2017-18 Akron Zips Game Notes
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2017-18 AKRON ZIPS BASKETBALL GAME NOTES Game 31 • March 5, 2018 117th Season | 12-Straight 21-Plus Win Seasons | MAC Champions: 2009, 2011, 2013 | MAC Regular-Season Champions: 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 2017 -18 BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) ...................Time No. 11 Akron Zips (13-17, 6-12) Nov. 11 Cleveland State (1) .......... W, 67-57 Nov. 18 UT Martin .......... W, 76-59 at No. 6 Western Michigan (17-14, 9-9) Nov. 25 at Dayton .................L, 73-60 Monday, March 5 •University Arena Nov. 28 UT Chattanooga .......... W, 75-70 Dec. 2 at Marshall .................L, 86-64 Kalamazoo, Mich. • 7:45 PM ET • ESPN3 Dec. 6 Fort Wayne .......... W, 83-79 Dec. 9 Appalachian State .......... W, 94-89 Dec. 16 Mississippi Valley State .......... W, 81-62 Dec. 22 USC (#) ((ESPNU) .................L, 84-53 Dec. 23 Princeton (#) (ESPN3) .................L, 64-62 Dec. 25 Davidson (#) (ESPNU) .................L, 91-78 Dec. 29 Concord .......... W, 86-49 Jan. 2 at Western Michigan* .................L, 87-75 Jan. 5 at Toledo* (CBS-SN) .................L, 67-65 Jan. 9 Buffalo* ............L, 87-65 WESTERN MICHIGAN HEAD COACH AKRON ZIPS HEAD COACH Jan. 13 Bowling Green* .......... W, 80-78 Jan. 16 at Eastern Michigan* .................L, 63-49 Steve Hawkins (South Alabama ‘87) John Groce (Taylor ‘94) Jan. 20 Northern Illinois* .......... W, 82-67 Overall Record: 407-329 (24th Season) Career Record: 193-148 (10th Season) Jan. 23 Ohio* .......... W, 71-68 Record at WMU:270-218 (15th Season) Record at Akron: 13-17 (First Season) Jan. 27 at Ball State* (CBS-SN) ....L, 111-106 (2ot) Jan. 30 at Miami (OH)* .................L, 79-64 MAC Record: 150-106 (15th Season) MAC Record at Akron: 6-12 (First Season) Feb. 3 Toledo* (CBS-SN) ............L, 77-56 MAC Tournament: 17-11 (15th Season) Overall MAC Record: 40-42 (at Ohio and Akron) Feb. 6 at Ohio* .................L, 99-76 MAC Tournament: 9-2 (5th Season) Feb. 10 Central Michigan* .......... W, 69-63 ALL-TIME SERIES Feb. 13 Ball State* ............L, 90-77 Akron Leads: 29-20 (6-2 MAC Tournament) Groce vs. Western Michigan: 0-1 (3-3 Overall) Feb. 17 at Kent State* (CBS-SN) .................L, 78-68 Last Meeting: Western Michigan 87, Akron 75 January 2, 2018 at University Arena Feb. 20 at Bowling Green* ............... W, 81-79 Feb. 24 Miami (OH)* ......L, 64-62 (ot) BROADCAST Feb. 27 at Buffalo* .................L, 80-68 TV/Video: ESPN3 – Mike Monaco (PxP) and Austin Richie (Analyst) March 2 Kent State* .......... W, 67-65 Live Stats: March 5 Western Michigan ...............7:45 P.M. GoZips.com/Schedule - Live Stats Home games in BOLD | All times Eastern Standard Radio: Akron-IMG Sports Network - Steve French (PxP) and Joe Dunn (Analyst) *Mid-American Conference game | (1) Coaches vs. Cancer WARF 1350 AM (flagship), iHeart Radio, TuneIn.com/Akron Zips (#) Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic 2017-18 Zips At-A-Glance ^ - Indicates Previous Game Starter | * - Indicates Blocked Shots | #-Steals | G - Guard | W - Wing | F - Frontcourt RETURNING LETTERWINNERS (5): 2017-18 No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr.-Exp. Notables 0 Jimond Ivey G/W 6-5 200 Jr.-2L Set Akron’s single game scoring record against Ball State with 48 points 12 Marquelle McIntyre G 5-10 175 So.-1L Played in three games last season, Appeared in 10 games this season All-Time Record: .............................................506-525-36 22 Emmanuel Olojakpoke F 6-8 190 So.-1L Scored a career-high 24 points against Fort Wayne, MAC East Player of the Week (12/11) All-Time MAC Record: ....................76-117 (24 yrs.) 3 Daniel Utomi W 6-6 215 So.-1L Zips scoring leader, Scored career-high 32 points against UT Martin NEWCOMERS (8): 2017-18 4 Malcolm Duvivier G 6-2 210 Gr.-3L Scored a career-high 27 points against Kent State, Earned 1,000 career points Record at InfoCision Stadium: ......... 16-26 (7 yrs.) 11 Virshon Cotton G 6-1 165 Fr.-HS Scored a career-high 23 points twice this season 14 Sina Gbadebo G 6-1 190 Fr.-HS Played in 17 games this season as a walk-on 44 Mark Kostelac F 6-11 250 Fr.-HS Scored a career-high 10 points, Started 8 games 20 Eric Parrish G/W 6-6 195 Fr.-HS Scored a career-high 21 points, Started 18 games 23 Jaden Sayles F 6-9 235 Fr.-HS Injury shortened season to 16 games - 1 start 24 Torrey Patton G/W 6-4 195 Fr.-HS Started first 7 games, Scored a career-high 10 points against Mississippi Valley State 25 Lucas Smith W 6-5 195 Jr.-2L Played in 22 games with 5 starting appearances as a walk-on TRANSFERS (3): Previous Statistics 2 Eric Hester (20/0) G 6-3 170 RS-1L 2.2 0.5 0.3 Scored 16 pts at LSU, knocking down all five 3-pt attempts. 