Game 22- PCCC

[1981 grad]

44 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

I know I felt Christ's presence multiple times last night, especially when the student section sang over the a acapella choir during the national anthem.  Whaley's injury was no accident.😇

I also felt the Lord's presence when the rowdies were yell F___K you to Kent. 

[LZIp]

2 hours ago, NWAkron said:

I know I felt Christ's presence multiple times last night, especially when the student section sang over the a acapella choir during the national anthem.  Whaley's injury was no accident.😇

Maybe I have unsophisticated ears, but the national anthem seemed…not that good.

[NWAkron]

34 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Maybe I have unsophisticated ears, but the national anthem seemed…not that good.

yeah, one of the few bad idea this season from the athletic department.  But the student section was singing along and was ahead of them by a few words and was just bad.

[kreed5120]

I was more underwhelmed by the half-time entertainment or more lack there of.

[1981 grad]

15 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I was more underwhelmed by the half-time entertainment or more lack there of.

Underwhelmed by college kids playing 3 on 3 basketball in front of the biggest crowd of the year.  I am sure the red panda was booked. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

10 hours ago, ZIPS96 said:

Agree with this except the starters. Since the change for the most part we have started off very well in games, with more defensive intensity. Zack on the opening tip last night is a prime example. Our best 5 usually get the most minutes and play at crunch time, but I like our starting lineup.

 

It has been stated by others, but Zach starting is fine with me given the effort he gives. He's a junkyard dawg and against a bunch of bullies like Kent, we need guys like Halligan setting the tone. His offensive struggles are certainly something to consider, but I'm also seeing that area of his game grow. He had some aggressive drives to the basket last night. It was interesting that Groce subbed out Lyles - instead of Halligan - for Hardman. 

 

10 hours ago, HoopsFan03 said:

Kent sucks. Gillespie is a beast and that's all they have. 

Enrique's mom was sitting courtside. Pretty cool for her to see all the 25 jerseys. 

 

Gillespie gets away with a lot. He loves to lower that shoulder. That is all they have, but he's a TEMU version of Enrique Freeman... or even Jimmy Hall. 

 

Love hearing that Enrique's mom was in attendance. I wore my Freeman jersey to work at the card shop today. Had multiple people say, "Is that a Freeman jersey? Love it," without even seeing the back. All they saw was the ZIPS, the number 25, and knew it was Enrique. THAT'S how you know you're a legend. Also had a few comments about how nice it was to see Akron kick Kent's butt. 

 

10 hours ago, GP1 said:

That was a thorough beat down. It's been a while since the talent disparity between the two teams, in either direction, was as wide as what I saw. 

 

The talent gap has grown since inSincere Carry skipped his sad rear end off into the sunset. Last night was the most obvious the gap has been in one game, but the undefeated record vs. Kent since March 2023 speaks for itself. It's a wonderful thing. 

 

10 hours ago, Westie said:

OK I haven’t seen it brought up and it doesn’t bother me but the woman next to me last night was clearly troubled by the Jesus Won warmup shirts. Again no issue here but it did seem odd.

 

 

 

Nobody ever made comments about the racial justice attire that has been worn every once in a while over the years, which has been and always will be way more odd than something like Jesus Won. Jesus Won is a particularly popular movement right now among athletes. Cleveland Guardians players wear them, Ohio State players wear them, etc. Heck, Ohio State's football players host worship services on their campus. As someone else stated, it's nice to see young adults believing in something bigger than themselves. 

 

10 hours ago, csims0917 said:

Getting Whaley back will help Kent but I feel like we didn’t shoot well overall. 

 

Whaley won't make a difference for Kent vs. Akron. The only 2 things Whaley provides are post play offensively and defensively, including rebounding. Griffith had 17 rebounds while Kent outrebounded Akron by 13, so Whaley wasn't missed there. Kent shot 9 more free throws, so I'm not sure Whaley makes a difference physically in that department. Maybe Whaley improves their 28% FG%, but he isn't going to help them with their 1-23 3P shooting. Whaley doesn't provide any advantages athletically and in fact, will probably end up being a detriment if the game turns into more of a track race. Akron shot well below their season averages in both FG% and 3P%, yet still comfortably won by 17. Whaley isn't the answer they need. 

 

7 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

I thought Cian Medley was a good player for Kent, very quick, and played really tough defense on Tavari.

 

Finally, Kent missed a lot of open 3 point shots and shot 1 for 23.  Maybe we start a new contest at the Jar: "the Kent challenge."  Give somebody 23 three point shots and if they make 2 they win.  

 

Cian is a net negative. He has a Kent pee yellow attitude, he's a head case, and his decision making is atrocious. For whatever he brings in the quickness department and defensively, he negates by turning the ball over, taking poor shots, and yelling at his teammates. The most embarrassing play of the night was when he was attempting to bring the ball up the court, left his feet to make a pass, and just willingly threw it out of bounds when he realized the teammate wasn't looking for the ball. 

