The University of Akron Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens Four-Game Road Trip Wednesday at Detroit
November 30 | Men's Basketball
Wed., Dec. 1 • 7:00 p.m.
Calihan Hall (8,295) • Detroit, Mich.
Television: None.
Webcast/Audio Stream/Live Statistics: Webcast available at HorizonLeagueNetwork.tv/live/1858. Audio stream and live statistics available at GoZips.com - audio stream through subscription, live statistics free of charge.
Radio: Akron Sports Network from IMG College - SportsRadio 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron and on the Internet at GoZips.com. Steve French (play-by-play) and Joe Dunn (analyst) (6:30 p.m. ET airtime).
Akron Coach Keith Dambrot (Akron '82): Coach Dambrot is in his seventh season at the helm for the Zips, posting a 141-64 (.687) mark. Both his wins total and wins percentage rank third all-time in program history. Dambrot is 249-134 (.650) in his 13th season as a collegiate head coach. This is his first meeting against the Titans.
Detroit Coach Ray McCallum (Ball State '83): Coach McCallum is in his third season as head coach at the University of Detroit Mercy, posting a 31-40 record (.443). In his 14th season as a head coach, he has an overall record of 201-189 (.515). He is 8-4 against the Zips, with all 12 contests coming as the head coach at Ball State (1993-2000).
The Series: Detroit holds a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series against Akron. The Zips are 1-1 on the road against the Titans. Akron last played in Detroit on Feb. 3, 1986, a 53-51 victory.
Last Time Out...
• The University of Akron fell to 2-1 at home with a 64-51
loss to Cleveland State on Nov. 24. With the loss, the Zips fell to
33-31 overall against Cleveland State, 2-1 under head coach Keith
Dambrot.
• Sophomore center Zeke Marshall scored in double figures for the second-consecutive game and for the third time in four games this season (14 points). He added four blocks for his second four-block and fourth multi-block performance of the season.
• Junior guard Brett McClanahan continued to play solid basketball for the Zips. He finished the game with nine points, seven rebounds and four assists while going 4-for-11 from the field.
• For the first time this season, the Zips had more turnovers than assists (16 turnovers, 10 assists).
• For the fourth-consecutive game, the Zips posted more assists than their opponents. Akron finished with 10 assists to Cleveland State's eight.
A Look at the Titans...
• Detroit enters tonight's contest following a 3-0
performance at the Legends Classic tournament held at Calihan Hall
over the holiday weekend. The Titans defeated Albany 84-82 (Nov.
26), Bowling Green 71-62 (Nov. 27) and Niagara 96-77 (Nov. 28).
Detroit is 4-0 at home this season. Akron will be the second of
five Mid-American Conference schools to face off against the Titans
(Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Western
Michigan). The Titans have five players scoring in double figures,
led by Eli Holman's 15.6 pts., 11.3 rebs. per game.
Road Warriors...
• The Zips enter the month of December in an unusual
position, as they will play seven of their nine games on the road.
Akron's seven road contests in one month are tied for the most in
the Division I era (80-81), as the 1985-86 squad hit the road seven
times in January '86, going 6-1 outside of Akron. Under Keith
Dambrot, the Zips have not played more than five road games in
December (five road games, 2005-06). On the month, the Zips will
log approximately 7,631 miles on the road. December road trips
include:
Detroit: 392 miles round trip
UIC: 672 miles round trip
Temple/Minnesota: 2,345 miles round trip
Holiday Hoops Classic: 4,222 miles round
trip
Looking for #250...
• Tonight's contest will mark head coach Keith
Dambrot's second attempt at career-win No. 250. The Zips fell
64-51 to Cleveland State (Nov. 24) in his first attempt.
Career Chart Watch...
• Two Zips, Steve
McNees and Mike
Bardo, have their sights set on the career games played record.
McNees (109) needs to appear in 30 games while Bardo (104) needs to
play in 35 games to break Chris
McKnight's record of 137 career games played (2006-10).
• Senior Darryl Roberts is on pace to set the career mark for free throw percentage. Should he maintain his .869 mark and attempt 109 attempts this season, he would break the previous mark of .834 held by Jami Bosley (1998-00). He is 7-for-8 (.875) from the charity stripe this season.
• Sophomore center Zeke Marshall, with 13 blocks on the season, moved into seventh place on the career blocks list with a total of 72. He passed Quade Milum (65, 2005-08) and is four blocks behind David Mason (76, 1979-80, 80-81) for sixth place. He has 19 multi-block games for his career, including four this season.
Block Party...
• Sophomore center Zeke
Marshall picked up where he left off last season on the
defensive end of the court. Through four games this season, he has
recorded 13 blocks and has posted a league-best 3.25 bpg. He is on
pace to record 104 blocks this season, which would smash the season
record of 65 (Romeo Travis, 2006-07) and leave him two shy of
Travis' career record of 165 blocks (2004-07).
Pass the Rock...
• The Zips lead the Mid-American Conference in assists (16.75
apg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.31). The Zips have 25 more
assists than their opponents.
What a Difference a Year Makes...
• For junior guard Brett
McClanahan, a year has made a big difference. So far this
season, he leads the Zips in points/game (15.3 ppg, 6th in the MAC)
and rebounds/game (6.8 rpg, 9th in the MAC). He recorded his first
double-double against Youngstown State (22 points, 10 rebounds) on
Nov. 20. Last season, he averaged 3.3 points and 1.5
board/game.
Junior Leadership...
• Another junior stepping up to help lead the Zips this
season has been forward Nikola
Cvetinovic. Entering the season with a career average of 5.6
points and 3.4 rebounds/game, he has stepped up to be the Zips'
third-leading scorer (13.0 ppg, 14th in the MAC) and is tied for
second with 5.0 rpg. He is also ninth in the MAC in assist/turnover
ratio (1.4), 10th in assists (3.5 apg) and tied for 11th in free
throw percentage (.769).
A Long December...
• With nine games in December, the Zips will play at least
nine games in one month for the sixth time in seven seasons. The
only season under seventh-year head coach Keith
Dambrot Akron did not have a month with nine or more contests
was the 2007-08 campaign. The Zips played 10 games in January 2006
during the 2005-06 campaign.
Akron and the Horizon League...
• The Zips are 119-85 against the current 10-team field in
the Horizon League and will face off against four of the
conference's members. Akron is 56-31 against Youngstown State (W,
91-84 (ot), Nov. 20), 33-31 vs. Cleveland State (L, 64-51, Nov.
24), 2-3 against Detroit (Dec. 1) and 4-4 vs. Illinois-Chicago
(Dec.4).
