2026 Big Dance Round 1 - Texas Tech

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

 

Would have been nice to have the scoring and length of Nate Johnson in this one.

Could have certainly helped disrupt Anderson more.

[Reslife4Life]

TT missed 7 shots the entire second half

[blueandgold]

Embarrassed again.

[UAZipster0305]

4 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

This was a good but not great team all year. We struggled to put away Buffalo, we struggled to put away Kent, we beat Toledo by 3. Unfortunately, we get probably our best draw of any of the three years with probably our worst team. 

This was a solid team that blew out most of its competition all year. Another team that has already won an NCAAT game can't even say that. We just struggled to bring our A game down the stretch. We can win and not play our best in the MACT, but not in the NCAAT.

 

Except for a few players, we've looked burned out the past four games.

Edited 2 hours ago by UAZipster0305

[Rufus]

The final score isn't going to show how competitive you guys were today. Good fight, Akron. Tech was white hot this second half. I thought when Watts fouled out that might have been the break Akron needed. Still nothing to be ashamed of for your fan base.

[exit322]

Well I'm glad they played a hard 32 minute game.

 

It's not high school and college games are 40, but that's what we got.

Edited 2 hours ago by exit322

[dirtyolcrowe]

What a poor performance by the zips!!

[Westie]

Just can’t let a team shoot 64% from the field. Not athletic or physical enough.
 

That said, I’ll never forget last Saturday night. Great season and team.

[UAZipster0305]

Just now, Rufus said:

The final score isn't going to show how competitive you guys were today. Good fight, Akron. Tech was white hot this second half. I thought when Watts fouled out that might have been the break Akron needed. Still nothing to be ashamed of for your fan base.

Thanks. Yes, I thought Watts fouling out was the break that we needed, but we didn't take advantage of it.

 

Good luck in moving on.

[Captain Kangaroo]

And our attention turns to portal-watching...

[Let'sGoZips94]

I don't know if Groce is it...

 

KIDDING KIDDING KIDDING. 

 

Future is bright. 4Peat and break the ceiling next year.

Edited 2 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[csims0917]

Crumbled under pressure to a power school once again. 

[Zippy87]

Just now, Captain Kangaroo said:

And our attention turns to portal-watching...

 

And seeing if Groce stays or leaves. 

[GP1]

I don't think Akron was embarrassed today. Does the score look bad? Yes, but with the exception of 6-7 minutes late, they held their own. 

[Zippy87]

3 minutes ago, UAZipster0305 said:

This was a solid team that blew out most of its competition all year. Another team that has already won an NCAAT game can't even say that. We just struggled to bring our A game down the stretch. We can win and not play our best in the MACT, but not in the NCAAT.

 

Except for a few players, we've looked burned out the past four games.

 

The only teams we blew out were inferior MAC teams. Lost by 10 to Troy, lost by 15 to Murray State, lost by 18 to Purdue. 

 

Again, we were a really good MAC team. I'm proud of what they accomplished this year. But this team just wasn't talented enough to beat top-level competition. 

[UAZipster0305]

2 minutes ago, GP1 said:

I don't think Akron was embarrassed today. Does the score look bad? Yes, but with the exception of 6-7 minutes late, they held their own. 

💯

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 minute ago, Zippy87 said:

 

The only teams we blew out were inferior MAC teams. Lost by 10 to Troy, lost by 15 to Murray State, lost by 18 to Purdue. 

 

Again, we were a really good MAC team. I'm proud of what they accomplished this year. But this team just wasn't talented enough to beat top-level competition. 

 

Really bad take. They dominated the best the MAC has been in a long time, minus Miami OH which they only got 1 crack at on the road and lost by 3. Did they do enough to beat top-level competition? Nope, but it wasn't due to a lack of talent. Troy, Murray State, and Yale each had historic shooting performances. They blew out Princeton, dominated James Madison, and blew out Kent twice. They were within 2 possessions late in the game vs. a team that was in the Elite 8 last year. Again, didn't do enough, but it wasn't a talent issue. Regroup, rebuild, reach that next level. Let's Go Zips!