1 Loren Cristian Jackson (34/5) G 5-8 160 RS-1L 5.8 1.2 2.0 Scored 15 pts with six assists and a steal against UCLA 10 Deng Riak (33/17) F 6-10 225 RS-1L 3.2 5.2 *0.5 Started final 17-of-18 games for ECU, career-high 11 rebs * - Assists per game G - Guard, W - Wing, F - Frontcourt AKRON BASKETBALL GAME NOTES 1 WHAT’S AHEAD The Akron Zips earned an 11 seed for the Mid-American Conference Tournament and travels to Kalam- AKRON QUICK FACTS azoo, Mich. to play the No. 6 seed Western Michigan on Monday, March 5 at 7:45 p.m. at University Arena. The Zips enter MAC postseason play with a 13-17 overall record and 6-12 in the MAC, coming off an 67-65 win over Kent State on senior night. Akron is on the road for the first time since the 2003-04 Location .........................................Akron, Ohio (44325) season to open MAC Tournament play and owns a 28-17 all-time MAC Tournament record. Fans can Population ......................200,000 (fifth largest in Ohio) follow the action on ESPN3 with Mike Monaco calling the action and Austin Richie providing analysis. Founded ............................... 1870 (as Buchtel College) Enrollment ..........................................................26,000 Fans can also follow the action on GoZips.com via Live Stats or by Zips’ radio. The Zips’ radio broadcast Nickname ................................................................Zips will air on the Akron-IMG Sports Network SportsRadio 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship) with Steve Colors.................Blue (PMS 282) and Gold (PMS 7503) French calling the action and Joe Dunn providing analysis. The pregame show starts 30 minutes prior to Conference ..............................................Mid-American the contest on a free audio stream at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips. President ..........................................Matthew J. Wilson Director of Athletics .................................Larry Williams THE AKRON-WESTERN MICHIGAN SERIES Senior Associate AD .......................... George Van Horne Monday’s game marks the 50th meeting in series history between Akron and Western Michigan, and Senior Associate AD/SWA. ................ Mary Lu Gribschaw 9th meeting in the MAC tournament. Akron holds an all-time 29-20 series advantage and owns a 6-2 Faculty Athletics Representative ......Dr. Deborah Owens postseason edge. Head coach John Groce is 3-3 all-time against the Broncos and 0-1 at Akron. Athletic Dept. Phone: ...........................(330) 972-7080 Ticket Office Phone: ...........................1-888-99-AKRON The Zips have won six of the last seven meetings against WMU and 18 of the last 22 meetings of the se- JAMES A. RHODES ARENA ries. Akron dropped this season’s lone meeting 87-75 in the 2018 MAC opener, but swept last season’s series. Akron won game one 66-59 on January 6, 2017 at James A. Rhodes Arena and followed with a 90-80 win in Kalamazoo, Mich. In the 2015-16 season’s lone meeting on January 8, Akron posted a 62- Capacity ................................................................5,500 53 win over the Broncos at James A. Rhodes Arena. The last time the Zips fell to the Broncos was in the Opened .............................................December 3, 1983 MAC Tournament semifinals on March 14, 2014. WMU needed overtime to advance to the title game, W, 78-74 over Eastern Michigan defeating Akron 64-60 at Quicken Loans Arena. Seating ....................................2,096 arm-chair seating ................................ 3,404 bleacher-style seating Akron is 6-2 in the MAC Tournament against WMU and 5-2 on a neutral court. In addition, the Zips are Record at Rhodes Arena ... 389-120 (.764) – 34 Seasons 9-11 in Kalamazoo, winning five of the last seven meetings at University Arena. In 2002, Akron opened Record under John Groce ...............10-10 (First Season) the MAC Tournament in Kalamazoo and advance to Cleveland after a 90-83 win as the 11th seed. The Press Row Phone ..................................(330) 374-8771 Zips are 1-0 in the MAC Tournament at University Arena and 5-6 all-time in opening round games. PROGRAM HISTORY SCOUTING THE BRONCOS Western Michigan opens tournament play with a 17-14 overall record and 9-9 in MAC play. The Broncos Seasons of Basketball ...........................................117th closed regular season play with a 2-2 record, defeating Central Michigan in overtime (83-81) and Ball First Season of Basketball .................................1901-02 State (87-80) befor dropping the last two games to Eastern Michigan (74-58) and Central Michigan Seasons of Division I Basketball .............................37th (84-71). Western Michigan is 10-5 (6-3 MAC) at home, 6-6 (3-5 MAC) on the road, and 1-3 at neutral First Season of Division I Basketball .................1980-81 sites this season. All-Time Record .................................1,579-1004 (.611) All-Time Division I Record ......................622-484 (.562) WMU averages 75.0 points per game on 43.8 percent shooting from the floor (819-of-1872) and 34.5 All-Time MAC Record ..........236-200 (.541/25 seasons) percent effort from beyond the 3-point arc (224-of-649), draining 7.2 triples a game.