 

You need to legitimately pitch that contest idea to the marketing department. That's genius. 

 

6 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Those t-shirts are the same t-shirts worn by the Ohio State football team.  Easy way for young Christian athletes to witness & remind themselves "Jesus won" - that they're just playing a game that's intended to be fun; take the pressure off. Jesus won the greatest victory. Love to see it.

*And people actually wonder how Groce continually recruits such high character kids 😆

 

5 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

 

I respect all religions and those who don't practice any religion. Personally, I'd prefer they stick to team gear on the bench. We are not a Christian school. But it's also not something I'm going to lose any sleep over. 

 

I think that was team gear in the sense that it was a TEAM decision to wear it. It's a public school that operates on taxpayer funds in America, which is One Nation Under God. As stated above, there were never any comments about the racial justice attire worn over the years. Not sure how we got to this point as a country where this is what we choose to take as controversial. 

 

Not to mention the fact that the team wearing those shirts won by 17. 😜

 

4 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

I also felt the Lord's presence when the rowdies were yell F___K you to Kent. 

 

And all of God's people said, "Amen."

 

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

Maybe I have unsophisticated ears, but the national anthem seemed…not that good.

 

It was embarrassing. 

 

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

I was more underwhelmed by the half-time entertainment or more lack there of.

 

This was even more embarrassing. Aren't there wiener dogs in the Akron area we could race or something like that? 

[Illini Zip]

@Let'sGoZips94 wins the longest post of the year award. Very impressive!!

[Let'sGoZips94]

6 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

@Let'sGoZips94 wins the longest post of the year award. Very impressive!!

 

I'm impressed you read it all so quickly. Rumor has it a lurking Kent fan is stuck on "It"

[Reslife4Life]

On 1/29/2026 at 8:17 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Kent is 5th in Luck per KenPom - time to end their luck. 

Kent is now up to 2nd in kenpom luck. I don't know how that's even possible

Miami is up to 11 now. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

17 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

Kent is now up to 2nd in kenpom luck. I don't know how that's even possible

Miami is up to 11 now. 

 

Lucky they didn't get their butts kicked by more last night haha. 

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

 

 

 

I think that was team gear in the sense that it was a TEAM decision to wear it. It's a public school that operates on taxpayer funds in America, which is One Nation Under God. As stated above, there were never any comments about the racial justice attire worn over the years. Not sure how we got to this point as a country where this is what we choose to take as controversial. 

 

Not to mention the fact that the team wearing those shirts won by 17. 😜

 

 

And all of God's people said, "Amen."

 

 

It was embarrassing. 

 

 

This was even more embarrassing. Aren't there wiener dogs in the Akron area we could race or something like that? 

Only thing embarassing here is your understanding of Constitutional law.  

[Let'sGoZips94]

This is fantastic.

[Zippy87]

2 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Nobody ever made comments about the racial justice attire that has been worn every once in a while over the years, which has been and always will be way more odd than something like Jesus Won. Jesus Won is a particularly popular movement right now 

I think that was team gear in the sense that it was a TEAM decision to wear it. It's a public school that operates on taxpayer funds in America, which is One Nation Under God. As stated above, there were never any comments about the racial justice attire worn over the years. Not sure how we got to this point as a country where this is what we choose to take as controversial. 

 

 

Wearing religious shirts is very different than racial justice, but to keep this topic on our team, I don't recall them ever wearing anything like that? Seems like a red herring.

 

The only time I can recall them wearing non-team gear was the "Colin's Crew" shirts last year in support of Tim Campbell's son battling cancer, which was an obvious special circumstance. 

[Hilltopper]

12 hours ago, NWAkron said:

yeah, one of the few bad idea this season from the athletic department.  But the student section was singing along and was ahead of them by a few words and was just bad.

 

13 hours ago, LZIp said:

Maybe I have unsophisticated ears, but the national anthem seemed…not that good.

They had them in the Tommy Evans lounge pregame to sing the Alma Mater as well. It was embarrassingly putrid. It looks like somebody dropped the ball on this one.

[clarkwgriswold]

Isn't nice to have a PCCC game where all we're left to b!+ch about are t-shirts, anthems and parking?

[Reslife4Life]

50 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

 

They had them in the Tommy Evans lounge pregame to sing the Alma Mater as well. It was embarrassingly putrid. It looks like somebody dropped the ball on this one.

A few years ago before Covid all the acapella groups were pretty popular on campus riding the high of the pitch perfect series. But it seems like it isn’t a cool thing to do anymore 

[Blue & Gold]

It was so bad I thought my ears simply weren't sophisticated enough to hear what they were doing. 

Did anyone from UA listen to them beforehand to give them the go-ahead? 😂

As soon as it was over one of the guys I brought to the game turned to me & said that was "terrible."

I tried to defend/justify/rationalize it by saying they were trying to make the anthem "too complicated."

Anyway... on to what's most important

 

[VAZip]

Just curious…how would you have responded to a Muslim Zip player wearing a “Allah Won” tee shirt. Be honest.