[kreed5120]

6 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

The only teams we blew out were inferior MAC teams. Lost by 10 to Troy, lost by 15 to Murray State, lost by 18 to Purdue. 

 

Again, we were a really good MAC team. I'm proud of what they accomplished this year. But this team just wasn't talented enough to beat top-level competition. 

 

If you remove your Zippy colored glasses this is an accurate take. 0 wins over top 125 teams. We were a very good, but not a great team. Our style of play allowed us to run up the score up on inferior competition, but we had too many holes defensively to take the next step. Namely we needed better perimeter defense.

 

Edit: As @Captain Kangaroo pointed out this was probably a game Nate Johnson could have made a difference.

Edited 1 hour ago by kreed5120

[Spin]

Welp, there’s always next year…

[1981 grad]

We were only down 6 and then we scored 8 points in the final 9 minutes.   Was TT that much better than us or did we just have another bad game?   Really difficult to be competitive when your best player only scores 4 points and has 4 turnovers.  I thought TT had a good game plan of collapsing the defense in the middle and forcing us to shoot from three.  We could not make a 3 the second half.   Game over.  Very proud of our seniors.  The Zips had a great season.  But we will have to wait for next year to get that elusive tourney win.

[exit322]

Just now, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Really bad take. They dominated the best the MAC has been in a long time, minus Miami OH which they only got 1 crack at on the road and lost by 3. Did they do enough to beat top-level competition? Nope, but it wasn't due to a lack of talent. Troy, Murray State, and Yale each had historic shooting performances. They blew out Princeton, dominated James Madison, and blew out Kent twice. They were within 2 possessions late in the game vs. a team that was in the Elite 8 last year. Again, didn't do enough, but it wasn't a talent issue. Regroup, rebuild, reach that next level. Let's Go Zips!

 

Or maybe we're overrating the MAC.  Kent got smoked by a 21-12 MVC team, so it seems maybe our 5-loss team is at the same level of a 12-loss MVC team.

[GP1]

2 minutes ago, Spin said:

Welp, there’s always next year…

There will be 63 teams that say this when all is said and done. 

[Zippy87]

Just now, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Really bad take. They dominated the best the MAC has been in a long time, minus Miami OH which they only got 1 crack at on the road and lost by 3. Did they do enough to beat top-level competition? Nope, but it wasn't due to a lack of talent. Troy, Murray State, and Yale each had historic shooting performances. They blew out Princeton, dominated James Madison, and blew out Kent twice. They were within 2 possessions late in the game vs. a team that was in the Elite 8 last year. Again, didn't do enough, but it wasn't a talent issue. Regroup, rebuild, reach that next level. Let's Go Zips!

 

Not a bad take at all, a realistic one. The MAC had two very good teams - us and Miami - and we both beat up on inferior competition. Those other teams you mentioned had excellent shooting performances because we play poor perimeter defense, not because of bad luck. I'm not trying to rip on our guys - I love them all and am proud of this year. But this team didn't beat a single top team the entire season. It is what it is. 

[exit322]

3 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

But we will have to wait for next year to get that elusive tourney win.

 

Not happening unless the Zips get substantially better.  This was a banged up Texas Tech team that was probably overseeded anyways.

[GP1]

3 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

We were only down 6 and then we scored 8 points in the final 9 minutes.   Was TT that much better than us or did we just have another bad game?   Really difficult to be competitive when your best player only scores 4 points and has 4 turnovers.  I thought TT had a good game plan of collapsing the defense in the middle and forcing us to shoot from three.  We could not make a 3 the second half.   Game over.  Very proud of our seniors.  The Zips had a great season.  But we will have to wait for next year to get that elusive tourney win.

Akron lost to a very good team that plays in what can be argued as the most difficult league in the country. Akron had a bad 6-7 minutes, not a bad game.