Game 15- Central Michigan

[clarkwgriswold]

The 4-11 Central Michigan Chippewas come to Akron Tuesday night to face the Zips.  They are coming off of a three point lost to Toledo.  The Chipps wins have come against Adrian, Coppin State, Olivet and Appalachian State. 

 

7-foot senior center and Ferris State transfer Nathan Claerbaut leads the team in scoring and rebounding at 12.8 ppg and 6.5 rpg.  They average 72 ppg while shooting .453 from the field and .281 from three point range.

[Zippy87]

CMU had a 16 point lead against Toledo at home and lost by 3. 

[kreed5120]

4 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

CMU had a 16 point lead against Toledo at home and lost by 3. 

There was a lot of good MACtion today. Ohio came back from a 20 point 2nd half deficit. Kent State barely survived at home against a not so good NIU. Bowling Green beat UMass 101-100 in OT.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Would love to see us get back to a pedal-to-the-metal offensive mindset. Embarrassing performance vs. Miami and back to back performances vs. DI opponents where we've shot under 30% from 3P. 

[Zips1991]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Would love to see us get back to a pedal-to-the-metal offensive mindset. Embarrassing performance vs. Miami and back to back performances vs. DI opponents where we've shot under 30% from 3P. 

I don't know if losing by 3 on the road to an undefeated team is embarrassing. Especially when we had a chance to win it with less than 20 seconds left if Amani didn't step on the line while inbounding.

 

I was disappointed too because we should've won. But it wasn't embarrassing.

[Let'sGoZips94]

3 hours ago, Zips1991 said:

I don't know if losing by 3 on the road to an undefeated team is embarrassing. Especially when we had a chance to win it with less than 20 seconds left if Amani didn't step on the line while inbounding.

 

I was disappointed too because we should've won. But it wasn't embarrassing.

 

We scored over 20+ pts less than our average, shot 15% worse from 3P than our average, and had 15 turnovers which is 5 more than our average. We're now 0-3 vs. Q1 and Q2 mid majors with potentially zero opportunities left on the schedule, and we didn't show up offensively in a game we should've won by double digits (based on Miami's numbers). That was an embarrassing performance. 

 

Edit: Let me add that I don't have a very favorable view of Miami. I think we will see them lose games in the MAC that make this loss look worse than it may currently. That is a large reason why I view the loss and our performance as embarrassing.

Edited Monday at 07:29 PM by Let'sGoZips94

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

We scored over 20+ pts less than our average, shot 15% worse from 3P than our average, and had 15 turnovers which is 5 more than our average. We're now 0-3 vs. Q1 and Q2 mid majors with potentially zero opportunities left on the schedule, and we didn't show up offensively in a game we should've won by double digits (based on Miami's numbers). That was an embarrassing performance. 

When are you opening the "John's Next Endeavor" thread?  Morehead may last longer than Groce.

[Let'sGoZips94]

6 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

When are you opening the "John's Next Endeavor" thread?  Morehead may last longer than Groce.

 

Huh?

[NWAkron]

12 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Huh?

what part didn't you understand?

[clarkwgriswold]

This is a well-timed "get well" game.  Get the offense tuned up, get Sharron back on the beam and his confidence back up and start the team off on the right foot for the rest of the season.

[Let'sGoZips94]

2 hours ago, NWAkron said:

what part didn't you understand?

 

The part where I'm somehow calling for Groce's job with an aggressive undertone related to my dissatisfaction with JoeMo in the football section? 

 

I am very, very frustrated with the result of Saturday's game in Miami. Part of the reason I've harped on maintaining the offensive prowess we've exhibited thus far is because it's a controllable. That game was there for the taking given Miami's lackluster offensive numbers and high turnover rate, and we didn't take it. It's the first opportunity all year vs. a quality opponent where they didn't shoot lights out vs. us and we didn't take it. 

 

Need to figure things out vs. CMU. It's a long season, I get it, but we have 2 months now to send a message that the Miami game was a fluke before Cleveland/Selection Sunday (God willing). In Groce I trust, as I always have. Just tired of so many close losses in 20 years after promoting that I'm an Akron fan publicly and having to deal with the aftermath when people say, "Tough loss," after the few Akron games that garners more views than usual. Simply venting a bit on the Akron forum. Pardon me. 

