. 
Right now I think there are 4 guys who are both. Tavari, Scott, young, Lyles. 
 

the hope is as the season goes on more become both. Or Groce will have to be a wizard with rotation. 

 

We don't win that game without MMK. He had a few hustle plays on both sides that either led to baskets or gave us the ball back. 

[Reslife4Life]

Soccer wins, Basketball wins, can the "Fighting Zips Football Squad make it a trifecta" tonight?

 

Read that part in quotes as if its coming from Michael Reghi

Edited 3 hours ago by Reslife4Life

[NWAkron]

Won the game without Nate.

[kreed5120]

14 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

I think it's going to be key to score in the open court. 14 out of our 30 points came from turnovers. We need to use defense to create offense.

 

To tute my own horn I said at half-time that the Zips would need to rely on defense to create offense, which they did. 

 

I still have some concerns when we face more cohesive teams with better guard play. It won't be as easy for us to generate turnovers and score in the open floor. We should obviously look to run whenever we can, but it's going to be important for us to improve our half court offense as the season progresses. We can't expect our opponents to turn it over 20 times per night.

Edited 1 hour ago by kreed5120