Akron-Northern Illinois Postgame Notes

February 04 | Men's Basketball

Team Notes:

• Playing for the third time in five days (59-45 win over Toledo on Saturday, 62-59 loss versus Eastern Michigan on Monday), Akron posted its third win in four games.

• Akron snapped a two-game losing streak to Northern Illinois and leads the all-time series with the Huskies, 18-8.

• The Zips have won a MAC-best 16 games (16-7 overall). UA entered the night tied in that category with Kent State (15-7).

• With two road games remaining in its MAC cross-divisional schedule, Akron is 3-1 versus opponents from the league's West Division. The Zips went 5-1 against the West last season (with the lone loss coming at NIU).

• Akron is 75-11 at Rhodes Arena under sixth-year head coach Keith Dambrot (11-3 overall, 4-1 MAC this season). The Zips have won 36 of their last 41 MAC home games and 66 of the last 76 overall outings on their home floor. UA went 11-3 (6-2 MAC) at home in 2008-09.

• Dating to last season, the Zips have won 10 of their last 12 home games against MAC opponents.

• In five of the last six games, Akron has shot over 73 percent from the line (18-of-23/78.3 percent tonight) after doing so only once in the first 17 games of the campaign.

• During halftime of tonight's game, the UA Department of Athletics honored all of its student-athletes who were on the Dean's List following the fall 2009 semester (3.25 grade-point average or higher). Nine members of the Zips men's basketball program are on that list: Tim Carroll, Nikola Cvetinovic, Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens, Steve McNees, C.J. Oldham, Kyle Petersen, Alex Sullivan, Ronnie Steward and Steve Swiech. For the fall term, the program achieved a team GPA of 3.18 and 11 of the squad's 16 players posted a 3.20 or higher GPA for the semester.

Player Notes:

• Senior guard Darryl Roberts finished with a season-high 18 points (eight in the second half) and a career-high eight rebounds (five in the second half). He shot 7-for-11 from the field, including 4-for-5 from 3-point distance. He also had three assists to one turnover.

• Senior forward Chris McKnight had 16 points, five boards and five assists in his fourth-straight start. Seven of his points came from the foul line, where he converted 7-for-10 attempts.

• Freshman center Zeke Marshall was in the starting lineup for the first time in four games (last was at Kent State on Jan. 23). He closed out the night with eight points, nine rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot.

• Sophomore guard Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens posted 15 points (6-for-9 field goals, 3-for-5 3-pointers) and four rebounds. Ten of his points and three of his rebounds came after intermission.