Edited Monday at 09:41 PM by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

I think you're mistaken. Defense is what is controllable. That's why the saying is defense travels. You can't expect to shoot 40% from 3 and 50% from 2 each game in a 30+ game season. That's just not realistic unless you're playing a video game. There will be nights where your shots simply aren't falling, which is what happened against Miami. I didn't feel the looks we got offensively were much worse than we have gotten much of the year.

 

That's why I was overly critical of our defensive play earlier in the year. We were just able to mask it against some very terrible teams given how we were playing offensively. I actually saw improvements on the defensive end against Miami, which is encouraging.

Edited Monday at 10:53 PM by kreed5120

[Zips1991]

Zips open at -22.5 against CMU with an O/U of 165.5

[Blue & Gold]

 

Beaven references Miami game statistics & I found this interesting:

Akron held an edge over Miami in rebounds (37-36), assists (14-12), steals (11-6), points in the paint (38-18) and points from reserves (27-0), but lost. The teams each committed 15 turnovers.

 

Personal hot take: I think we should move Shammah & Eric back into the starting lineup. We haven't been playing with as much moxie since Groce made the switch.

[NWAkron]

Bowen has one job to do:  make 3s.  He needs to start doing his job.

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

Bowen has one job to do:  make 3s.  He needs to start doing his job.

Since November 29th he's 9-34 from the three line. That's 26.5%, which is horrible for a "hired gun/sharpshooter."

[clarkwgriswold]

If you feel daring, you can get CMU at +2200 on the moneyline.

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Since November 29th he's 9-34 from the three line. That's 26.5%, which is horrible for a "hired gun/sharpshooter."

And Groce's 2nd Buckeye pick-up, Evan, had a combined point total of 10 (TEN) points against Murray State, Miami, and Yale.  I'm not ready to say they are "whiffs" for this season but...

[kreed5120]

3 hours ago, NWAkron said:

Bowen has one job to do:  make 3s.  He needs to start doing his job.

 

He only played 7 minutes against Miami. I'm kind of surprised he even got 4 shot attempts off. Then again at least 1, maybe 2 were designed plays out of an inbounds.

 

It definitely seems Groce is shrinking the rotation. Only 6 players played over 10 minutes. 2 players played exactly 10 minutes and 1 player (Bowman) played 7. 

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

And Groce's 2nd Buckeye pick-up, Evan, had a combined point total of 10 (TEN) points against Murray State, Miami, and Yale.  I'm not ready to say they are "whiffs" for this season but...

 

Evan, unlike Bowman, wasn't brought in to shoot. He can impact the game without the ball in his hands. In the games he scores double figures its usually because of run outs or offensive put backs. Not really by creating his own offense.

 

Offensively he's probably overachieved considering he's shooting 10% from beyond the arc compared to his career average.

[NWAkron]

26 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

 

It definitely seems Groce is shrinking the rotation. Only 6 players played over 10 minutes. 2 players played exactly 10 minutes and 1 player (Bowman) played 7. 

Limits the options for the Papa John's sub of the game.

[HoopsFan03]

3 hours ago, NWAkron said:

And Groce's 2nd Buckeye pick-up, Evan, had a combined point total of 10 (TEN) points against Murray State, Miami, and Yale.  I'm not ready to say they are "whiffs" for this season but...

Evan is doing great.

4th in scoring average 

#1 offensive rebounds

#1 steals 

 

My eye test thinks big Stank should play more. 

[clarkwgriswold]

Miami had a man closely on Bowen even when the ball was on the other side of the court.  To his credit, he is contributing in ways other than being a shooter this year.  He's just streaky.  My opinion is that his accuracy is directly related to his form.  When he has time, squares up and is steady, it goes in.  When he rushes and is drifting to one side or the other his shooting suffers.

 

As for Evan, he's not in the lineup for his shooting.  You can see now that the opponents know it and are almost daring him to shoot when he's on the perimeter.  I think Pete Suder could tell you why Evan is in the lineup.

[Reslife4Life]

CMU has played some decent D so far, but as long as we get out quick in transition I don’t think it’ll be a problem

[ZipsFan31]

Their 7 footer is at the top of the zone. It is unique that is for sure